The HEREandNOW Trail
Okavango Delta, Botswana
7 Nights
Maximum 8 people
Personally guided by Alan McSmith
2025 SCHEDULED DEPARTURE DATES:
11th to 18th September
More to follow ...
Please note that private and personally crafted trails throughout the year can be arranged for your party or group. Connect with us.
Backstory
Our most basic aspiration, one that unites us all, is to discover peace and purpose in our lives. To be original and significant. To be seen. To be known.
But in a world of turbulence and unknown outcomes, this is a massive challenge. How do we achieve it?
This is what the HEREandNOW Trail is about; to rediscover solace in nature. To slow down, to listen. To re-learn how to do nothing. And in this process to touch the inter-being of it all. To spend redemptive time in the present moment.
The Trail invites you to take our lead from the wild for a few days at the address of life: the here and now.
Join us in the majestic Okavango Delta in Botswana exploring the luxury of time, space and belonging. On foot and by vehicle, in a vast wild concession as a slice of our heaven. Rising with the sun and walking wild. Tracking and stalking big game, all based from a secluded mobile tented fly-camp.
But in a world of turbulence and unknown outcomes, this is a massive challenge. How do we achieve it?
This is what the HEREandNOW Trail is about; to rediscover solace in nature. To slow down, to listen. To re-learn how to do nothing. And in this process to touch the inter-being of it all. To spend redemptive time in the present moment.
The Trail invites you to take our lead from the wild for a few days at the address of life: the here and now.
Join us in the majestic Okavango Delta in Botswana exploring the luxury of time, space and belonging. On foot and by vehicle, in a vast wild concession as a slice of our heaven. Rising with the sun and walking wild. Tracking and stalking big game, all based from a secluded mobile tented fly-camp.
In short
DAY 1: Arrive in Maun and drive to our trails camp in the Okavango. Overnight.
DAYS 2-7: Unlimited game viewing on foot or by vehicle, day or night. Dugout canoes activities depending on water levels.
DAY 8: Drive back to Maun
DAYS 2-7: Unlimited game viewing on foot or by vehicle, day or night. Dugout canoes activities depending on water levels.
DAY 8: Drive back to Maun
What makes it different?
Change is constant in the wild. Nature’s patterns are of renewal and regeneration. The principles of growth, loss and change are all connected. Productivity and sustainability are the purpose. This is innovation from the wild. But in modern society, system change is a fearful space so how do we navigate through this shift with inspired purpose and dignity.
Surely no better way than re-discovering ourselves in nature.
Nature and natural patterns are around us all at all times. To make ourselves available however, we need to slow down and focus inwardly. And be alert to each step we take. To honour the relationships between micro-organisms in the soil and the diversity of life that grows from them.
How often to we take this fundamental interaction for granted? For once this occurs we reconnect ourselves with it, and recognise our fundamental dependance on these very patterns.
Surely no better way than re-discovering ourselves in nature.
Nature and natural patterns are around us all at all times. To make ourselves available however, we need to slow down and focus inwardly. And be alert to each step we take. To honour the relationships between micro-organisms in the soil and the diversity of life that grows from them.
How often to we take this fundamental interaction for granted? For once this occurs we reconnect ourselves with it, and recognise our fundamental dependance on these very patterns.
Our keystones of a wilderness trail
* Spending quality time in the here and now challenges and disrupts what is at the heart of modern leadership.
* Leave your comfort zone and stride inwardly.
* Connect with simplicity, integrity and harmony with the environment in all ways. One that realigns our values.
* From this space your trail will emerge naturally. Meaningful conversations emerge. While knowledge speaks, wisdom listens.
What develops can transcend our personal and professional lives, regardless of commerce or industry.
This is innovation from the wild.
* Leave your comfort zone and stride inwardly.
* Connect with simplicity, integrity and harmony with the environment in all ways. One that realigns our values.
* From this space your trail will emerge naturally. Meaningful conversations emerge. While knowledge speaks, wisdom listens.
What develops can transcend our personal and professional lives, regardless of commerce or industry.
This is innovation from the wild.
Itinerary
DAY 1: DRIVE FROM MAUN TO OUR TRAILS BASE CAMP
Our trail together begins on arrival in Maun. A sprawling dusty frontier town on the edge of the Okavango Delta, with bags of
character. Some refer to it as the safari-capital of the universe!
We load up in an open Toyota landcruiser game and head north-west through the villages of Maun. The roads get wilder
and wilder and soon, the magic sets in.
Our unique secluded location is set within a large sandveld tongue, in a region we refer to as “dry-land delta”. Along our lifetime’s safari-journey, we have seen the industry grow. Camps, infrastructure and delivery have all developed exponentially with time. Wild spaces are fewer now, and have become more precious than ever before.
This is our Okavango. A step back into the classic years of exploration and discovery.
character. Some refer to it as the safari-capital of the universe!
We load up in an open Toyota landcruiser game and head north-west through the villages of Maun. The roads get wilder
and wilder and soon, the magic sets in.
Our unique secluded location is set within a large sandveld tongue, in a region we refer to as “dry-land delta”. Along our lifetime’s safari-journey, we have seen the industry grow. Camps, infrastructure and delivery have all developed exponentially with time. Wild spaces are fewer now, and have become more precious than ever before.
This is our Okavango. A step back into the classic years of exploration and discovery.
DAYS 2 - 7; UNLIMITED EXPLORATION OF OUR PRIVATE CONCESSION
It could be said that the present moment is the address of life. What Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh amusingly refers to as “HEREandNOW dot com". For us, its where the luxury of time, of space and of belonging come together.
Simplicity. No frills. Strategic comforts. Total connection. With the rhythms of the wild and the people around us.
Our camp consists of ensuite, walk-in tents. Flush loos, open-air bucket showers. Only 4 tents. Tented lounge and seminal campfire. Silence and solitude.
Easy and authentic hospitality. Sincere, scrumptious and sufficient catering
A combination and blend of walks and drives (and night drives). Dugout canoe excursions are possible depending on flood waters in the region.
The Okavango is a uniquely majestic place. A vast oasis within the Kalahari Desert, with it’s lifeblood being a mysterious flood from the north. A flood that determines the dramatic ebb and flow of life; of animals, birds and plants. Holistic ecology. Lets explore and discover this delicate balance. For in the here and now, we go with the great flow.
Plug-in deeper on foot. Connect to the earth, senses alive, conscious and alert. With each footfall the smells, sounds, colours, sights and intuitions intensify. If a game drive is like seeing a movie, then a walk is like reading the book. And it could be said, exploring our own connections to the earth, our own wild natures. For ultimately, is sepeartaness not an illusion?
It's about the sharing .... it's about coming home.
Just perhaps we have found it. For home happens when we realise that we belong to the land, and that the land does not belong to us.
This says it all.
We are always on the move in the West. On the way to something else. A different place, a different goal, a better job, a better trip. The goal is never the here and now. Even though that is often the destination. Wilderness has never been a place for us, but a way of life and we continue to explore this relationship with the wild. One that declares that nature is not a thing apart and that the human soul depends on her ways.
Simplicity. No frills. Strategic comforts. Total connection. With the rhythms of the wild and the people around us.
Our camp consists of ensuite, walk-in tents. Flush loos, open-air bucket showers. Only 4 tents. Tented lounge and seminal campfire. Silence and solitude.
Easy and authentic hospitality. Sincere, scrumptious and sufficient catering
A combination and blend of walks and drives (and night drives). Dugout canoe excursions are possible depending on flood waters in the region.
The Okavango is a uniquely majestic place. A vast oasis within the Kalahari Desert, with it’s lifeblood being a mysterious flood from the north. A flood that determines the dramatic ebb and flow of life; of animals, birds and plants. Holistic ecology. Lets explore and discover this delicate balance. For in the here and now, we go with the great flow.
Plug-in deeper on foot. Connect to the earth, senses alive, conscious and alert. With each footfall the smells, sounds, colours, sights and intuitions intensify. If a game drive is like seeing a movie, then a walk is like reading the book. And it could be said, exploring our own connections to the earth, our own wild natures. For ultimately, is sepeartaness not an illusion?
It's about the sharing .... it's about coming home.
Just perhaps we have found it. For home happens when we realise that we belong to the land, and that the land does not belong to us.
This says it all.
We are always on the move in the West. On the way to something else. A different place, a different goal, a better job, a better trip. The goal is never the here and now. Even though that is often the destination. Wilderness has never been a place for us, but a way of life and we continue to explore this relationship with the wild. One that declares that nature is not a thing apart and that the human soul depends on her ways.
DAY 8: DRIVE BACK TO MAUN
After breakfast in camp we depart back to Maun. Here our trail comes to an end. So sadly, it means ‘tsamaya sentle’ (bon voyage) to friends both old and new! There are daily flights to Johannesburg or Cape Town that conveniently arrive in the late afternoon. Options include connecting with a charter flight to another Botswana camp, or even an overland safari. Travel logistics are easy and seamless.
Rates
FROM USD3135 per person
Maun to Maun
Max 8 people
Download .pdf with full itinerary notes?
| hereandnow_trail.pdf |
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