PURE Life Experiences

PURE Life Experiences, an annual travel trade show held in Marrakech every November, is “By Inspiration Only” – following the interview process earlier this year, I was thrilled to receive the invite. Created 5 years ago with a belief “that the travel industry has the ability to transform people and ultimately change the world for the better”. It’s all about experiential, unreal experiences, ‘high emotion/low impact travel.

My travel motto is to ‘travel differently’. In creating one-of-a-kind journeys for myself and my clients, it must incorporate aspects that the average traveler would not experience. I challenge travelers to open their mind to destinations or lifetime experiences that they may never have even considered. This is what PURE is all about, pushing the boundaries of travel, meeting some of the world’s most inspiring creators of life enriching experiences.

Following an incredible trip to Uganda and Rwanda, I jetted off to Morocco – excited to see old friends, make new connections, but most of all, to learn about mind-blowing new experiences. This 4-day event consists of 42, 20-minute intense meetings with Owners, Managers, General Managers, representing high-end experiential suppliers; ample time for networking during breaks, and lavish parties amongst some of Marrakech's most luxurious hotels.

Referred to as PUREists, the knowledge that we (Private Travel Designers) gain during this week is priceless. I wish that others could be a fly on the wall during these meetings, to see what’s out there, the way that I see it.

Returning home with countless fresh ideas, new ways to travel and experience the planet – I’m excited to share these with you – breaking these journeys down by destination or travel style, check back on my blog listings labeled PURE Inspiration…  

Tracking my Family Roots with a DNA Test

Thanks to meeting some interesting and inspiring people over the last few years, a number of events has led me to ordering a DNA test - sounds a little strange, doesn't it?

At Virtuoso Week a few years ago, I was introduced to Jalsa Urubshurow, Founder of Nomadic Expeditions and the Three Camel Lodge in Mongolia, and a true pioneer in environmental conservation. Passionate and engaging, Jalsa captivated me with his stories and sparked a desire to visit Mongolia, a place I knew barley anything about.

Some time later, my best friend Jen and I were talking over a couple glasses of wine, and out of the blue she says, "you look like you could be from Mongolia!". I thought what the heck is she talking about, she's must be crazy. As we chatted about what-could-be scenarios, the fact that my maternal grandfather's family came from Germany and Austria, and that many many years ago Mongols fled to Russia and parts of Europe. Could it be? I was intrigued. My grandfather, my mother, other family members and myself all have some qualities of what could be Mongoloid - darker complexion, protruding cheekbones and round faces...

Earlier this year an opportunity came up to visit Mongolia in October for the annual Eagle Festival. Excited and eager I tried to make it work, but a number of things were against me and it just wasn't meant to be.

This past August, Absolute Travel hosted a small group industry of peeps for dinner during Virtuoso Week, where I was introduced to Melony van der Merwe from Nomad Representation (coincidence in name? hmmm....) - we hit it off, sharing stories of spiritual beliefs, travel dreams, and her experience with DNA testing. A native from South Africa, I was awe struck by her story on how a DNA test taught her so much about her earliest family roots from hundreds of years ago.

Last month, in Morocco for PURE Life Experiences, I had the chance to speak more with Jalsa and was once again inspired to learn more about Mongolia, the people, the history, landscapes, and challenges facing the country today.

So many signs, I want to know what all this means! Finally, after returning home, I ordered my DNA kit - GENO 2.0 from National Geographic - it just arrived! So, here it goes, a couple swabs, send the kit back and wait a few weeks for the report.

I am so excited to learn more - where my ancestors traveled from, whether we come from Neandrthal or Denisovan decent, and whether any of this traces back to a strange comment from my best friend, that I 'look like I could be from' Mongolia.

If not, I think its a cool story all the same, a strange set of events that led me to this, have met some awesome people in the making, and added a new destination to my bucket list.

Kyambura Coffee Co-op and Village Visit

The Volcanoes Partnership Trust is a division of Volcanoes, projects that give back to the local communities. 

The community project at Kyambura works to empower women through coffee making, from picking the beans in the fields through extracting, roasting and the final product. This cooperative project supplies all the Volcanoes Lodges (and some others) coffee, as well as giving guests the chance to come and see the organization for themselves, and bring home some Ugandan coffee, roasted on demand when you order it. 

Our group wanted to get out and explore the local culture, walking through the hills along a dirt road to the coffee plantation, learning about the project, was inspiring. Nicole, who has been leading the coop has been here from the US for 7 years, originally came to study the chimps, but fell in love with the country and stayed. She has some wonderful visions about how to expand, creating more jobs for the local women, building a stronger revenue source for years to come. 

Following the coffee tour, our guides Sam, and Adrian took us into one of the nearby villages - a bumpy, muddy, dirt road, small shacks (stores), clay-brick houses - the children chasing the vehicle with their hands reached out to touch ours. As soon as we got out of the car we were surrounded, children running to us in every direction, smiling, grabbing our hands, some standing back with a shy hesitation. This was like nothing I've ever seen, in some places the children come and begging for money, items, something for you to give them. All we had were our cameras and the kids went crazy for us to take their pictures and show them. The mothers, warm and friendly, smiling watching us all interact. 

Entering into some shops, we tried some banana beer, and banana gin - the beer, was alright, other than the thick texture, it wasn't that bad. The gin...not so much, it was like moonshine on steroids.  Went into a little super market and bought some little packs of curry powders, and a banana leaf hat for $5 from an elder. 

It's frowned upon to give out money, or items to the children, unless you have something for everyone    - overtime it gives them the idea they can just ask for it, end up not going to school to beg from tourists, and for us, ruins the authenticity of just interacting with the locals. There is a good website if you do want to help the communities you're visiting - Pack with a Purpose - here, you'll find items in need specific to the regions, arranging for them to be given to the appropriate people to be dispersed. 

It brought tears to my eyes when we left here, such an intense feeling to see the joy on their faces, to think about the life they live everyday, and everything we have that we take for granted sometimes. 

Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park

The day to see the gorillas is here! After s 5am wake up call we set out for a 45 minute drive to the park headquarters. On arrival, there's a bit of a waiting game while all the groups are assigned. 

There are 10 gorilla families that tourists can visit in Volcanoes National Park,  ranging in size from about 8 to 40 gorillas in each group. The largest family, Susa, is one of the more difficult treks as they tend to be further in the park. Travelers can request specific groups, although not guaranteed - also, for those not as fit or wanting an easier hike, will be considered as well when assigning the family. 

We told our guide, Sam, that we wanted lots of babies - to our luck we were given the second largest family, with loads of babies! The Agashya group, with 22 gorillas in the family - Agashya is the silverback and known as the playboy of all the groups, a bit of a stud, with attitude.

After orientation with the park rangers, you drive to the starting point based on which group you're hiking to. 

Our hike started out in farmland moving up the volcano - we spotted another group of gorillas in the distance, adding to the excitement...moving slowly up into the mist, it was like a scene out of movie, breathtaking (physically and emotionally), the hike was moderate, and challenging at times. It's encouraged to hire a porter to carry your day pack, for $20 it supports the local community, and they help you every step of the way. Literally holding your hand helping up steep muddy areas, always watching out for your safety and embarrassment of sliding down the mountain. 

After 2 hours of trekking we could hear the them! Within meters, we take only our cameras and leave the porters. All of sudden we can see the gorillas in the bush, everyone is so excited. Our 1 hour with them starts now.

As we walk through a clearing, there is Agashya, the massive silverback sitting on what could dub as a throne. Eating away at the bamboo he quickly gets up, pounding his chest and charges at my roomie, Marisa, giving her a punch in the shoulder as he runs by. She was of course a little freaked out, not hurt, with a story to share for a lifetime. 

During the briefing we are told by the guides that the gorillas will sometimes come up and slap or touch you on the way by, and the best thing to do (if you can't back off in time) is to stay still. The guides constantly make moves and watch our proximity, telling us where to go if they are coming too close. 

After Agashya's welcome more gorillas start coming out, swinging in the trees, and through another clearing there are about 4 more sitting around, eating bamboo. At this time of year the gorillas feed off the bamboo, getting 'drunk', so to speak. Some of them really were, 'loaded', bobbing their heads around acting strange, playing with eachother, hugging eachother, and fighting.

A few of the juveniles were eating up a storm, starting to hit and kick at eachother, Agashya had enough and came storming out of the bush to break up the fight. As we're standing there watching the branches above start moving, another gorilla coming down right at us! We quickly moved out of the way just in time for him to reach the ground. 

Next we come across a little one year old baby, playing with his older brother. This was a highlight watching the baby rock back and forth on all fours, so similar to a human, the brother was cuddling with the young one, poking and playing, and farting up a storm. Our hour was coming to a close, we soaked up the last few minutes and said goodbye - everyone was in awe, it felt so surreal. 

Meeting back with the porters we could hear all the gorillas starting to fight again, screaming and shrieking we sat and listened before making the trek back down. 

The gorillas were truly a lifetime experience, I cannot recommend it highly enough. After speaking with other travelers at the lodge, seeing the terrain and learning about the different parks you can visit to see the gorillas, just about anyone can do this. I'll be adding another write up on the logistics of gorilla trekking, from the permit process and difference between parks. Stay tuned..