Mixing Nelson Mandela's Spirit With Navajo + Peruvian Practices, Londolozi South Africa Opens Healing House Spa

Mixing Nelson Mandela's Spirit With Navaho + Peruvian Practices , Londolozi South Africa Opens Healing House Spa

Londolozi is one of South Africa’s original private game reserves, considered to be a pillar of global ecotourism. The word Londolozi comes from the Zulu word meaning ‘Protector Of All Living Things’.

Londolozi has also opened its first spa, the Healing House, and London-based Syz describes it as potentially “the most forward-thinking wellness offering in Africa.” In a story that spans generations Dave and Shan Varty have been replaced by their children Bronwyn and Boyd, who are the newest visionaries behind Londolozi.

Trained by Oprah’s life coach Martha Beck, the duo is heavily impacted by Beck’s belief “that the senses are deadened by desk jobs and smartphones and that you need to learn to listen to your body, the ultimate navigational tool, to tap into your innate wisdom”. Beck struck a deep cord in the modern0day hearts of Bronwyn and Boyd.

Impacted by their studies with Navaho medicine men and Peruvian shamans, sound — long considered to an original healing fix — is at the center of their rituals. These practices render Londolozi’s new spa as a fusion experience of ancient global practices that now harness the energy of the African wilderness.

LVMH Acquires Luxury Travel's Belmond Hotels | Will Bernard Arnault Help Save The Elephants

LVMH Acquires Luxury Travel's Belmond Hotels | Will Bernard Arnault Help Save The Elephants

AOC awoke Saturday morning to news that LVMH has set in motion the acquisition of Belmond Hotels. “Belmond, a fast-growing company based in London, offers its wealthy customers some of the most opulent travel experiences money can buy in settings like the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro and Orient Express trains connecting major European cities,” wrote The New York Times.

LVMH, the world’s largest luxury company based on revenues from brands like Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Fendi, offered to pay $25 a share for Belmond, a premium of more than 40 percent on the company’s closing price, in a deal valued at $2.6 billion.

The deal emphasized the limitless financial resources available to the world’s very rich customers. as well as the ongoing move away from buying ‘things’ and the growing appetite for ‘experiences’. This transition to the value of ‘experiences’ is pronounced among the entire younger generation, regardless of income, and dovetails well with their environmental concerns over accumulating more stuff.

Perhaps it was no coincidence that Friday’s Porter Edit had a sponsored post from Belmond Africa, based in South Africa and Botswana. The luxury hotel jumping off point gave us an opportunity to update the hot topic of the well-being of Botswana’s elephants, the largest elephant population in Africa and one that has been relatively stable until disputed reports of almost 90 dead elephants hit headlines in September.

Tanzania's Selous Safari Company Recycled Their Taka Taka Long Ago With Minimal Footprint Policies

Tanzania's Selous Safari Company Recycled Their Taka Taka Long Ago With Minimal Footprint Policies

I've been on the hunt for bamboo tubes used in our GlamTribal jewelry and this gorgeous image from Tanzania's Selous Safari Company is causing me to have a eureka moment! I'm probably finding them to be so scarce because larger bamboo tubes are now being used as straws. 

One of the core values and main objectives of Selous Safari Company is its commitment to have minimal impact on the environment. 

Long before it was mainstream practice, SSC stopped using plastic bags, started using solar power, set out to recycle all their "taka taka" (Swahili word for garbage) and ceased using plastic bottles. Selous Safari Company also stopped using plastic straws… without a firm plan for their replacement.

A bit of creative meditation, most likely accompanied by a delicious cocktail or two on their magnificent beach, produced the answer: Bamboo straws! And NOT delivered by Amazon. REAL, AUTHENTIC bamboo straws. 

SSC's beach lodge, Ras Kutanion the Swahili Coast has plenty of bamboo, and the creative minds went into high gear. Read their blog post for further instructions.  Here in America, GlamTribal will order our own bamboo straws, treat them with only eco-friendly varnish, perhaps even decoupage them. Who knows what ideas will be inspired by the bamboo straws created by Tanzania's Selous Safari Company!

Glamping Sweeps America, Embracing Gaia With Soothing Natural Refuge In Trumplandia

Glamping Sweeps America, Embracing Gaia With Soothing Natural Refuge In Trumplandia

New Yorkers are increasingly desperate to get back in touch with nature, writes The New York Times. If that means 'glamping' at a $650-a-night campsite on Governor's Island, let the Gaia connection begin. 

Arriving by ferry boat only enhances the magic of Manhattan's twinkling skyline and Lady Liberty's torch nearby. In that moment liberal New Yorker's can reflect on all the the Statue of Liberty has meant in America's DNA without stressing over the whereabouts of children separated from their parents at the Mexican border.

Phones are off and a family game of Scribble is in. Roasting marshmellows in the community firepit plays homage to hunting and gathering forbearers, while other pampered New Yorkers are found eating $120 prix fix meals in the permanent Three Peaks lodge. Who is game for beanbag toss?

According to a report by Kampgrounds of America, 2.6 million more American households camped last year than in 2016. A major reason was to relieve stress. Nearly all millennials surveyed (93 percent) said they would like to try camping this year, many gravitating toward glamping.

Black Tomato Heads To Cape Town's Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art & Silo Hotel

Black Tomato Heads To Cape Town's Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art & Silo Hotel

CR Fashionbook hooks up with London and NYC-based luxury travel innovator Black Tomato in The Art-Lovers Guide to Traveling the World

Scanning co-founder Tom Marchant's enticing list, we paused in Cape Town, where the recent opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), the largest collection of contemporary African art in the world. Located in the newly renovated Silo district, the impressive building (once a Grain Silo Complex) has been reinvented by renowned architect Thomas Heatherwick and is a totally unique space that fits into the African context.

The best place to sleep is at the newly opened Silo Boutique Hotel, built in the grain elevator portion of the historic grain silo complex occupying six floors above Zeitz MOCAA. Take a look at The Silo rooms, designed as a modern African feast for the eyes.