It’s been a month since one of the most profound travel experiences of my life so far began. For my last blog post on May 4th I couldn’t even find the words I was so excited about the upcoming adventure and so just posted a pic of a recent painting. But here I am at the other end of it and still processing. And while I have been posting photo highlights in Instagram @dragonfly.travelling, it is taking time to reflect in writing.
In the days since I got home and back into my “life as usual” routine, I have also spent a lot of time writing about this journey. This writing has been with the hope of being published on a few different travel platforms that help champion Blue Sky Society’s Journeys with Purpose. Now that task is mostly complete, I have time to shift focus to reflecting in my Pure Spaces way.
To be honest I did not have any real expectations about this trip. Rare for me but I decided to just be in the flow of the moment, so utterly grateful for an opportunity to set foot on African soil again.
Now as I continue to reflect on these past weeks, I am starting to put pieces of a much bigger picture together. I have decided the universe works in some mysterious ways. It will take a couple of posts over the coming weeks to show what I mean by this.
Let’s start with introducing Carla Geyser, the founder of the Blue Sky Society Trust. The organiser and leader of our expedition and the brains behind Journeys with Purpose. In 2016 I’d read about the Elephant Ignite Expedition, the first of Carla Geyser’s epic African journeys – an all-female crew travelling 10 000 km through 10 African countries raising money for conservation NGOs, raising awareness for the plight of African wildlife and raising the profile of women working with wildlife. At the time I wrote in the margin of my journal “blue sky society trust”. Then life happened. Fast forward to November 2018 and Carla opens applications for JWP01 May 2019 – fundraising for Elephants Alive and the expedition being to collar elephants in Gilé National Reserve, Mozambique. Without hesitation I applied.
On 15 March 2019 Cyclone Idai hit the Mozambique coast making landfall at Beira and causing devastation up and the down the coast as well as inland. JWP01 going ahead in May seemed doomed. But Carla got straight onto Plan B and JWP01 South eventuated.
I now have the honour of calling Carla a friend and kindred spirit. Sharing the road with her, Dora and the rest of our small crew was infinitely rewarding and so so much fun. And that is saying something for this introverted wanderer who travels alone most often.
Dora is Carla’s 22 year old TDi Defender short wheelbase landy well kitted out and beautifully branded with her pink accessories. She has oodles of character just like proud “mom”, Carla.
So we couldn’t get to Gilé to help with the elephant collaring project. But it turns out a new purpose was playing itself out…
And so on a cool, clear May day five adventurous ladies set out on an overland expedition to visit some out of the way places in north eastern South Africa, northern eSwatini and southern Mozambique over 14 days. Our Journey with Purpose was to immerse ourselves in the African bush to soak up some Mama Africa time…. Oh so good for the soul!
The next 14 days held so many delightful wildlife moments and new landscapes to explore. The mixed bushwillow plains around the Hoedspruit area with its stunning escarpment backdrop providing dramatic vistas at every turn. The autumn colours of the Mopane bush around the Letaba area in Kruger National Park. The top of the world rocky outcrops of the Lebombo Mountains in eSwatini. The coastal plains, undulating grassy dunes and tangled forest of the Maputo Special Reserve in Mozambique. The clear, blue waters of Maputo Bay edged in mangrove. We saw so many species – insects, reptiles, birds and of course all the iconic mammals. Special moments with elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard, spotted hyena, giraffe, zebra, impala, nyala, kudu, hippo, a pod of endangered humpback dolphins and so much more. I think our leopard count was 5! The one lion sighting was this lioness up a tree! For me the rhino sightings were extra special as they are my spirit animal. I think Cat was okay with our cat count as they are her favourites. Remke loved the ellies and the monkeys. And I think Carla and Bella got a kick out of everything wild we saw. All of us aware of the privilege to encounter this wildlife at all.
I felt so at home travelling with these amazing women from the very beginning. If I had any trepidation in the lead up to a trip like this it would be how five strangers would get along in such close quarters. I don’t think that was a problem for us at all. In fact it was the evening of day 3 and we were sitting round the fire at the end of an incredible day in the bush tracking elephant when I voiced to the group that I felt I was among my tribe. That evening proved quite profound for me. A feeling of absolute peace like I haven’t felt since I was a child. Feeling truly at home and among my tribe. And all this to the soundtrack of the Fiery-necked Nightjars and the calls of the Black-backed Jackal. Bliss…
