What an honour to be allowed to share my vision and what an amazing forum to be inspired by!
Wow! Trying to get to say everything in just 20 seconds for me was probably one of the major challenges of the century, as you might know that even though I was an actor in my other life, we use our vocal chords 70% more than most people do besides Public Speakers. I have to say that I nearly got it right, but I do love to interact with the audience, so that split second of interaction put me behind by 3 seconds, which was crucial to all the information I had to share around the PEACE TREE PILGRIMAGE, so I’ve decided to do it in that format now on my blog, so you get the whole story in just 6 minutes and fourty seconds if you are not distracted reading this, so here goes……
Leaving the Kleinsandfontein - Liza Karp
I’m in Enviro-Pilgrim. I am passionate about the Environment and I love to walk. The first phase of the Peace Tree Pilgrimage is to walk out from Caledon Village and walk to Platbos, the Southernmost Forest in Africa, create safe, bio-diverse indigenous walk-ways for Flora and Fauna to thrive and plant as many trees as possible in my life-time with the help of Sponsors, donations and gifting.
David-Gwynne Evans - The Naked Botanist
Of course it is way more fun to have company along the way and I was joined during our recce by David Gwynne Evans, my crazy Botanist friend who is an expert in the Floral Kingdom. He documented the species along the way. We found five of them to be on the endangered list!
Woofing opportunity at Little Brown Farm - Claire Newcombe
How we get participation from the Community, is that for a small remuneration, the local farmers offer us accommodation, food, access to set up camp-site on their farms and in some cases, the use of a roaming vehicle to carry our heavier stuff
Landscapes and Skyscapes
Unlike a hike, during the seven days, we walk along private, service secondary roads and on reserve pathways. The vast landscapes and magnificent skylines enable you to experience a sense of freedom and the opportunity to re-connect with yourself in nature.
The most fantastic Afro - Liza Karp
The wonderful characters you meet along the way like our local train-driver, who is so excited to see us that he practically falls out the train with glee to see us, and with his fantastic Afro, he hoots the train siren so loud that everyone in a 15km radius knows he has come across us on the track
Walking Yoga
Walking is Yoga; it requires discipline to walk a certain distance every day, sometimes up to eight hours, maybe more. One has ample time to ponder, breathe and meditate and connect with your heart centre.
Hair Mania (HERMANNIA FLORA) - David-Gwynne Evans
I don’t know much about plants, but I’m learning. I won’t forget the name of this one, Hair-mania. Believe you me, when you walk long distances over a long time, one can manifest all kinds of Manias!
Johannes
The interesting people we meet along the way as we share our vision with them. Their generosity and helpfulness in finding interesting new routes to explore is inspiring and heart-warming
Krige Station ticket office - Shirah Cashrial
Every abandoned building along the way has a story, every mill a history and the lonely station houses tell their own story.
Floral Paradise
The privilege of being able to walk in some of the most pristine environments in the world. 30% of the worlds indigenous flora is found here in the Western Cape. At any given stage we might encounter 800 different species of plants which bloom at different times of the year.
The Elementals - Olivia Gibbs
It does't matter what the weather does, because as a Pilgrim, one learns about being present in the moment, being able to flow and adapt and allow all the elementals to enhance our senses
Leonotis leonurus or Wild Dagga -Olivia Gibbs
I've learnt that this Wild dagga plant was used by the khoi san people as a mild Psychedelic and for medicinal Protective Cardiac properties and as an anti-oxidant.
King Protea (Protea cynaroides) - Olivia Gibbs
Even though most of the natural vegetation and forests have been decimated by Industrial farming and fire, somehow the tenacity of these plants are remarkable. This King Protea grows a stem below the ground with little buds that regenerate after a fire. The Sugar-birds then dip their beaks into the fleshy flower and pollinate it. The abundance of bird and animal life is everywhere to be seen if you are attentive. In fact a herd of wild buck inspired a part of this route
Walking Stinkwood trees
When Tolken wrote about Walking Trees, it was not a myth. They really do walk in the forest and communicate with each other. They also share their nutrients with other trees in the forest via their roots systems
Magical Portals
As we walk through the different Bio-mes from Mono-culture, pristine fynbos and then into the magical forests. We enter into portals of experience which change our spiritual, mental and physical beings
Waterfalls
As we get closer to Platbos, one has the blessing of showering under a waterfall. When we arrive at Platbos we get to meet the Stewards of this remarkable forest. The continent was once covered with 5% of this tenacious forest, but only 0,05% remains! That is why our gifting of trees is a vital contribution to fulfilling their philosophy of "Plant a tree - Grow a forest", because one tree creates a square metre of canopy that sustains myriads of life-forms.
Greeting - Paula Luckoff
The joy after a long journey to meet friends and share the experiences, the seeds of inspiration that have been sown along the way, of doings things differently in the the world, the sheer gratification of putting your hands into the soil and actually planting a tree....
The Angel of Platbos
Knowing that your gifts of trees in collaboration with amazing organisations like Just Trees, and in this instance Greenpop, enable you TOGETHER, to plant up to 5500 trees over one week end!
More tree fairies - Greenpop
Then you know that your feet really have made a difference, even if the journey has not always been easy. Not only have you undergone an internal transformation, but you are able to co-create an external transformation and leave a legacy for future generations to enjoy!
So come and walk with me and join the TREEVOLUTION!
http://pechakucha-capetown.com/an-enviro-pilgrim/
(Thank you to all my friends, family, Just trees, Greenpop, Petcha Kutcha and everyone else who keeps me inspired to make a difference)