The Rise of Wellness Travel in Africa
The nature of travel is changing, evolving, and this time it’s the wellness industry that is moving beyond the spa to offer revitalized holiday experiences in nature. The new era of wellness travel moves beyond the spa into niche feel-good holidays. Africa offers unique wellness tourism destinations and experiences in nature. The buzzwords ‘wellness tourism’ permeate travel sites and holiday packages. At the same time, hotels and lodges gear up for revamped wellness facilities including unique spa experiences, state-of-the-art gyms, outdoor yoga classes and fitness challenges second to none.
There is a noticeable rise in wellness travel, also dubbed wellness tourism, sports travel, endorphin travel, and nature pilgrimages. From the outdated spa movement to the updated outdoors movement, travellers are seeking rewilding holidays, yoga and meditation retreats, healing, detox and nutrition escapes and active hikes, challenges and races in the great outdoors of exotic destinations.
Millennials Lead a New Obsession for Wellness Travel
In fact, there is a definite obsession emerging for travel with a wellness focus. Some say that the desire for healing and feel-good holidays is becoming an unnatural or unhealthy syndrome. But the fact is that people want their health back, and they want long-term health and they are going to seek it. Therefore, it follows that the travel industry jumps on board to offer exclusive retreats and wellness programmes to suit diverse needs and age groups.
Millennials are driving trends these days and since Covid, they want to be healthy and spend their money on travel to destinations where they can experience fitness, health and well-being. They also desire connection with other cultures, volunteering for good causes and offering their time for conservation or community projects in the trends of climate change and sustainable travel. It goes to show that eco-travel and wellness tourism go hand in hand for people and the planet.
Holistic Health Therapies Can Fix ‘Permanxiety’
It is a global fact that the world has entered a phase of ‘permanxiety’ or permanent anxiety as there is so much to worry about no matter where people live. Most employees get leave once a year which they want to use wisely to rejuvenate mind and body. Many of them aim to learn something new and to benefit holistically so that they can return to work refreshed and ready for more stress and mayhem (ahem).
Some people choose a serene spiritual retreat to recharge their batteries, forest bathing, rewilding and doing yoga on a bamboo deck somewhere glorious like a yacht on the ocean or a Balinese forest or a Swiss mountain top. Others want to get out there on a fitness challenge in harsh climatic conditions and run a rough trail, hike to the top of an undiscovered mountain, ice climb a new waterfall, go caving, skydiving or base jumping. Then again, some adventure holidaymakers are feeling the urge to give back and be active in unique community-driven and cultural education ways or volunteering for conservation.
Wellness Tourism and Volunteering Holidays
Unique escapes can take explorers to Africa or South America to get involved in rhino tracking and collaring, monitoring African wild dogs, saving the whales and diving with dolphins. Others include patrolling national park fences to apprehend poachers, saving animals caught in snares, and feeding wild animals in captivity. Gorilla trekking is another thrilling way to learn more about endangered species and their vulnerable habitats. In addition, many community projects await foreign participation in South Africa, from schools and colleges to sports development programmes and feeding schemes.
Endorphin Wellness Holidays Beyond the Spa
The obsession to make the most of time and to get a kick out of instant gratification is seeing the boost in the endorphin tourism movement. This is the active set who want to pit themselves against others in a bid to relax by sweating and pushing their bodies and minds to the extreme. Thrilling adventures mean shunning traditional beach holidays, snorkeling excursions and gentle forest walks.
Now there is a need to hike for days, run trails for days, and explore beautiful scenery while on the move. These fitness holidays incorporate special programmes for customised nutrition and exercise plans, healing and alternative lifestyles based on mindful cultures – this is not a ‘new normal’ but a ‘no normal’ according to those in the travel trend now. These obsessed fitness freaks measure everything they do on special gadgets and dress in branded sports gear every day. Add to this cycling holidays, surfing breaks, kite surfing thrills and fishing forays, and tailor-made wellness retreats are informed by the personalities and needs of that person. It was Maslow who defined the hierarchy of basic human needs in this order:
- Physiological needs are air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, and reproduction.
- Safety needs are personal security, employment, resources, health, and property.
- Love and belonging needs are friendship, intimacy, family, and a sense of connection.
- Esteem needs are respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, and freedom.
- Self-actualisation needs are the desire to become the most that one can be.
Pilgrimages are Spiritual Walking Wellness Holidays
Pilgrimages are part of the wellness tourism movement but they offer a spiritual dimension and a sense of gentleness instead of hectic go, go, go. Many walkers love the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James, an extensive network of ancient pilgrim routes, with a very popular route, the Camino Francés, stretching from the city of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port at the base of the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The Camino was historically a religious pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James and today many people (about 25%) still walk for religious or spiritual reasons.
Some travelers want to concentrate on eating or not eating (detoxing)- and doing yoga or Pilates at the same time. Nutrition and healing therapies such as Ayurvedic medicine and indigenous plant medicine retreats or foraging breaks in forests and on coasts add to this. Meditation assists these travelers to look within and find meaning in their busy lives.
Apparently, the wellness tourism industry worldwide is worth some $450 billion and is growing so fast that it will soon reach $1 trillion by 2030! Society’s obsession with the concept of being well and seeking well-being is presently a $3.7 trillion industry and it’s not stopping there!
Defining Wellness Tourism as a Billion-Dollar Industry
Defining wellness tourism is like this: combine the word ‘wellness’ and its entire industry with the word ‘tourism’ and its entire industry to form an even more massive and influential trend for the future! The African continent stands to benefit enormously from this new beyond-the-spa trend in travel. As eco-lodges respond to responsible tourism, wellness retreats can respond to the need for travelers to have quality time out in nature, in silence and in an uncrowded space.
Many of these destinations can also educate visitors to continue their programmes when they get back home, at recommended organizations or health or medical facilities. The ripple effect of this wellness and health trend is far-reaching and mind-boggling. Wellness is that phase beyond ill health when a patient wants to stay better and maintain a healthy lifestyle, reduce stress, prevent disease and enhance mental and physical well-being.
People worldwide fear terminal illnesses and chronic diseases. These are not relenting with the increase in intense weather patterns and climate changes, natural disasters and more. It’s therefore natural that travellers seek out safe retreats to get away from all of this uncertainty and anxiety and escape their technology-driven lifestyles. Most people seem to lead lives separate from nature and silence, constantly bombarded with their devices, their addictions and their ongoing consumerist existences.
Weird and Quaint Wellness Therapies Added to the Cart
The quainter the better, the weirder the better and the more removed from normal life the better – have you ever heard of ‘sylvotherapy’ (aka forest bathing), boot camps, chakra refuges and laughter yoga before? These are the therapies people want to try. Keep moving, even if it’s herding goats on a mountain pass, running a marathon while meditating or scavenging for mushrooms in a forest.
“In the Wimberly Allison Tom & Goo (WATG) paper “Resort Wellness; Beyond the Spa”, this selection of trends and areas of growth within the wellbeing industry are analysed, and the hotel industry in particular is placed under the microscope. The paper also explores the expansion of wellness from a niche industry, offered primarily on a spa treatment menu, to a global economy which is intertwined with sustainability and embraced by developers and architects, who seek to bring the outside in.”
There is a definite link between physical fitness and general health and remember that a healthy mind causes a healthy body and a healthy body causes a healthy mind. The new era of wellness travel moves beyond the spa into niche feel-good holidays. Africa offers unique wellness tourism destinations and experiences in nature. Wellness holidays are a niche market and we have found it too!
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Urban Wellness in African Cities
Some people prefer to explore cities more than wilderness settings and they choose wellness packages in luxury hotels with entertainment laid on. Cities in Africa have urban wellness trends taped and are offering new heights of wellness to their spa menus. These are our top hotels in Africa offering quality, upgraded wellness facilities and packages:
- Cape Town – Belmond Nelson
A new yoga excursion to the top of Table Mountain is a hike and a yoga class in nature, with tea and snacks while gasping at the city views. Guests can also visit an organic farm in a local township to pick vegetables and hear the communities’ stories. The hotel’s new 5-course menu is a farm and sea-to-table menu based on sustainable living.
Find out more here.
- Windhoek– Olive Grove Guesthouse
A Wellness Room with a unique selection of professional therapies to enhance your sense of healthy inner and outer well-being. Lavish breakfasts are served on the veranda or in private rooms. Watch your meals being prepared in the modern open-plan kitchen!
Find out more here.
- Nairobi – Villa Rosa Kempinski
A spacious spa and fitness center treats all guests to perfect relaxation and movement menus. There’s a gym with a free weight studio and a cardio area, as well as a heated swimming pool. Start with a steam bath or sauna then hit the Jacuzzi.
Find out more here.
- Victoria Falls – Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
The first-ever and largest spa to emerge in Vic Falls includes special retreats for weddings and honeymoons. There’s a splash pool, and wildlife viewing while you enjoy healthy foods and treatments based on natural plant-based African ingredients. An ethnic pampering experience.
Find out more here.
Our Top 5 Wellness Tourism Holidays in Africa
Yoga Walking Safari in Zambia
In the Luangwa Valley, a legendary Norman Carr setup that concentrates on the authentic Zambian walking safari, Time + Tide Kakuli Bush Camp is an intimate seasonal camp. Here guests venture into the vast wilderness on the walking trail of a lifetime and get to choose their own schedules. So come as part of a tailor-made yoga retreat and staff fit in around your day. Enjoy morning and evening trails or game drives while using the delightful camp setting as a base for mindful yoga safaris.
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Canoeing and Mountain Biking Vacation at Lake Manyara
Exploring the Lake and Park at Manyara brings you closer to the Masaai pastoralists in their traditional red robes, wandering around cattle bomas. A wellness retreat here means grabbing a bicycle for hire and touring the area or taking a forest walk and setting off in a canoe to find out more about the lake. Connect with local communities and find out more about their foods, subsistence farming and general welfare.
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Beachside Bliss at Azura Benguerra Island, Mozambique
Indulgent spa retreats and beauty treatments with ocean views add to outdoor forays into nature on horseback, sailing boats and beach hiking. Yoga and meditation classes on the still beaches add a mindful wellness focus for holidays where water sports are the main attraction. Fresh organic foods and fish from the ocean complete the healthy picture.
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Rivers and Rainforests at Sindabezi Island Camp, Zambia
On-site wellness choices with yoga and meditation, African massages and tuning into nature in the rainforest and on the river. Guests can also visit cultural villages and meet local people, enjoy floating dinners on a sampan and walk in mindfulness to the Falls while game viewing. All food is fresh from the garden for optimum health.
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Lakeside Luxury at Kaya Mawa Island Lodge, Malawi
Just being here is the epitome of wellness on an idyllic lake in a luxury lodge and private sanctuary. Guests enjoy a premier wellness center with massages, reflexology and health treatments. Getting fit and active is part of the holistic wellness package so go kayaking, snorkeling, diving and sailing all day in the sun. Guided hikes and biking complete the fitness picture while all meals are fresh and healthy based on local ingredients.
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Wellness tourism in Africa is trending as safaris move beyond the spa to respond to changing tourist needs. Wellness travel in Africa is on the rise as tourists seek wellness experiences in nature, indigenous healing, personal growth and yoga.