Africa: Wildlife, Culture, and the Interconnected Web
Johannesburg, Gauteng The Cradle of Humanity, Qwabi Private Game Reserve
October 6-13, 2025
Add on an adventure October 13-17, 2025
(more info soon)
22 Continuing Education Credits
A South African Cultural Experience
Join Mind Body Passport and our anthropology team, on a journey through the breathtaking South African landscapes.
Ubuntu: “I am because you are”. Together, we will begin our journey through histories of mankind to explore our relationship between human nature and wildlife. Starting our travel experience connecting with this Xhosa term, Ubuntu invites us to explore the notion that we are all interconnected - humans, animals, plants and beyond. Often consumed by materialism and the individualistic lifestyles of our contemporary world, MBP invites you to explore how our sense of self is shaped by our relationships with the natural world, and how we can extend our consciousness to better understand and co-exist harmoniously with the plant and animal life that surrounds us.
This unique travel experience offers an ideal context in which to develop what anthropologists have coined as “cultural competencies”, or the exploration of other ways of being-in-the-world which demand we de-center from our usual comforts. In this journey, you are invited to practice a more embodied way of knowing and of relating to the other, which will broaden your understanding of cultural confrontations. Amongst South African indigenous groups, knowledge is not limited to human-made representations. From the mineral and plant worlds, to our ancestors and the cosmos, there are many informational fields available to us which we have not been taught to connect with – or perhaps we evolved away from, possibly pushing them aside or into to the worlds of “shamans” and “mystical thought.”
For centuries, the dominant Euro-American naturalism paradigm has led us to apprehend our cultures as separate from wildlife. It is likely that the knowledge derived from such interconnectedness has weakened over time and so have our innate capacities to heal and overcome existential challenges. Taking a trip through “the cradle of humanity” reveals resonances from the past that will challenge your understanding of human-animal cultural boundaries. Journeying out into the vast landscapes on safari, opens you to a culturally diverse and grounded way of connecting with and relating to plants and animal life.
With internationally acclaimed, Dr. Stéphanie Larchanché, we are excited to invite you on our third annual cultural competency seminar! Our visit to South Africa will be more than a typical tourist encounter. It will provide you with an opportunity to explore the intersections between cultural competency, an intersectional perspective on mental health awareness, and cultural interpretations of healing.
Itinerary Highlights
5-star accommodations throughout the trip:
- In Johannesburg, our 5 star bespoke hotel is set in a lush private garden, tucked away in the center of Sandton. This inner-city retreat inspires the feeling of living amongst nature while being minutes away from bustling cosmopolitan destinations. Breakfasts, our welcome dinner and a group lunch are included.
- In Gauteng, The Cradle of Humanity, we will explore human origins on an archeology safari. Our beautiful boutique accommodations are located within the Greater Cradle Nature Reserve, a privately owned 9000-hectare UNESCO World Heritage site. During our stay, you will engage with two active Palaeo anthropological sites, still unearthing both hominid and animal fossils. Breakfast and dinner are included.
- On the Qwabi Private Game Reserve, you will be treated to daily breakfast, brunch, high tea, and dinner. Two game drives are offered daily and you will get to regale at the wildlife from your own private viewing deck and plunge pool!Treat yourself with a special sunset game drive and privately curated Gin tasting in the bush.
Explore Soweto, the Apartheid Museum, and Constitution Hill.
Travel to a local ranch to meet locals working with animals for therapeutic healing. Together, we will share in story circles and learn traditional African animal mythology.
Engage in our daily morning Social Dreaming workshops.
Who Is This For?
- Those with an interest culture, history and storytelling.
- Those with an affinity for wildlife.
- World and life learners.
- Psychotherapists and mental health professionals.
- Those with an interest in searching for and becoming more culturally competent.
*No prior experience or knowledge required!
What Will You Gain?
- Discuss the cultural intersection and importance of our interaction with the animal world and environment.
- Identify barriers and biases in treating individuals from different cultures.
- Identify your own biases and prejudices in working with diverse populations.
- Discuss and describe why the development of cultural competence and culturally responsive services are important in the behavioral health field.
- Identify and subdivide the steps needed to build bridges between cultural representations into the psycho-therapeutic process.
- Discuss and apply the concepts of Social Dreaming and how to utilize The Social Dreaming Matrix in psycho therapeutic settings.
- Discuss the process of cultural counter transference and its impact in the context of cross-cultural clinical interactions
- Describe the steps needed to build bridges between cultural representations into the psycho therapeutic process.
- Discuss and apply animal-assisted therapeutic approaches.
What’s Included?
- All seminars and cultural activities per itinerary
- All cultural visits to museums, historic sites, and excursions,
- Airport transfers
- 2 private luxury safari game drives per day, in Qwabi Private game reserve
- Luxurious 5 star accommodations at non- paralleled boutique resorts in:
Johannesburg: Breakfasts + welcome dinner + 1 lunch, Our 5 star bespoke hotel is set in a lush secret garden. A natural sanctuary tucked away in the centre of lively Sandton. This inner-city retreat inspires the feeling of living amongst nature while being minutes away from bustling cosmopolitan shopping and restaurant destinations.
Gauteng, The Cradle of Humanity: Breakfast +dinner. Human origins Archeology safari, Beautiful boutique accomodations located within the Greater Cradle Nature Reserve, a privately owned 9000-hectare Unesco World Heritage site. You will engage with two active Palaeo anthropological sites still unearthing both hominid and animal fossils.
Qwabi Private Game Reserve: daily breakfast, brunch, high tea, dinner, 2 game drives per day 7 your own private viewing deck and plunge pool.
- On-ground transportation per itinerary
- Visit UNESCO World Heritage Sites, archaeological dig sites, The Cradle of Humanity, private game reserve
- Twice daily private safari game drives
- Ranch visit: Meet locals working with animals for therapeutic healing, engage in story circles with traditional African animal stories, and developing your inner soul/ spirit animal while interacting with the animals on the ranch. and beyond the borders of the fence and using animals in the therapy process.
Lecturers
Dr. Leslee Brown, PhD
Dr. Brown is President and Director of Mind Body Passport Inc. designing and leading international trips for adult professionals, offering continuing education credits worldwide. Dr. Brown's interests are multi-faceted, engaging topics of psychology, culture, art, psychoanalysis and social dreaming. She is passionate about weaving many disciplines and interests together and creating an atmosphere of growth and learning. Travel opens ones mind and creates change bringing new perspectives on living life. She also served as The Director of International Seminars and Gastprofessor at Sigmund Freud University, Vienna. International psychology and developing “psychologists without borders” has become her focus. Dr. Brown has been in private practice for over twenty years, has been a research psychologist for The Neurologic Institute and has served on faculty at UCLA Medical School teaching psychology and rapport building techniques to medical students. Dr. Brown was also assistant professor at The Chicago School and Director of Centers for International Studies. Leslee lives and works part time in in Los Angeles, part time in Paris, and the rest of the time is traveling the world.
Dr. Stéphanie Larchanché
Dr. Stéphanie Larchanché is a medical anthropologist and psychotherapist. Dr. Larchanché received her academic training in the United States and in France. Her research focused on issues at the intersection of immigration, identity, and mental health. More specifically, she carried out her fieldwork at specialized mental healthcare institutions catering to immigrants and refugees. This is how she had the opportunity to collaborate with Centre Minkowska in Paris, a world-renowned trans-cultural psychiatry clinic that has been catering to non-francophone refugees since the aftermath of WWII. Today, Dr. Larchanché is in private practice in Paris, France. For over 12 years, Dr. Larchanché directed activities at Centre Minkowska. Dr. Larchanché is published widely in a number of internationally known social science journals such as Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry; the Annual Review of Anthropology, Social Science and Medicine; Body and Society; and the American Behavioral Scientist. She wrote the “Migration and Health” entry for The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society. With colleagues at Centre Minkowska, she coauthored the background paper for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on “Cultural Competence and Training in Mental Health Practice in Europe”. She has recently authored a book entitled Cultural Anxieties: Managing Migrant Suffering in France (2020), an ethnography building on her ten-year experience as an anthropologist and therapist at Centre Minkowska. Dr. Larchanché also volunteers her time as an administrator and expert at France’s leading non-profit organization for interpreters in public institutions.
Cost
Price Coming Soon! e mail us at info@mindbodypoassport.com
Payment plan: Price Coming Soon!
Single room supplement: Price coming soon!
If there are no double shared rooms available, you will need to incur the single room supplement
Need a custom payment plan? Email us at info@mindbodypasspot.com
Want to earn $100 – or more? Refer a friend or colleague who signs up, and we’ll send you $100 for each referral.
Want your trip for free? Gather six people who sign up for the same course, and we’ll give you yours for FREE!
Questions? Contact Dr. Leslee Brown at info@mindbodypassport.com
or for a free one-on-one consultation click here.
Mind Body Passport is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. Mind Body Passport maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Mind Body Passport Inc. is also recognized as a CAMFT-approved Continuing Education Provider. Certificate awarded upon successful completion.
Health & Safety
Returning to travel in 2022 is our greatest passion and desire. The safety and well-being of Mind Body Passport Inc. participants (as well as our team, suppliers, and others) is of paramount importance to us. For admission to our courses, Mind Body Passport Inc. requires all participants to be fully vaccinated with CDC-approved vaccines.
Refunds
Travel medical insurance is mandatory. We recommend insurance that includes Covid- related delays and changes. Your insurance must cover personal injury, medical treatment, repatriation, and evacuation expenses. We also recommend that the insurance cover personal property and trip cancellation. Trip cancellation insurance may be the only means of receiving reimbursement for flights and other non-refundable expenses in the event the Trip is canceled, postponed, interrupted, or rescheduled, for any reason, by you or us. Look for insurance that provides “cancel for any reason” coverage.
Once fees are paid, absent Mind Body Passport’s approval in its sole discretion, no refunds will be issued. MBP reserves the right to cancel any trip or any portion thereof for any reason it deems appropriate including, but not limited to, low enrollment numbers, political instability, and/or health concerns.