Guided by Carmine
Wilding Retreats with Jenna van de Ruit
and Richard Maasdorp
Sand sighs under
the soft footfalls of elephant.
Their moonlit shadows
brush over me whispering
listen.
- Richard Maasdorp
The Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe
One or two times a year we share our deep friendship with the Zambezi Valley in person and gather with nine creatives, naturalists, and advocates for a week in the wild. This safari bypasses the traditional patter of knowledge and takes you to a place of knowing, feeling and sensing, paying attention to the small, the detailed, and the extraordinary.
Mana Days
Safari meant to go on a journey.
Long walks
We begin our mornings at sunrise with long, silent walks, which we set up the walk the night before so you can wake into stillness. A professional guide accompanies us and we stop at points for short activities. You might stand blindfolded while we keep watch or sit by a waterhole and note how the warthogs dig or write about the tree that towers above you, where Meyer’s parrots and violet-backed starlings come to land.
Workshops
Workshops draw from a wide range of meditative and storytelling practices and techniques that we have built over several years.
Rest
After lunch there are a few hours of unstructured time. We provide plenty of exercises and prompts, and also want to make sure there is time for you to explore fully on your own and take in the practices or simply enjoy a midday nap.
Creativity
Many of our workshops incorporate creative exercises—not to produce anything but to see and play. You do not need to know how to write. Your naturalist will enjoy these techniques as much as your artist. When we meet things fully, creation is inevitable.
Excursions
Late afternoon we alight on other adventure, and have time on the water as swallows circle, watch the sun set from a viewpoint over the valley, or be near elephants as they dig in the sand.
Storytelling
In the evening we have a short session where we share poetry, music, and stories about this place, its Gods and its history.
We are bare and in beauty, instinctual, in praise of where we walk, slightly unhinged, and free.
Experiences
“A masterclass in creativity.” – Steven Chikosi
One of our participants, Nora Müller, an architect and curator of Mbare Arts Space, felt inspired to document her experience, which she has generously shared. She said she usually goes on holiday with an empty notebook and might write a few pages but this time wrote and wrote and wrote. You can download some of her gorgeous thoughts and images here.
Bookings
For inquiries on our next retreat openings or how to request one as a group, please email guidedbycarmine@gmail.com.
