Adventure

A sense and pull of adventure was gaining momentum towards the end of last year, plus the need for a creative injection. Maybe it was the responsibility of having children at school, this was coming to an end. Yay, 15 years of giving our kids the best possible school education, not to be confused with happy life education, that’s for them to discover and I’ll be cheering them on from the side lines. All was complete. A major “must do” item on the parent to do list was done. It’s a big chunk of time in anyone’s lifetime. Naudic was also growing up, changing and evolving.

It wasn’t the touristy type of adventure, it was the real living type of adventure, experience something new, away from old patterns, beliefs and same same’s. It hung around and distracted me during Christmas through to the New Year, it wasn’t going away no matter how much I tried to ignore it. So I made a deal with myself not to fall back into easy flow of similar patterns for another year, listen to the signs and start moving towards that.

I’ve over analysed why I have a travel bug. Does an adventurous spirit come from childhood, how we’ve been raised, allowed to roam freely or are we born with that inner urge to travel, to seek, to connect? Why are some of us drawn to places we’ve never experienced before and when you arrive, you cross paths with people who are different to you, magical meetings take place and our idiosyncrasies, replaces closed mindsets, ideas and conversations of generosity are shared. Some light was shed on the travel bug issue, when we went to Shamwari Private Reserve.

History

As a kid, an annual family event which I looked forward to was visiting the Zoo. I know that sounds strange as I start to talk about a safari, but it’s all I knew, the Zoo’s were great, animals well looked after, fed and some Zoo’s you could drive through, animals roamed free and would come up to the car window for us to feed them. Our mother was good at making a big deal about these events, so that it felt special to us, she dressed us up for the occasion and liked taking photos of the 5 of us in matching outfits, her tribe and no, I didn’t make that vest I’m wearing in the picture.

Since then I’ve had experiences visiting wildlife reserves in Borneo, Zoo’s around the world, and now a Safari in Africa.

Naudic

It’s a huge thanks to the Naudic South African agents, Sidney and Rick, that all sales appointments in Capetown were seamlessly completed. With a couple of days to spare between Capetown and the next round of appointments in Plettenberg Bay, we had time to squeeze in a Safari, Shamwari was highly recommended. Free to fly off, we landed into Port Elizabeth without much of a plan, (just the way I like, no plan is better) hire a car to get from A to B, accommodation and a booking for a morning Safari.

Travel

Landing into Port Elizabeth one afternoon, hiring a car was a mini-adventure, not realising I was travelling with an expired license, after some serious negotiation we took off and did an easy 3 hour drive from the airport to the game reserve.

Driving through South Africa is like watching the best of the worlds landscape pass by your eyes, on one side there can be mountains and ranges and the other side of the road there can be water, gully’s and low lying vegetation, it’s dramatic and breathtaking all at the same time.

Photos by @keyurbs — *Photos by* *@keyurbs*

The afternoon drive, turned into night, thanks to the delay by the power hungry lady at the car hire counter, (what’s with people in uniform) we got to witness the African landscape transform through every texture of green into night black. The point where the black sky and African horizon meet, kindly decided to entertain us with a magnificent thunderstorm, the best I’ve ever seen, 30 mins of fork lightning flashing straight in front of us.

A sign, which could easily be missed, pointed us down a bumpy off the beaten track road which finished at the unassuming but welcoming gates of Shamwari private reserve, I knew straight away I was going to like it here. The warmth of this place continued throughout the 3 days, big hearts that could be seen through big smiles, warm spicy tea after each adventure, local food from the region for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You could dedicate a full chapter if you were an educated foodie. I just enjoyed sitting and sharing the meals, whilst listening to the rangers and their endless knowledge.

I could go on and on about Shamwari and its staff, it’s service, the accommodation, it is top shelf. The best first introduction to a South African wildlife reserve you could wish for.

There were some unknowns yet to appear; behind the scenes of “I wish this was my home” were a team of understated, passionate and invisible hands that have been super busy over the past 25 years, racing against time and working towards “Conserving a Vanishing Way of Life” on this piece of land that we were enjoying. Collaborations between Shamwari and organisations like The Born Free Association, have been rebuilding this reserve and wildlife to restore it to its original state.

You read and hear about these issues, but to be sitting in amongst it, around a table talking over dinner, changes you. Animals are vanishing and on the verge of extinction, our children’s kids won’t see some of the animals we used to seeing, due to poaching and other environmental issues. It is overwhelming. Their mission is to “Return the land to its once pristine condition by paying respect to Mother Nature and her many gifts”. I have seen this in India, Taiwan and now in Africa, small groups of people and more are forming, who are actively paying respect to Mother Nature. How can we help, by capturing it and getting their message out there?

Photos by @keyurbs

Conversation

Just like food, which tastes better when shared, so are ideas and conversations. Sitting around the Shamwari fire at the end of the day, we luckily got to meet these 3 people who have left a mark on my heart. Instead of sticking to themselves or ignoring us, we were invited to join them for dinner. We spent hours listening and talking about their work. They understood ideas shared can spark a chain and you never know what could happen.

The resident Vet, Johan, who has worked and dedicated his whole life to rescuing; saving injured, captive, orphaned or abandoned animals. He talked about the stories which I unfortunately didn’t capture as it was early days on where I was heading with this Blog, I hadn’t even started releasing the first parts from Round the Globe. Pause : Life/Business lessons learnt “insert here”

Catherine who runs the Born Free organisation at Shamwari. Glen is the Global Born Free Manager, together with others they are working around the world to protect animals in their natural habitat and “Keep Wildlife in the Wild”

We drove out of there with a heavy heart, full of love and took off along the beautiful Garden Route towards Plettenbery Bay to be reunited with our South African “family”. I slept or just stared out the car window looking at this magnificent country, thinking this is the life and with a knot in my stomach, all at the same time. We had shared an incredible experience and I felt I could no longer resist the changes that were taking place, as the new framework was showing glimpses of a shape.

Business

I don’t play by the rules of others, hence why I’ve always wanted to be my own boss and walk to the beat of my own drum, pave my own path. The flip side is, I’m not good with confrontation and usually only say things once. I’ve tried a couple of partnerships; which have run their course in time. Quite often other people’s rules can trigger a reaction or worse; silence, neither are a good thing. Business lessons, on partnership pitfalls, I’ll write about one day, again nothing new just my version which may help someone.

Fashion

When packing for this trip, I only had my Naudic sales hat on so didn’t pack for a Safari, opps. Naudic hasn’t done an outdoors collection yet, since I love being outdoors getting windswept and touched by the elements, it has been added to that “good ideas” list, which I may get around to. So I had to beg, borrow and steal from my South African fam. Luckily they are all super trendy, so I was also going to look the part in the photos, double win. Note, always check the weather, it gets cool and you burn up energy from being out and in amongst the action of the wilderness. This trip, the colours, the textures, nature inspired me to create the next Collection called “Trailblazer”will be in stores in March 2020.

Tips on must haves to pack

A couple of pairs of cargo pants
A long-sleeved shirt with collar to protect from sun, wind and rain
Hats, wide brimmed hats or caps
Fleece to keep the chill away from the bones
Puffer jacket to stay dry
One of these amazing safari raincoats, it is army green, they have a hoddie which you can put up over your head to stay warm and big enough to wrap around your body and tuck under your legs to stay dry, we loved them.
Camera, Video and a good pair of Binoculars
Apologies, small plug for Naudic: it works for relaxed evenings, lounge wear or out during the day when the sun is shining.
A diary to write about your day, as each day is filled with so many new experiences you don’t want to forget about them, kind of like what has happened to me writing about this 8 months later, no excuses, it’s been a big year.

The 3 days we spent there we had 4 drives, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. On one occasion we asked if we could go out on a private tour because we had heard there was a loin kill and didn’t want to miss this. We had two incredible guides, both knew the land like the back of their hand and drove us to see all the wildlife in their natural state.

One of my go to favourite quotes for many years has been this and it springs to mind after this adventure.

A heartfelt thank you to the people, the staff and all the team that we met along the way, and showed us this special place, our first African adventure that made an arc in my path. Also to exploration partner, Director and Film Storyteller, Keyur, who cares and films to show genuine moments of connection, by listening and paying attention. Double bonus is he can film, snap a picture and tune in a car playlist, all at the same time.

Once again, cheers to the power of travel and conversations, that bond and transport us from strangers to friends. High five to courage for showing up and diving in, written words are one of the bravest things I’ll ever do. To the rare gem of real life filming and being true. To playlists and music that ties it all together in a unbiased way.

Most importantly to serving, respecting and having fun with Mother Nature, giving back more than we take. When there is worry about the environment, there is also unknown positive examples of what can be done now, that has benefits today and for the future.

Still learning, Emma x

South Africa Part 2 - Shamwari Private Reserve