Retreating to a teepee in South Africa

By MYRTLE RYAN

People nowadays are becoming ever more innovative in ways of attracting visitors. Teepees in Africa? Why not, asked Philippe and Leigh van Wesemael.

So there they stand with their distinctive lines, six Indian teepees. It could be the set for an American Western, but these teepees will never be hitched to a pallet behind a horse and moved across the great plains as families migrate after the herds of bison. Instead they are the base for a holistic encounter of a different kind.

The evocatively named Eagle's Wind caters predominantly to healing workshops, offering the weary and jaded purification ceremonies in a sweat lodge (the Indian version of a sauna) and glimpses into American Indian tribal culture.

Leigh explained a bit more about what happens over the course of a workshop.

"When participants join a sweat lodge there are four sessions with a break in between." The sweat lodge is a low, adobe-type construction into which participants crawl.

"It's shaped like a turtle as the native Americans believed we lived on the back of a turtle," she said.

"The idea is to purify both body and spirit. First, everybody collects rocks from the river over which water is poured as in any other sauna, but it's done in a sacred way.

"It's very dark inside but you get the impression of being in a vast, dark universe. Nobody seems to feel confined or cramped. We also use drums and singing."

Leigh has been a river guide and field guide with Equus horse safaris, Philippe in various outlets including entertainment. Both said they wanted to connect people with nature.

"People come into nature as spectators rather than realising they are part of it," they said. "We felt the American Indians were closest to nature, and we wanted to emulate their way of life. South Africa, too, has several tribes, and we found a common thread runs through all tribal lore, channelling people back to their roots."

Everything at Eagle's Wind is built in circles, as in nature. "Look at a bird's nest for instance, it's built on the round," said Leigh. "We Westeners live in a very linear world, then wonder why we can't connect with nature."

A typical workshop sees a sunrise ceremony, a time of meditation focused on the sun and its energy. During morning meditation the participants work with feathers, breath and sound for around one-and-a-half hours. During the day they will also work through the medicine wheel - each segment has seven rocks, the seven chakra points, with the Creator - great spirit - in the centre.

East is signified by the eagle, west the bear, north the buffalo and south the coyote.

Meals are vegetarian, utilising much that the Plains Indian would have: corn, butternut etc. But those with special dietary requirements, such as wheat-free, are also provided for on request.

Five teepees are for accommodation, the sixth for workshops. They are basic but comfortable and have been given names like Sunkawakan, Sunkmanitu, Tatanka. All have typical smoke and air-conditioning flaps. Cushions and tent walls are decorated with spiders, snakes, horses, butterflies, dolphins and many other creatures.

At Eagle's Wind they subscribe to the beliefs of a famous Indian chieftain, who once expressed it so beautifully: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors - we borrow it from our children."

E-mail: mwleepip@iafrica.com

- INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS (SOUTH AFRICA)