YOGAJOURNAL.COM 61KASTO80/ISTOCK
20
AFRICA
- TAGHAZOUT, MOROCCO
Over the past two decades, a booming
surf-and-yoga scene has sprung up in
this sleepy fishing village five hours south
of Casablanca. Take holiday with Surf
Maroc (one of the area’s first surf-yoga
retreat companies) for daily “creative
vinyasa, powerful pranayama, laughter
yoga, restorative, yin, yoga nidra, and
meditation.” Between yoga sessions, surf
instructors provide hands-on coaching
whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned
rider. For a taste of the locale, the property’s
neighboring rooftop yoga studio offers
public classes and a chance to mingle with
the local yoga community.
21. NAMIBIA
The country’s sublime scenery—red-
sand dunes and a desolate coast riddled
with shipwrecks—and commitment to
conservation have made it Africa’s new
safari superstar. It’s no wonder zeitgeisty
yoga companies Escape to Shape and
Namaste Yoga Safari are already offering
retreats here. Escape to Shape founder
Erica Gragg boasts “one epic experience
after another: Rhinos at a drinking hole
may serve as our drishti in Virabhadrasana II
while waves lull us into Savasana after class
on the beach.” - KENYA
Deborah Calmeyer, the Zimbabwe-born
founder of travel company Roar Africa,
last year launched a new series of self-
discovery retreats called Roar & Restore,
incorporating TED Talk–worthy speakers
(conservationist Laura Turner Seydel and
world-renowned South African artist
Dylan Lewis) with yoga, meditation, and
safari drives. The conservation-minded
Segera Retreat Center, set within 50,000
acres of protected land on the Laikipia
Plateau, offers a raw-food menu and
garden-shaded yoga decks developed with
yogis in mind.