There is a part of you that is wild. You were born with this Wild Self. Before you were taught who and what to be by society, this Wild Self was with you – stalking free and barefoot in the undergrowth. The Wild Self is your most essential nature lying dormant and quietly camouflaged under all the “shoulds” and “have to’s” of modern life… patiently waiting for you – Boyd Varty

For almost 100 years, there has been a wild self that has guided the trajectory of Londolozi. Some may say that it started with the early pioneering adventure of Charles Varty and Frank Unger who, after one too many gin and tonics at a tennis party, listened to a wild part of themselves that guided them to buy this piece of bankrupt land – sight unseen in a forgotten part of the country. Some may say it started even long before that…

We have seen this wild, inner knowing repeated many more times around many campfires since the inception of Londolozi. What we know for sure is that Londolozi stands today because of this wild self. When their father unexpectedly passed away, Dave, John, and soon thereafter Shan Varty, had a wild voice that whispered to them to stay the course and explore what this special wilderness had to teach them, and the many who have come after them.

Dr. Ken Tinley, a deep ecologist and early Londolozi mentor – when writing his dissertation alone in Mozambique, had an encounter with wilderness. He felt deeply attuned to nature to the point where he said could feel the rivers moving through his veins and feel the way that the moisture travelled through the terrain around him. He brought this wisdom from his wild self to Londolozi in 1979.

Today, in 2024, I stand here having witnessed many people on safari discover their Wild Self on the back of a safari vehicle, wading barefoot through Taylors Crossing, or perhaps just quietly looking up for the first time in a long time into a night sky full of stars.

What is The Wild Self?

There is a Wild Self inside each one of us. It’s the part of us that is deeply connected to our essence. It’s the part that lives in a deep knowing of how to be in the world – carefree of the ideals and demands that society or culture places on us. The Wild Self never disappears. It may, at times, be hidden or obstructed by those parts of us that are fuelled by shoulds, coulds or have-tos. But, when we connect with the Wild Self, life begins to feel like perpetual play. Time stands still. Hours can pass in an instant. Connecting with the Wild Self feels like an immense homecoming. A sense of deep belonging. A return.  It is a reconnection to the source of ourselves. To the essence of ourselves. It just feels beautiful, and expansive, and true.

The first step to healing is to go away from culture for a while. Go and be wild – Dr Martha Beck 

Where does The Wild Self come from?

While this deep, essential self has been inside each one of us for millennia, one of our most important spiritual teachers, Dr Martha  Beck, gave language to the concept almost 20 years ago when she first began to visit Londolozi. On her journeys here, she wanted to describe a state of being beyond the social context. Something to allow nature to be the central theme inside of us. In truth, it has been Martha’s teachings and perspective that have taught us that if the Wild Self is awake inside of us, our natural tendency is to look after the planet and be part of the natural ecosystem. We stop fighting culture and return to nature.

Ways to Find Your Wild Self at Londolozi

Londolozi is a place to remember that wildness is a true form of aliveness. It is a place of vitality, silence, rest, indulgence, and awakening. Here, you are invited to reconnect with the natural world, and the animals, of which we are all a part. We believe in a vitality that comes from being in harmony with the rhythms of nature. Here, at Londolozi, we simply rediscover what it means to be human, what it means to be part of the natural world and a shared humanity. More than anything, it is a place of remembering. It is a shift from the world of doing to the world of being. It is a chance to re-discover your own nature – to tap into a deep natural intelligence in the still core of your own wild self.

Getting in touch with your own Wild Self at Londolozi

The connection to the Wild Self can happen on many levels – from simply driving around the reserve in silence first thing in the morning and hearing your own inner voice come alive for the first time in a long time, to deeply connecting with the plants and the animals and the landscapes in a wordless environment. Your Wild Self can stir when you look into the eyes of a lioness or hear the rasping call of a leopard in the night. You can connect with your Wild Self by catching yourself in hysterical laughter around the fire, and making new friends from far-off places. You can connect with your Wild Self by waking up refreshed after a good night’s sleep, or by eating a meal under the stars or surrounded by elephants. There are no limits to where this wild part of you might show up. The entire Londolozi Experience is a gateway to meeting your Wild Self again… to coming home to your essence. 

There is a part of you that is wild. You were born with this Wild Self. Before you were taught who and what to be by society, this Wild Self was with you – stalking free and barefoot in the undergrowth. 

The Wild Self is your most essential nature lying dormant and quietly camouflaged under all the “shoulds” and “have to’s” of modern life… patiently waiting for you. 

This wildness in you is your birthright.  

It knows your truest essence and expression in this world. 

Natural. In the same way lions know they are for the pride and leopards come in with a secretive solitude.

Your Wild Self knows how to bring you fully alive. 

The truth of who you were and are before the world told you how to be.

In nature’s broad cathedral this Wild Self, dormant for so many years, begins to unfurl, shake out its scraggly coat and flex its clawed feet.

Something cellular and primal is called forth when we gaze into the many mirrors of wildness and see ourselves reflected as cat and eagle, stone and star.

As the days at Londolozi pass, bending time to the rhythms of sunrises and nightfalls, the Wild Self takes its place in the true center of our beingness.

A safari is never the new experience we thought it would be. 

Rather, a safari brings with it a hard-to-place nostalgia. 

A sense that I have been here before and all along.

A safari is a remembering. A belonging to something bigger than ourselves.

A remembering truth of who we are at the seed of our spirit.

The Wild Self that has been waiting for you to return to reclaim the clarity of who you are and why you are here. 

To live as you are.

Wild as the world that is yours and every human’s birthright.

Come to Londolozi.

Reclaim your Wild Self…

Gaze at your own quiet magnificence.

Remember… you belong here.  

~ Boyd Varty

2024 is going to be the year where we track aliveness. Where we explore this Wild Self together. Where we find ways to connect and play with our Wild Self a little bit more. As our extended Londolozi Family, we can’t wait to be a place for your Wild Self to be honoured and given space to breathe and express itself. We look forward to doing this together, whether that is right here on the Londolozi Blog or in person on your next visit.

Your Wild Self is calling. Remember…you belong here.