Ayala Katz, Peace Ambassador and Enviro-Pilgrim has walked thousands of kilometres in her lifetime from the Camino in Spain to trails in Nepal and the Himalayas, through the Tankwa Karoo to the Eastern Cape. “Walking is my yoga, it gives me the opportunity to reconnect with myself and my life’s purpose, it reconnects me to my authentic power and helps me stay in my heart centre”
David Gwynne-Evans is a passionate botanist and conservationist who's first love is for the incredible flora of Africa and in particular the flora of the Cape. In recent years he has explored the natural wonders of Europe, Cape Verde, Canary Islands and Kenya. He believes that a critical element to conserving our remaining flora is to give each plant species a place and a face - what it looks like and where it grows. This is embodied by his website casabio.org that aims to document and conserve the flora of South Africa.
Geoff Dalglish took a leap of faith and went from Petrolhead to Pilgrim when he began walking with a message about treading more lightly and lovingly upon the Earth on 7 July 2011.
He vowed to walk 40,075km, symbolically the equivalent of the circumference of the Earth, although he stopped counting steps and kilometres after five years in which he covered more than 20,000km.
It's been a journey of so many highlights, inspirations and unforgettable encounters. During 2013 he completed a 2,500km, 124-day walk through six countries as an ambassador for WILD10, the 10th World Wilderness Congress, and was nominated for a prestigious 2014 Adventurer of the Year Award. Part of the walk could become an international hiking trail called El Camino Salvaje, or the Way of the Wild.
He walks as an ambassador for the Findhorn Foundation community in Scotland and representative of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), and is exploring new ways of co-creating a world more loving, joyful and sustainable for humanity that recognises and celebrates the interconnectedness of all life.
AYALA KATZ : PEACE TREE FOUNDER
DR DAVID GWYNNE EVANS: THE NAKED BOTANIST
GEOFF DALGLISH : PEACE PILGRIM AND FINDHORN COMMUNITY PR
Listen to Ayala's Petcha Kutcha presentation 2016
6min
SAM VAN STRAATEN : LOGISTICS MANAGER
Sam Van Straaten is our logistics co-ordiator and facilitator and patriarch of Hillside Farm. Sam did his honours in psychology and geography at Stellenbosch University and has spent the last four decades imparting his knowledge as a teacher and farmer. He shares his magnificent farm with his wife and three children.
Hillside Farm lies on both sides of the Kleinrivier, giving it the blessing of flowing water which enables him to keep cattle, grow his fecund crops of butternuts, vegetables and his own magnificent garden surrounded by his nurtured Yellow wood forest; a clear indication of his passion and connection to nature. Sam’s years of experience as a fruit, cattle and wheat farmer has made him an expert in the field, yet he still keeps an open mind to new sustainable farming practises.
There is not an Old wagon trail, or a discarded building in the Overberg district that he doesn’t know the history of. His fascinating narrations will keep one entertained for hours. His dream is to share this wealth of history and abundance of nature found in the Overberg and its surroundings with the outside world.