WILD AGAIN STORIES
Something we hear from our guests often is that they get a certain feeling on safari. Alive, relaxed, present, connected and joyful are some of the ways it’s described. It’s this that many have questioned how to better keep alive when they return home. At the heart of what we do is connect people to the wilderness and so (with the help of the African bushveld) we’ve designed a way to transport you across time and space by igniting those memories and feelings…
The sky began to shift from deep indigo to dusty pink and then bright orange, the sun rising steadily to our east, casting a golden light over the plains. The bush stirred to life. Birds launched into their dawn chorus and, somewhere in the distance, lions roared - Wild Again team member, Robyn, shares her recent experience of an all-day safari in Botswana's Okavango Delta.
Tracking is different in each season, with different clues being important at different times of the year. In winter, the dry dusty earth divulges a map of clues and signs that need interpretation and intuition. Layers of tracks are time stamps for who has wandered where and when, and a combination of understanding animal behaviour and sharp observation is needed to untangle the messages.
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We’re living in a world that moves fast - too fast for our breath, our bodies, and our nervous systems. A world where attention has become currency, silence feels unfamiliar, and creativity is often replaced with scrolling. And while technology offers us so much, many of us are quietly aching for something we can’t quite name. And here’s what we’ve come to believe: the wilderness remembers what we’ve forgotten. It offers freely what we’ve lost.
Founder, Private Guide and Safari Planner
Being born the daughter of David Attenborough (it’s true but he’s probably not the one you’re thinking of) I don’t believe I ever really had much choice about what direction my life would take. I grew up in the city of Durban, South Africa but for as long as I can remember nature has called to me. Whenever I could I would escape to the forests around my home barefoot and in search of chameleons and red duiker to befriend.
And so in 2010, after completing my Journalism and Media Studies degree, I followed that calling to the wilds of Southern Africa to become a game ranger. I planned to stay for a year but it turned into ten. During that time, I worked at Phinda Private Game Reserve, Ngala Private Game Reserve and Londolozi Game Reserve, some of South Africa’s most prestigious lodges and immersed myself in the natural world. I learnt to track animals with Zulu and Shangaan trackers and spent as much time as I could on foot approaching animals with my guests. I also put my photojournalism degree to use by becoming a specialist photographic guide. I travelled to Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, India and throughout South America in search of wildlife. My greatest adventure was living in Gabon training local guides for the WWF and Smithsonian Institute, where we spent weeks at a time living like early nomads in the dense and remote coastal forests, fulfilling a life-long dream of tracking and habituating wild gorillas. Seeing how embodied and present animals are inspired me to begin practicing yoga. I am a qualified vinyasa and yin teacher and spent six months training under a Hatha master in Boulder, Colorado. I am also a certified Martha Beck life coach. With this mixture of knowledge, interests and skills, I started Wild Again to help others really experience the wild places I know and love so much. Through my specialised Wellness Safaris that incorporate yoga, meditation, mindfulness and personalised life coaching I continue to grow more conscious safaris that return people to nature and to themselves. As we re-wild ourselves we hear the earth, our common mother, again. It is only then that we can co-create with her healing.
Tell us if you’re keen to plan a safari or join a retreat. We’re ready to create your dream experience.
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