Happy Soul Adventures shares the best of Botswana through people based experiences
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
“Today’s traveler is very curious, open minded and hungry for unique experiences,” explains Cynthia Mothelesi, founder of local travel company, Happy Soul Adventures (HSA). The adventure company seeks to share the best of Botswana through people based experiences with meticulously designed packages for those travelers who want to take the path less traveled.
“We want travelers to visit Botswana to experience our beautiful, diverse cultures and truly immerse themselves in our story. The country is well known for its amazing safaris and it’s a great story. How about we also explore other unique offerings about us? There’s still a lot to share and we are happy we started and the response is absolutely amazing,” she said.
Established in 2017, Happy Soul Adventures boast endless adventures including cycling tours around the outskirts of Gaborone, a one of a kind capital city expedition, as well as camping trips across the country. Mothelesi is well travelled and believes that the most authentic travel experiences occur when travelers get off the beaten track.
The highlights of her excursions include a cycle tour of Manyana village with stopovers at local eateries where tourists are afforded an opportunity to mingle with locals and a unique experience of farming life in Bokaa hosted by the Airbnb registered facility. “We would love to see tourists come and spend a weekend at the farm and learn the Setswana culture with a twist. Even better, bring your kids to come and learn their culture in a more fun setting. When was the last time you milked a cow, made madila, drive cattle to the kraal or cooked mapakiwa? These are things that we mostly do when we visit our villages and now we want to offer you a farm life experience right here in the city,” Mothelesi said.
Happy Soul Adventures will also be launching camping trips on the outskirts of the city, bringing their guests the popular Botswana outdoors life closer to the capital. The locally owned campsite will be listed under their Airbnb properties before December. “All experiences are tailor made to the client’s needs. We have so far hosted various people from all corners of the world. We would especially love more Batswana to join us on our tours and explore the Gaborone with us. There’s so much to offer from food, music, art and just meeting new people,” she adds.
Despite Batswana’s skepticism around local tourism due to perceptions about prohibitive costs, Mothelesi rebuffs the myth and chalks it up to lack of preparedness on the part of the domestic tourist. “That’s the biggest hurdle right now because there’s a budget for everyone when traveling Botswana. Of course camps in the Okavango Delta are expensive but are you going to the Okavango Delta or the camp? You can easily do the Okavango Delta on a small budget and in future we will show you how,” she said.