How a trip to South Africa gave rise to Flooglebinder
Author: Ian Taylor, Father, husband and conservationist
Read time: 4 minutes
Flooglebinder curate educational adventures to create change for people and planet, which includes audits, workshops and residentials. As a BCorp organisation we use business as a force for good, meet the highest standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency, whilst tracking and monitoring our social and environmental impact.
How did one trip to South Africa give rise to Flooglebinder? When was the last time you truly disconnected from your screens and reconnected with nature? Here’s how an experience can shape the thinking of a travel and conservation company, ‘we must have full nature immersion‘…
Four years before we officially registered Flooglebinder I travelled to South Africa to complete my FGASA (Field guide) training. Back then this was a 7 week intensive course, living off and learning from the bush with no wires, no access to screens, just 100% nature.
This experience changed my thought process. It gave me the tools to be able to search for my ‘why’ and for me it's understanding the ‘why’ that provides clarity and purpose.
'I didn’t expect this project to change my life but it did'
When you begin to understand how an ecosystem works you start to appreciate how amazing a single species is, the species you would normally consider ordinary such as a Dung beetle is actually extraordinary.
We learn so much from nature.
When we allow ourselves to disconnect and slow down we give ourselves the mental space to redefine our purpose and restart. We take more care of what causes us problems (ie our screens) than ourselves. We have learnt to turn our screens off when they are not working properly but we continue to push ourselves to breaking point…
'When was the last time you truly disconnected?'
This is why we chose our South African programme. If you are wanting change and the chance to reconnect with nature, then handing your screen over for 9 nights is just the beginning…
This programme is designed to connect you back to the simplicities of mother nature, going into to the wild and the chance to learn bush survival skills. This includes;
Making fires
Building shelters
Navigation (via star gazing)
Identifying food based on seasonal availability
Identifying medicinal plants
Understanding folklore and their practical use,
Bush first aid
Dealing with dangerous animals
Birding,
Track and sign, and even
Bread making.
We ensure all of our adventures have that element of escapism, getting back to the wild and the chance to learn and disconnect. However, for me Africa is where this all started and the one place where I can rediscover who I am.
So, if you want to try something different or something you’ve always wanted to do but never got the chance, then this could be it. Stepping out of your comfort zone and putting down your screens will help you re-align, re-focus, and ultimately re-imagine what you can do.
