Tracking Safaris in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana

For these journeys we completely put ourselves into the mind set of a hunter gatherer as we spend time with those that consider themselves to be the "First people". We benefit from the extensive knowledge that these Bushmen have accumulated over the centuries of living in the harshest of environments in Africa. With the help of experienced guides and leaders we spend our days sharing the life of our Naro friends.
This visit requires open minds and hearts to a timeless way of life. The trip is during a time of abundance of veld foods and game in the area, making the pace of foraging easier for novices to keep up with. This Bushmen community accepts you as part of their village very quickly. They are great teachers, imparting every bit of knowledge they offer with the wisdom survival.

Our guides help us fit into a daily routine. Most days start with warming ourselves by the fire, while plans for the day are discussed. Women journey almost daily to find veld foods, the men may decide to go for a hunt or to check numerous small game snares they leave out during the night.

Midday we typically rest to avoid the heat of the day while the late afternoon is often a time to play games. This mood extends into the night when our teachers sing and dance around the fire, celebrating, trance dancing and healing. Sharing of food is very important and you will be encouraged to sample many foods they collect.

Week 1 The Origins of Culture, Mentoring & Healing

with Jon Young, Nicole Apelian & the Naro Bushmen

March 26-April 1, 2012 The natural history of connection is easily felt by people when it's working, but it is not well-studied or recognized by modern society. What exactly is connection? How does it happen? What are its benefits? What is mentoring? What is culture? How does it work? These and many other questions will guide our inquiry and deep experience with our hosts in the Kalahari.

Our week will begin in Maun, Botswana, with a gathering of participants to review the goals of the week and to acclimate to our new time zone, climate, and landscape. We will depart the next morning for our destination in the Kalahari to join with our hosts, whose lodge is in close proximity to the Naro community. This segment of the journey will take us deep into the tracking of what builds strong connections: Mentoring and culture. What restores connection when it weakens and helps to build back this important power for resilience and love? What are the healing practices that are used to bring this about? How does the culture work with these delicate threads? Participants will gain a deeper appreciation and ability to work with the threads of mentoring, culture and healing as a social practice. Participants from previous years have expressed that this experience infuses a deep sense of understanding our role with respect to one another, nature and culture. This week will produce very powerful experiences for people who work as mentors of nature connection and culture repair. 

Week 2 Hearing, Sensing & Connecting through the Language of Birds & Animals

with Jon Young, Nicole Apelian & the Naro Bushmen

April 2-8, 2012 In the search for best practices for connection, Jon Young has come to believe that bird language is one of the most powerfully effective tools. Jon has personally mentored hundreds of people in the bird language skills of his indigenous lineage elders-trainers. This almost forgotten practice, both art and science, provides an incredible work out for our human design.

Nothing brings forward the attributes of deep health and connection as fast as the meditative state known as the "quiet mind." The quiet mind is best accessed by activating our original design: be aware and connect with the communication network that surrounds us in our natural surroundings—or risk the consequences.

Nobody has greater awareness of bird language than the living practitioners of this old system of connection: hunter-gatherers.  Hunter-gatherer nomads like the Naro Bushmen thrive in landscapes that they share with deadly predators, snakes, and other dangers. They listen for the birds to tell them where danger lies, and where they can find food.  The birds may even tell them about coming changes to the weather, or other, less easily defined disturbances and transitions.

The Naro Bushmen, along with expert safari guide and friend Alwyn Myburgh, have MUCH to offer in art of bird language. Jon will be teaching the basic skills and practicing with folks each day. We will spend our days with the Bushmen and Alwyn, experiencing the application of these ancient powerful skills in the field.  At night, we'll share our stories of the day around the fire, and hear more wisdom from the lineage(s) of learning gathered there beneath the Kalahari stars. Come join us for a rare and powerful opportunity to learn bird language from some of the world's best teachers!

Week 3 Holistic Animal Tracking & Awareness: Read the Landscape & Tell Its Stories

with Jon Young, Nicole Apelian & the Naro Bushmen

April 9-15, 2012 The Power of the Storyteller is one of the core design elements of talent, creativity, expression, leadership, genius and even healing. When the traditional skill of storytelling is combined with keen observation of the landscape and the signs of the other forms of life that inhabit it, the talent of holistic tracking emerges.  The traditional tracker combines his or her observations of disturbances to baseline conditions with the ability to "read" the story that the disturbances are telling to learn what has transpired on the land.  At its highest level, this process requires the activation of all our sensing and connective systems. We are called to use our eyes in many more ways than we might even know about... the modern experience does not offer a comparison. Our ears are called to be calibrated to refined degrees to hear dimensions of sounds, shapes and sensations. The whole body dances in the story of the day to capture the essence of the learning. Our proprioception and vestibular instincts sing with the fullness of fulfillment of the deepest instinct to fully participate in the process of expression. Our tactile senses and olfactory roots awaken with ancient memory and potential. Our dreams deepen. Our minds relive days in full sensory experience. Our emotions awaken as a connective sense. The taste buds come to the edge of their seats and look with anticipation over the communication occurring there. Our meals come alive. We dance the Great Dance of tracking.

We will learn from true masters of this ancient art: The Naro Bushmen. Each day we will be led through routines for developing our own holistic tracking powers, and will walk out on the land in the company of the Naro.  Join Jon Young, Nicole Apelian, Alwyn Myburgh and the amazingly skilled and authentic trackers among the Naro Bushmen for an unforgettable and life-changing immersion in the art and science of tracking. Hunting and gathering by day, stories by the fire at night, exercises to fill in the spaces in between and lots of great meals and fun to be had! 

10-day Trip Animal Tracking & Communication in the Kalahari & Khwai River Delta

with Jon Young, Anna Breytenbach, Nicole Apelian & the Naro Bushmen

April 18-27, 2012 This ten day program will be led by animal communication expert Anna Breytenbach, tracking & bird language expert Jon Young, big-cat expert, tracker and wilderness guide Nicole Apelian, and experienced wilderness guide, tracker, and master naturalist Alwyn Myburgh. The group will work closely with the Naro community for the first week of the expedition, before heading off to the Khwai River wilderness to experience new wildlife and habitats. This beautiful area is known for its rich wildlife, and we will see many species here not found in the dry Kalahari.

These 10 days will be a culminating experience that brings together elements from all the Origins Project's subject areas gathered from the three prior weeks by the leadership team. We expect another amazing experience with the Naro in a hunting and gathering setting, and will settle into powerful exercises developed from the team's repertoire of experiential training and mentoring expertise. Jon Young and Anna Breytenbach are featured in a documentary (in production) examining the indigenous roots of interspecies communication abilities and examining current expressions of this work with everything from pets to wildlife in wild settings. Come join Jon, Anna and Nicole for an intimate and powerful journey learning from the Bushmen, the wildlife, the landscape and each other.