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Rewilding
Ten Nights in the African Bush
August 28 to September 7, 2027 · Greater Kruger, South Africa
With Bronwyn Ayla, LAc
There is a particular kind of awe in watching a wild animal move. The weight of an elephant passing through the trees. The stillness of a lion. How much an animal hears before we have noticed a sound.
In their company, we begin to pay attention differently. We listen farther into the distance. We watch with our whole bodies.
I’m from South Africa, and I have spent a lot of my life in the bush. There is nothing like it. I have wanted for years to bring people here, to spend time among its animals and to explore what rewilding might mean for us, in our own bodies.
For ten nights we live on a private reserve in Greater Kruger, going out with guides at dawn and dusk and gathering for movement practice in between. We arrive as the moon wanes, pass through the deep dark of the new moon, and watch the crescent return to the evening sky.
That is what I want to invite you into.
The Bush
We have one lodge to ourselves for all ten nights. There is time to unpack, settle, and come to know the sounds outside your room. We wake into the same landscape each day, return to the same trees after every drive, and stay long enough for the place to become familiar.
The reserve is open to Kruger National Park, and the animals move freely across it. Elephant, giraffe, lion, leopard, buffalo, zebra and an extraordinary variety of birds live here. What we meet each day belongs to that day.
We begin together on the evening drive of our first day, and close with a last drive at dawn on the morning we leave. In all, we go out twenty times. The mornings are cold, and we set out wrapped in blankets as the bush wakes around us. In the late afternoon we go out again and stay with the light as it fades.
Some encounters hold everyone still. Others are easy to miss until a guide points to a track, a movement in the branches, a sound we have not yet learned to recognise.
We arrive as the moon wanes. On our fourth night, August 31, it is new. For a little while the nights belong to the dark. Then a thin crescent returns to the evening sky, growing night by night until we leave on the day of the first quarter.
The Practice
Watching an animal move draws your attention back into your own body. You notice how you are sitting, where you are holding, whether you have been breathing freely.
We bring that curiosity into our practice. Movement has been my life’s practice for more than forty years. Each day we practise together: yoga, movement and embodiment, drawing on the Axis Syllabus, a way of working with the body’s own architecture. We explore how we carry our weight, how our joints want to move, and how one movement leads into another. Where is there effort? Where is there ease? What happens when we give a movement more time?
You don’t need to arrive knowing how to do any of this. We begin with the body you have.
We gather late each morning, after the drive and breakfast. In the evening, we return for a quieter practice before sleep.
Across the days, what we notice in the bush finds its way into the practice, and the practice changes how we look, listen and meet the world outside. This is the rewilding I want to explore with you: a closer relationship with your own living body, in a place that gives us every reason to be awake to it.
A day in the bush
Dawn: tea and coffee, then out on the morning drive
Breakfast back at the lodge
Late morning: movement practice together
Midday: a long pause to eat, rest, write, or sit outside
Late afternoon: tea, then back into the bush for the evening drive
Evening: a quiet practice before bed
The retreat is alcohol-free.
Who This Is For
This retreat is for people who feel drawn to wild places and want to explore that pull through the body. You might already have a movement or contemplative practice, or you might be beginning. You might simply long to feel more present, curious and alive.
No experience is needed.
You do need:
⊱ a willingness to rise early
⊱ openness to daily practice
⊱ a readiness to share the rhythm of the days with a small group
Our Home in the Bush
With the lodge to ourselves, we eat together, practise together, and return to the same home after every drive. There is room to be together, and room to be quiet. The rooms are en-suite, with outdoor showers, and there is a pool for the quiet hours of the afternoon and a fire under the stars in the evening.
Shared room: twin beds, shared with one other person.
Bush tent: four single beds, a full bathroom with a bath and indoor and outdoor showers, and a private deck.
Private room: a queen bed, for one person or a couple. Two available.
You are welcome to come on your own. Room pairings are arranged after booking.
What’s included:
⊱ ten nights on a private reserve in Greater Kruger, with the lodge to ourselves
⊱ all healthy meals, early-morning snacks, tea and coffee
⊱ twenty guided game drives
⊱ daily movement and evening practice with me
⊱ three online gatherings before we go, and one after we return
⊱ conservation fees
⊱ group shuttle between Hoedspruit airport and the lodge, both ways
Your Place
Shared room, twin beds • $5,500 first six • $6,000 after
Bush tent, four single beds • $4,800 first six • $5,200 after
Private room, queen bed • $7,500 first six • $8,000 after
Fourteen places. The first six people to reserve, in any room type, receive the early price. All prices are per person, in US dollars. Couples sharing a private room each pay the shared room price.
You reserve your place with $1,000. The balance is paid in five monthly payments.
Not ready to reserve yet? Join the interest list.
About Bronwyn
I’m from South Africa. I’m a licensed acupuncturist, a dancer, a teacher of movement and embodiment, and a passionate rewilder. Movement has been my practice for more than forty years, and the body has been at the centre of my work for three decades.
This retreat brings together the practice I teach and the land I come from. I’ll be there with my daughter, Nymue, and a small group of people ready to spend ten nights in the bush, learning from the practice, the land and one another.
Come to South Africa with me
Ten nights to watch, move, practise and rest, in a place I love more than I can say.
Questions? Text or call (510) 244-3995, or email info@bronwynayla.com.
Not ready to reserve yet? Stay in touch.
Before You Come
Here are the questions people ask most. For anything else, text or call (510) 244-3995, or email info@bronwynayla.com.
Still have questions?
Text or call (510) 244-3995, or email info@bronwynayla.com.
