SAFARI WILDERNESS ADVENTURE - 14 days
Wilderness Adventures take us into the heart of South Africa, a nation of emerging freedom and a land of breathtaking beauty and contrast!
Touch the core of your spirit as you enjoy close encounters with wildlife, share Councils under African night skies, visit with African traditional healers, explore the breath-giving wilderness, and enjoy a time of solitude in this beautiful land. It is a pilgrimage to connect with the heart of Africa and to learn from her teachings. In a small group of fellow travellers, we shed our city skins and open to the freedom that awaits us in the wilderness beyond our everyday distractions. We return invigorated and forever changed by the magic of this country and our fellow community!
Johannesburg - iGoldi - 'The City of Gold'
Landing...our starting point.
We will begin our journey through South Africa in Johannesburg, an inland city in the north-eastern part of the country. We'll spend our first night together in Dullstroom, a village near Johannesburg known for it's "fresh air, fly-fishing, fine food and log fires". Here we will begin to create our community.
Most evenings during the 14-day trek we'll come together in a Council Circle. This will be a special time set aside for stilling the mind, listening with the heart, and speaking our truth. A talking piece will be passed around our circle from individual to individual, empowering the person who holds it to share their story, invoke their power while the rest remain silent, listening with hearts open to another's telling.
Gomo Gomo Lodge - Timbavati Reserve
Safari-time in a private bush camp...interaction with the natural world...close encounters with the Big Five...circles to embrace the unknown.
From Dullstroom we will caravan eastward into the Mpumalanga region, where we will spend four nights in a private bush camp in one of the worlds few remaining extensive tracts of unspoiled wilderness - the famous Timbavati Reserve, birthplace of the white lions. Here the city noises are exchanged for the melodies of silence and sounds that are gentle to the ear. We will take the next step inward as we relate to the wildness of the animals, including the rhino, elephant, buffalo, leopard and lion, and of the untamed terrain we will explore.
In Gomo Gomo we will enjoy the thrill of close encounters with the Big 5 from open land rovers as well as a walking safari accompanied by an experienced ranger and a Shangaan tracker. Raw Africa...mysterious, haunting, enticing!
We will enjoy hearty South African cuisine in an open-sided thatched 'lapa' during the day, and around a campfire at night. Evening circles will focus on moving beyond fear and opening to embrace the unknown.
Shangana Cultural Village
African tribal celebration...traditional dancing, singing, stories, feast!
After communing with the feral citizens of Timbavati, we venture south through bushveld and rocky hills to Hazyview where we will spend one night. Here we will visit the Shangana Cultural Village where we'll be introduced to life in a tribal community.
After a short walk through the Marula Market, center for local crafts and curios, we will visit the Shangaan village set in the shade of African Chestnut trees. As the sun sets, we will participate in an evening festival where choirs, actors and dancers gather to tell the story of the Shangaan people. We will share a traditional feast with the chief and his wives.
Kingdom of Swaziland
The smallest country in the southern hemisphere!
After breakfast, we will journey onwards to this tiny landlocked kingdom. Here we'll visit a nature reserve and stay in a wildlife sanctuary in the eZulwini valley, where the royal palace is located. The Mlilwane Rest Camp is home to hippopotami, crocodile and a variety of water birds. Our accommodation will be in 'beehives' - grass, dome-shaped huts arranged in a semi-circle like a traditional kraal.
KwaZulu Natal - Drakensberg Mountains
Pristine wilderness in the heart of South Africa...hiking...a time for reflection.
From Swaziland we will travel to the land of the Zulu, KwaZulu-Natal and to the majestic Drakensberg Mountains, considered by many to be the 'heart' of South Africa.
KwaZulu-Natal's extraordinary scenic diversity encompasses wilderness, sandy beaches, soaring mountain peaks, farmlands, towns and hills of the Midlands. Peaceful and pastoral today, the Midlands were once the scene of violent clashes between Zulus, Boers and Britons.
Before sunset we will arrive at our chalets in the beautiful Royal Natal National Park in the foothills of the Drakensberg. Here the natural splendor sings of the glory of creation with myriad species of African wild flowers and the ever-changing subtle colors of the peaks.
Here we will voyage deeper into ourselves, not only through our Council Circles and walks into a wilderness of unparalleled beauty, but also through time set aside for individual reflection. The steep gorges, sheer basalt outcrops, dramatic waterfalls and inaccessible peaks will be our setting to reflect on the choices we have made that have brought us to this present moment and to our individual destinies.
Durban - eThekwini
Where the earth and the ocean meet.
Our last night will be spent at a hotel near the effervescent ocean north of Durban. This part of our trip is about reintegration back into modern society. In this subtropical atmosphere we will have our closing celebration and last council. Then we'll go our own ways once again, forever changed, grateful for our time together in celebration of the spirit of freedom!
Although I enjoyed the animals, the scenery - some of the most spectacular I have ever seen, the learning about South Africa's various [conflicted and conflicting] cultures, the fellowship and the food, the highlight of this adventure was the spiritual sensibility that informed everything we did. Council circles each evening encouraged us to go deeper into what we had experienced that day and what lessons we might learn. I am delighted by the many facets of South Africa I was able to experience on this trip but I am even more grateful for the places within myself that I discovered. [Doug Adrianson, Ojai. USA]
