Insights

Stepping Outside the Bubble: Three Months in Africa

Author

Gini Lockwood

Continuous Improvement Manager

When Zac boarded a plane to Rwanda earlier this year, it wasn’t for a quick holiday or a few weeks of sightseeing. It was the starting point of a three-month journey across East and Southern Africa, something he’d wanted to do for years but had never quite found the time for.

“I’ve always been interested in long trips overseas,” he says. “I hadn’t done one since 2019, and it just felt like it was time.”

Zac didn’t need to quit his job or risk career uncertainty to make it happen. He took advantage of FSC’s Sabbatical Leave, which gives employees the opportunity to take extended unpaid leave to “explore a passion, undertake further education or training, travel or spend time with family” without losing their role. This option made the trip a no-brainer, and Zac started planning his adventure through Africa.

After a few days in Rwanda, he travelled through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

The three months gave Zac the space to truly immerse himself in the culture and experiences. Standouts included safari in Kenya and time spent in the deserts of Namibia. In Zanzibar, the tropical coastline was unlike anything back in Australia. “Even though the places were stunning, the most lasting part of the journey wasn’t the places themselves. It was the people,” he says.

Image: Giraffe bonding at Maasai Mara, Kenya

He travelled solo at times and joined tour groups at others, meeting people from their late teens to their seventies across dozens of countries. “There was a 19-year-old from Germany and a 75-year-old from the US who’d basically been a nomad most of his life,” he says. “Talking to people from all walks of life who live differently and make different decisions gives you a sense of how big the world is and what’s possible.”

The local guides made an even bigger impression. “They don’t take anything for granted. Always glass-half-full, they had such a positive attitude and just get on with things without complaining. It gave me a newfound appreciation for my life in Australia.”

Image: Zac in the Namib Desert, Namibia

Some of the most challenging moments came when he was completely on his own. In Tanzania he spent close to three weeks without the structure of a tour, and a few days solo in Zanzibar. Being on a new continent with a different culture and figuring things out alone was hard, but it helped him rely on his instincts and learn how he responds under pressure.

There were moments of chaos but also stillness, friendships formed on buses and beaches, and a few unexpected experiences such as whitewater rafting on the Nile in Uganda and at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

He also travelled with both a film and a digital camera, leaning into a photography hobby he picked up five years ago when his mum passed down an old Fujifilm. Some of the photos he captured on the trip recently won FSC’s internal photo competition.

“Talking to people from all walks of life who live differently and make different decisions gives you a sense of how big the world is and what’s possible.”

Image: Sandwich Harbour, Namibia

The sabbatical policy helped by removing one of the biggest barriers many people face: security. “One thing that stops people doing trips like that is thinking, ‘Well, I’ll have to quit my job, then come back and try to find a new one.’ Having the option to take leave and come back is pretty comforting.”

If someone at FSC was considering taking time off to travel but felt hesitant, his advice is simple: do it. “If your family life allows it and you’re in the financial position to go, I think everyone should see more of the world outside the bubble we live in. With the policy, work will still be there when you’re back, and I was back a better version of myself.”

He’s already thinking about his next trip and still plans to return and hike Mount Kilimanjaro one day.

Travel didn’t pull him away from work. It widened the frame he sees it through. And sometimes, that’s exactly what time off is meant to do.

All photos courtesy of Zac.

Image: Juvenile gorilla in the Bwindi Forest, Uganda