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Over the years, we have had numerous requests from individuals and groups of people who want to experience an even more intimate experience of the African wilderness than that offered by our typical walking safaris.
On the one hand, some people have already experienced walking safaris out of the comfort of lodges or tented camps and would like to take the experience to a “deeper” level by walking through the wilderness with a backpack carrying all of their supplies. On such wilderness trails, the group follows armed guides on a variable route through the bush, finding a new campsite every night where they cook their food over a campfire and sleep out under the stars.
A highlight of such trails is the “fire watch”, where members of the group take turns of hourly shifts to keep watch by the fire over the sleeping camp throughout the night. Most people find this to be one of the most exhilarating experiences of their lives as they find themselves alone with their thoughts, surrounded by the sounds and atmosphere of the dark African night.
On the other hand, we provide wilderness trail experiences to specialist interest groups, such as professional practitioners of Jungian Depth Psychology interested in exploring the inner wilderness of their own personal unconscious. As Carl Jung said, such an “inner” journey is most easily entered into through the “outer” wilderness by following the same trails our ancient ancestors would have walked through the wilderness many thousands of years ago, as small bands of Bushman hunter-gatherers. In this way, the ancient person deep inside our personal unconscious is awakened by a flash-back to our primordeal past when we were one with the wilderness and an intimate part of it, not above or superior to it in any way.
Once one has come to truly understand the deep interconnectedness of all things in Nature, one can never look at the cosmos, ourselves in it, and the cosmos in us in the same way ever again.
Wilderness Trail
With a small group of max. 8 people we set out on a 5-day wilderness trail in the Imfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal. You will be living and walking in the African bush, with none of the trappings of the modern world – you leave behind modern accoutrements and comforts, such as radios, mobile phones, alcohol, books, playing cards and deodorant. You will be travelling light and experiencing the wild in its most purest form, essentially living off the land!
The trail is not a walking safari in the traditional sense, with the objective of seeing wildlife, although you will see plenty. It is a more holistic experience, aimed at seeing the bush from an African, rather than a Western perspective.
Carrying only basic equipment and food and bathing in rivers, trailists experience the freedom of living with the minimum of sophistication. The guides cook hearty meals on an open fire with the help from everyone. Night watch offers the trailist the quiet time for introspection and solitude and the opportunity to reflect on the day’s experiences. Sleeping in nature, under the clear African sky often results in very special dreams. Trailists are encouraged to focus on their dreams during the trail and write them down.
Phuzamoya Dream Centre
After the trail ends there is an option to travel to the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains and check in at a charming country house, Thistledown Country Lodge. The main purpose is to visit the Phuzamoya Dream Centre of Dr. Ian Player, an international legend in nature conservation, founder of the Wilderness Leadership School, the international World Wilderness Congress, held in a different world city every four years, and the man who “invented” wilderness trails in this day and age, along with his Zulu friend and mentor, Macqubu Ntombela in 1957.
Dr Player will talk to us about the concept of wilderness, its deep significance in our lives and its vital importance to the world. For those interested in Jungian depth psychology and the significance of dreams emanating from the wilderness trail, Dr Sheila Berry, a psychologist who runs the Phuzamoya Dream Centre, will be on hand to discuss and guide you in interpreting and analyzing what you have experienced.
More on the Wilderness Leadership School…
The Wilderness Leadership School is a non-profit organisation founded on the vision of Dr Ian Player and his great friend and mentor, Magqubu Ntombela. Their profound friendship took them along rhino, elephant and hippo paths, across the Black and White Imfolozi Rivers, and into the domain of ancient Zulu kings. Their association involved battling against poaching gangs, initiating the internationally famous translocation of the White Rhino, setting aside the first wilderness area and saw the founding of the Wilderness Leadership School (WLS). The WLS runs wilderness trails around the country, based on the same ethos as the Bushmen, living deliberately on the land as they do.
Bookings
Kukummi’s special Trails into the Soul are perfect for teambuilding and leadership training, but will appeal to everyone who wants to reconnect with Nature.