“This Trip Should Be On Every Woman’s Bucket List” –
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Lois Alter Mark Contributor
I cover travel: the places, the faces, the food, the suitcases.

Linda Higdon, founder of Global Heart Journeys, with the women of Kenya. LINDA HIGDON

When I first read about Global Heart Journeys’ Women’s Journey to Kenya, I gasped.

Not only was this a trip to Africa – a place I had fallen deeply in love with when my husband and I visited years ago – but it was so rich in the experiences I’m passionate about (spirituality, connecting with, learning about and helping other women, staying in luxury hotels, going on safaris, exploring local arts and culture), it was as though I had planned it myself.

Because I could not stop thinking about this trip, which takes place for 16 glorious days in July and again next February, I reached out to learn more.

Linda Higdon, tour host and founder of Global Heart Journeys, has spent the past 16 years introducing Western women to women who are igniting change in the developing world. She helped launch Ripples International, a children’s welfare operation in Kenya, and founded Global Room for Women, an innovative digital platform where American women connect personally with women on the frontlines of change in war-torn and developing nations.

Kenyan women share their stories on this unique tour. LINDA HIGDON

At a time when solo travel and women-led itineraries are top travel trends, she is one of the only ones to offer a high-end epic adventure like this one.

Talking to Linda over the phone was like talking to a soul sister. I am hoping to do this trip with her and encourage you to check out the itinerary and reserve a spot before it sells out.

Read my conversation with Linda, then take a virtual tour here.

Tell us what Global Heart Journeys is all about and how the Women’s Journey to Kenya is different from other tours.

I am on a mission to lead high-achieving women from restlessness to purpose with a luxury adventure experience. We are one of the first trips for women to offer a unique blend of luxury, “off the beaten path” meaningful experiences, plus adventurous safaris and unspoiled natural beauty.

With the #MeToo Movement, #TimesUp and tough news headlines, I believe women and girls hold the solutions to the world’s problems.

More and more women are realizing that we need to find new ways to come together. What better way than meeting each other through travel?

Women’s Journey to Kenya is the first tour to showcase ways that women connect and work together globally, while letting guests enjoy the peace of mind that comes with luxury lodging, fine dining, concierge services and complete safety and security.

One of the luxury properties where guests have stayed on the Women’s Journey to Kenya. LINDA HIGDON

What led you to start Global Heart Journeys?

After 30 years as a classical pianist, I found myself wondering, Is this all there is? I was at the top of my field, yet I felt restless and realized I needed to step away. I found myself in the wilds of Africa, where I’ve worked for 16 years with the women of Kenya to build networks that support 15,000 women and girls. With Women’s Journey to Kenya, I am opening my experience to the public, to other women, giving backstage access to a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, elite visionaries, and colorful village women – people and places not found on any other tour.

This tour delivers one of the most exciting and authentic itineraries into the lives of women of any travel experience. The vision and inspiration for it comes from my work and deep relationships with the Kenyan women. In fact, the design of the tour was co-created in consultation with them. I asked, “What do you want to show us about your life?” and we sculpted a one-of-a kind experience together.

Motherhood is a universal language. LINDA HIGDON

Why did you decide to make your trips solely for women?

The women of Kenya have transformed my life and I want other Western women to have the same enriching experience. Their work is breathtaking. They have won landmark cases for girls’ rights, worked with tribal women to stop female genital mutilation, freed political prisoners under a brutal dictatorship, and empowered village women to remember timeless indigenous ways. We spend time with a legislator who grew up in a village and rose to prominence as an activist.

The trip is designed for women, because I can only share my own lived experience working in global sisterhood with other women.

I feel the same way about Africa as you do. Can you describe what it is about Africa that touches you so deeply?

We all have those moments when life seems overwhelming and we wonder, “What’s it all about?” That’s when we need to find a place that puts everything in perspective and touches our heart. For me, that means traveling to Africa. Over the last 16 years, I have traveled to Kenya at least 30 times because my heart desperately needs it.

The spirituality of the women, the children, the unspoiled natural beauty and magnificent wildlife soothes and excites my soul. Written into the DNA of many Africans is the spirit of “Ubuntu” which translates to, “I am because we are.” It means we are inescapably interconnected in a reverence for life. I feel it everywhere – with taxi drivers, waiters, powerful women I work with, or rural school kids I love. Nelson Mandela popularized the word in the West, calling it “a deep, intense kind-heartedness.” In its presence, I’ve discovered so much beauty in the unexpected that my heart feels safe to come out of hiding. Each moment of life is suddenly a celebration. No wonder Africans are always singing and dancing!

The women of Kenya show guests that there are so many reasons to dance. LINDA HIGDON

The more time I spend with women living close to the earth – in the villages, nomadic tribes, tea fields – the more Ubuntu touches my heart. Without the static of modern life, these indigenous women with their deep wisdom, who listen and collaborate with Nature, connect me back to my Life Force.

What do you want other women to experience on your trips? What do you want them to get out of it?

I want them to step out of their comfort zone in an epic adventure for their heart so they can feel alive again and get back in touch with what they love, no matter what their age! They already have the time and money. They are looking for meaning. I want to give them a once in a lifetime, game-changing adventure to free themselves, remember who they are and reassure them there is plenty of adventure ahead.

With the beautiful backdrop of Kenya’s culture and landscape, a place where life is slow and time is savored, they take adventurous safaris, see magnificent wildlife and sit under the African stars, renewing and refreshing in luxury lodging and fine dining.

I want them to make that sacred connection between global sisters they never knew existed but always needed in a life-changing discovery.

There is so much joy in every experience with the women of Kenya. LINDA HIGDON

What’s been the women of Kenya?

Unexpected joy!

What woman doesn’t want her life honored? If we can be 100% present to her life, listen to her stories, what greater gift is there?

We come as students of the lives of the African women, receiving their gifts of wisdom, humor, and life experience. They have told us over and over how honored they are that Western women (in their very busy and important lives) have taken the time and invested their resources to come and be with them in a global sisterhood – not to donate, change or rescue anybody, but to receive them as experts of their own lives. As they are. That is the gift.

The women are thrilled each time we visit, planning months in advance, orchestrating celebrations, delectable meals, and fun in the open-air!

Women’s Journey to Kenya also gives back a percentage of all proceeds to enrich the lives of these women who give us so much of themselves.

Can you share some memorable moments from any of your trips?

Over a hot traditional lunch, we sat with the village women dressed in colorful khangas, babies in tow, when an elder woman asked us, “Why are you people always in such a hurry? Where are you going all the time?” Then, with a huge grin, she added, “You’ve got the watches, but we’ve got the time!”

Global sisterhood is very powerful. LINDA HIGDON

One guest, a banking executive, decided it was time to leave corporate stress behind. In 16 days, she fell in love with Kenya and its women. After the trip, I called her, and she said, “The thought of starting a chicken project with the village women interests me so much more than managing multi-million dollar portfolios.” One year later, she took early retirement and is now empowering an entire village of women, from her home in Atlanta.

In an amazing conversation with the Samburu tribal women, after a day of relaxing safaris and massages at our luxury tented camp, we talked about everything under the African sun. We noticed how exotic they looked in their beaded necklaces, African robes and ornate headdresses. Out of the blue, a Samburu woman asked us, “Why do American women talk about their wrinkles all the time?” From a culture that holds older women in high esteem, it was a good question!

What are some of your own personal highlights of the trips?

Our time at the Samburu Game Reserve is always magical. On one particular safari, a sudden downpour forced our van to seek shelter under a cluster of acacia trees. With the engine turned off, the rains abruptly stopped, the clouds parted and a double rainbow burst into color against a dramatic, foreboding African sky. On cue, a family of elephants walked across the horizon, a mother and baby in the lead. We didn’t breathe. We knew we were in the Sacred.

Seeing wildlife in their natural habitat is always a highlight of a trip to Africa. LINDA HIGDON

Wahu Kaara, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, shares her life and story at the beginning of our journey. She can only be described as the embodiment of African women’s spirituality. Her work to free political prisoners under a brutal dictatorship has won her a permanent place in Kenyan history. Wahu has every reason to lord her accomplishments over us, but African women’s leadership is all about community, not the individual. She is happy to talk about her work but is more interested in a lively dialogue with our travelers. She believes women’s global connections will save the world. And, with enough Wahus in the world, they will.

In 2012, my friend, Mercy Chidi Baidoo, locked arms with Canadian human rights attorneys to win a historic landmark case for girls’ rights in Kenya, known as the 160 Girls Project. The victory swept across Africa and international media, and The New York Times declared, “It’s about women lawyers (coming together) from two sides of the world. It’s (what) women and girls everywhere have been waiting for.” Our travelers have exclusive access to Mercy and the visionaries behind the 160 Girls Project to see firsthand what breakthroughs are possible for girls upholding justice. After an afternoon in Mercy’s home, one of our guests pulled me aside and apologized, “I had no idea there were such educated, powerful, sophisticated women in Africa. We never hear anything about them.” I responded, “You’re not alone. We’re all finding our way.”

Saying goodbye to the women and children of Kenya is very emotional. LINDA HIGDON

How many trips have you done so far? How have they evolved over time?

July 2019 marks our eighth official tour since we started in 2016.

Over time, we’ve opened up more free time for personal renewal and reflection.

And on each trip, I see an evolution in the quality of our engagement with the Kenyan women. They now trust our program and quirky cultural ways and are willing to open up more in sharing their lives.

What does the future look like for Global Heart Journeys? Will you be expanding in any way?

2019 is shaping up to be another milestone year for us. We are deepening our itinerary, setting our eyes on expansion to other countries, and carefully curating plans for our first-ever “encore tour” to Kenya for the many alumni travelers wanting a trip designed just for them. Once women have signed up to take the virtual tour, I hope they’ll sign up to take the real one. It’s life-changing.