TIP 7: THE FORGOTTEN SENSES
Photo Credit: (c) T J Allen Art
The Forgotten Senses: Aromatherapy and Audio Therapy
As visual-beings, we rely heavily on our sense of sight; rather too heavily in fact. The joy of safari is to create full awareness of the moment and not let our eyes take over and dominate our experience.
Aromatherapy
In my family I have often been referring to as ‘The Nose’, due to my over-sensitive sense of smell. Not good for strong, bad aromas (hence I’ve never consumed fish, blue cheese or coffee!) but great when it comes to more appealing fragrances.
Scientifically, there is a strong link between smells, memories and nostalgia. I can attest that some of my greatest safari memories derive from the reminiscence of breathing in the perfume of sweet-scented bush grasses that drifted in the air during game drives.
Free Holistic Healing Therapy
To make the most of nature’s free aromatherapy session, I would suggest walking either after it has rained or when the sun has been blazing. Both of these situations seem to dial up the release of perfumes in the air.
Audio Therapy
Sound is an important tool in nature for communication and is worth paying more attention to. If you can hone in on the sound of certain species’ alarm calls, you may recognise what is making the sound and where it is . . . . . and even predict what it might be alluding to. All of this can take place before you would have located any animal based purely on sight alone.
Whether it is a stamp of feet, a sound similar to a cough or snort of breath or a piercing yelp, each species has a way of identifying and warning of danger. At the other end of the scale, when everything goes eerily quiet you know something is up. I love it on safari when the frogs go deathly silent because you know there is potential to see something really exciting.
Listen Up
So next time you are out, tune up your secondary senses; that quiet rustle in the undergrowth might be worth checking out.