By Dr Justine Shaw, Expedition Lead – Homeward Bound
I’m writing this from a balcony in the Serengeti as the sun rises over the plains. It’s 7am, the air is cool, and the birds are in full chorus — hornbills sweeping overhead, guinea fowl skittering past, and the soft shuffle of zebra moving through camp. Buffalo are just starting to emerge from the waterholes as the world wakes up around us.
This environment is not just a backdrop for Homeward Bound.
It’s part of the curriculum. It’s one of our teachers.
A Classroom In Nature
We’re staying inside Serengeti National Park — an extraordinary landscape of rolling flat plains, distant forested hills, and acacia woodlands dotted across the Savannah.
At any moment we’re sharing space with waterbuck, impala, agama lizards climbing tree trunks, and hundreds of bird species. Every night, zebra wander quietly through camp.
It’s hard to imagine a more humbling or inspiring setting to explore leadership, impact, and the future of our planet.
Leadership, Collaboration and STEMM in Context
Over the past days, our cohort has been working in project teams — ideas they’ve developed themselves, each one connected to sustainability, social justice or equity.
We’re using these projects not only as outputs, but as the vehicle for learning. As participants shape their initiatives, we’re introducing different frames and tools to help them think more strategically, collaboratively, and inclusively. They’re practising leadership in real time:
- influencing
- motivating others
- navigating privilege and inequity
- making decisions in diverse groups
- experimenting with their own leadership styles
We’ve also taken intentional pauses to reflect on what it means to be women with STEMM backgrounds doing this work here, in Tanzania — surrounded by lions, elephants, wildebeest, and the vastness of wilderness.
Seeing the world this way changes you. It anchors the science in something lived, visceral, impossible to ignore.
Diverse Voices, Shared Insights
Our group is beautifully diverse — from Kenya, Tanzania, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, and many other places. The mix of backgrounds has sparked deep, rich conversations and unexpected learnings.
Our guiding coalition has been extraordinary, sharing their wisdom and guidance in many ways:
- Abena has taken us through the history of feminism, grounding us in what has come before and the women whose work allows us to stand where we are.
- Musumbi has shared insights into sponsorship, fundraising and philanthropy — opening pathways for how women can seek funding to bring their ideas to life.
And the participants themselves — they are remarkable. Their stories, their day jobs, their leadership experiences, and the challenges they’ve overcome have created a tapestry of insight and strength.
Learning From Wildlife
Our days have been a rhythm of workshops, reflection sessions and other activities.
There’s something powerful about sitting together as leaders and watching a herd of elephants protect their young — the silent coordination, the awareness of every member, the collective responsibility.
These moments force us to ask:
What can nature teach us about leadership? About care? About protecting what matters?
And what does it mean for conservation, for the future of biodiversity, to witness these animals thriving in such an expansive, intact wilderness?
Looking Ahead
The projects are entering their final stages, and people are beginning to envision how they want to collaborate into the future — what they want Homeward Bound to become, and what they want to bring back to their communities and fields.
The food has been incredible (last night was Swahili night), and the conference venue overlooks impala grazing as we work. It’s surreal in the most beautiful way.
This place is magic.
This group is extraordinary.
And the learning — shared, grounded, courageous — is exactly why Homeward Bound exists.
From the Serengeti,
— Justine
