Alive in the wilderness community trail
- healingpaths69
- Apr 28
- 4 min read
Updated: May 19
Guest Blog by Bridget Pitt;
Now that I’m home, I feel like I am going to be up again with my torch shining around and having this beautiful moment with myself… I thought I would finish the trail tired, but I don’t feel tired, I feel very refreshed. I’m so grateful. Thank you Malumi for making me walk on the wild side and to discover my inner strength - - Kululwe
This is something that I never knew that I needed, Now I have discovered that that this is the most important medicine that I needed in my life
This place is more than life to me, in this place, you feel close to your roots, you feel close to who you are ... this is the place of finding myself and yourself. I was involved in a car accident and I came into the wilderness this time with sadness that I am not going to make it but the wilderness seemed to carry me through like a young child ... - Mbuso
I was afraid and felt a lot of inner turbulence when I started the night watch, but after thirty minutes everything became still and I floated on this beautiful peacefulness, serenity and tranquility. It is something I never felt before - Simangele
These quotes capture the impressions of community members who experienced a five wilderness trail in the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Nature Reserve. The ten trailists were all from villages close to the reserve, but few had had the opportunity to experience the wildlife there.
The trail was led by Sicelo Mbatha, a spiritual wilderness guide, who has taken hundreds of people on wilderness trails - many from other continents. However, as someone who grew up near the reserve himself, he has always been mindful of the exclusion of local people from experiencing the wilderness areas, due to poverty and historical apartheid. Taking them into the wilderness has long been his dream.
I first discussed this with him in 2014. We raised funds for a trail in the Drakensberg, but at that time Sicelo was working to establish his own company, and to secure access to the wilderness areas as an independent guide, so the project was put on hold.
In 2023, this vision took a leap forward. While on trail, a group of international and South African trailists encountered the carcass of a dead rhino which had been killed for its horn. This shocking discovery led to a conversation about the many complex socio-economic drivers of the poaching crisis decimating local rhino populations. One of these, Sicelo explained, is that local people have little access to opportunities to spend time in the reserve and connect with the wild plants and animals.
This discussion led to the birth of Alive in the Wilderness, as those on trail undertook to donate or raise funds to enable local people to have an immersive wilderness experience. This community trail was the first of these. Also on the trail were myself, and Grace Harrison, a filmmaker. Our task was to capture the story of the trail and the project, so that it may inspire others to contribute to this amazing project.
We were privileged to witness the wealth of insight and healing this trail brought to the community members. And to experience much transformation and healing ourselves — not only from being in the wilderness, but from spending time with our fellow trailists. South Africa is a society riven with divisions: racial, economic, cultural, historical. But a wilderness trail is a great leveler, as you are all equally vulnerable, and equally dependent on each other to keep safe. For both of us, this was a rare opportunity to look deeply into our understanding of what it is to be South African descendants of white colonialists in a country still suffering their legacy.
I have tried to capture this story through the Diary of a trail of storms and light, but perhaps Sicelo sums it up best:
“Being in the wilderness gave them the opportunity … to look deep into the pain of their suffering, and to be able to use the solitude of night watch to reflect on the direction and purpose of their lives… it helped them to drop the weight from their shoulders, to discover how they can walk in harmony with their lives and how they can carry the light they found in the wilderness back into their lives, so that they can use it in the future.
“It is amazing how this rhino which was poached has given birth to these experiences for the people who attended this trail, so it is the soul of the rhino that is now introducing this new life into the hearts of the people.”
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