SOUTH AFRICA (pt. 1) "Your day is coming"
This experience exceeded my expectations and that's saying a lot.
The last big family trip we took was pre-children, pre-spouses, pre-adult life experience. It was just mom, dad, Ryan and myself. We went for my father’s 60th birthday and took a massive 5 week trip through Europe visiting my grandparent’s hometowns of Trier, Germany and Sciacca, Sicily…among a million other cities and countries…. Honestly, like 11 too many in retrospect. I say this only because it’s hard to differentiate them all with my 44 year old brain.
That was 2004.
We named ourselves the Sciacca Circus after the wheels came off one day in the Piccadilly station. Lost, tired, sweaty and bickering amongst ourselves, we unraveled just a little bit day after day until we came home.
This summer’s expedition titled the “Sciacca Circus does Safari” was already being hailed as the sequel to our first traveling circus and because Jess (my sis in law), Mary Bryant and Hattie (my nieces), and my son Beau were ‘new’ characters. We just assumed the outcome would be a hotter mess.
It wasn’t.
In fact, it was damn near perfect.
That’s it. You can stop reading now. lol.
Oh, you’re still here…okay…this trip was made perfect by the family golden child, my little brother, Ryan. We all love and adore him for who he is but this particular quality helps seal in his Golden Boy status. He went above and beyond in preparation and in research for this epic family vacation. Even Ryan’s expectations were peppered with reservations because … the circus knows no bounds.
We met in NYC and boarded the greatest plane known to man (lol)… The Emirates A 380. We had our own sections, a 24in screen, an iPad that controlled the screen, a phone thingie that controlled all aspects of your seat and could call other passengers in other seats, Champagne, 3 meals, snacks, a lounge and bar in the back, personal pajamas made from the breath of an angel apparently, a makeup/shaving kit with deodorant, lotion, Bulgari perfume, toothbrush, socks and a sleep mask. I’m sure I’m forgetting something but all I can say is that flying 13+ hours and through at least 5 timezones, business class will save you (and ruin you all at once).
I still haven’t experienced real jet lag since returning.
After arriving in Johannesberg, we take a small crop plane to a landing strip in the middle of the African bush. A van arrives with our custom labeled water bottles that will be ours for the duration of our stay at what can only be described as HEAVEN ON EARTH: CHEETAH PLAINS GAME RESERVE. As we arrive, we are met with the most detailed architecture, creative landscaping and a little puddle of vomit (both Mary Bryant and Hattie were complaining of motion sickness) … as we park the van and step out, my sweet Hattie just immediately pukes on the driveway. Nobody batted an eye and the staff were so gracious and understanding.
The Sciacca’s always make an entrance (eeeek).
Now, for the people.
The people at Cheetah Plains are the secret sauce. We got to know them because my family has an incredible knack/habit of asking 1 million questions and making friends wherever we go. Lorraine our hostess, Victor our bartender/butler, Xman our sommelier, Brenda our massage therapist, Thandi our chef, Amu our other chef, Jessica our pastry chef, Nstako and Sipps our game guide and tracker…I will never forget these people.
It was like coming home. They made you feel like royalty.
Speaking on behalf of my family members, we weren’t ready.
We have never been in a situation like this and it was humbling.
On our first game drive the next morning we set off to explore whatever nature and the motherland had to offer. This was fascinating to me because there was never a plan, per se.
Sipps the world’s best game guide would say
“What do you really wanna see?'“
I was like “ELEPHANTS!”
Boom … 3 min later 15 elephants, little bulls and babies too.
I was near tears and we’d only been off the property for under 5 minutes.
Next, my 6 yr old neice says “I wanna see a cheetah cub, please”. Sipps grimaced and said “Well, that will be tough. It’s very rare to find cheetah’s as they’re endangered and it’s even less likely to see a mama with her cub.”
Did you know Cheetah’s have it rough for a couple of reasons. 1) They do not have strong necks. When you see them you recognize that speed is their friend but strength not so much. 2) They can not climb trees, therefore they have no escape from bigger, stronger predators. They don’t have the talons of say a leopard. 3) The males leave the females with 7 or 8 cheetah cubs and because of the 2 reasons above, mamas have a hard time protecting those babies so they don’t become scooby snacks for other animals.
About 20 minutes after Sipps explained why it might be hard to see a cheetah cub, he spoke his native tongue into the walkie talkie, then turned to us and said, “You’re never gonna believe this…My tracker friend from another lodge just spotted a cheetah and her cub. If we wanna see this I need y’all to sit down and hold on tight because we gotta hurry.”
We all squealed with delight. The sun was barely up and the adventure was on.
Sipps drove 50km/h through the bush, over dirt roads and through “short cuts” which is code for aggressively bulldozing small trees and thorny bushes. There were no seat belts and no roof on our vehicle, it was the most exciting roller coaster ever!!
We found this other tracker and his passengers in the middle of the bush and quietly approached. You could see the stunning, stealthy mama cheetah walking slowing toward a herd of impala. Her baby cheetah with a fuzzy white mohawk/mane trying to keep up…stopping every now and then to sniff or gaze around.
As the mama crouched low, Sipps whispered “This is it. She’s gonna make a kill. I guarantee it. We won’t see it though. She lasers in on the exact one and won’t stop until it’s dead. She will bypass others that are more accessible in order to kill her target. Likely because she’s identified that there is a weakness, possibly a deformity, or illness that causes this particular impala to be the one.”
We were anxious.
Camera’s out…trying to capture the beauty and the rawness of the moment.
She locks in.
And she’s off.
Impalas scatter in a blink of an eye…we all assume the worst and before you can decide where to focus your eyes…her target impala comes racing around the bush, 6 ft in front of us, mama cheetah is one second behind. The poor impala trips over a dead tree log and is hurdled into the air where mama cheetah lunges up and grabs it by the neck, wrestles it to the ground and then like some world champion jujitsu player holds the impala down by the throat, until it’s last breath.
We wait.
Everyone is on pins and needles.
I’m HYSTERICALLY CRYING, y’all. Shaking shoulders, tears in my mouth, looking over at Beau, Mary Bryant and Hattie so worried … and they are fine.
In fact, everyone is F I N E, except for me.
I’ve never seen an animal lose it’s life in a battle like that.
Moments go by. Sipps explains “She is not settled. She smells something. She can not leave this impala to tend to her cub so she is waiting until it’s safe.”
To the right of our rover, we see it. A lone ugly ass hyena.
Mama cheetah now has to make a decision. Does she release her fresh kill or defend her cub so that he doesn’t become Hyena dinner? I couldn't breathe. I couldn’t believe it. She worked SO hard for this. She has a baby to feed!
Just then, the hyena knows he has the upper hand. He starts making his way to her. She is parked on top of the impala and growling…the hyena starts to charge. They hiss at each other and mama cheetah takes off with her cub…25 ft away and watches as this a$$hole hyena claims her kill.
It wasn’t even 7:30am. I was exhausted. Sipps was beside himself. He said in 15 years he has never seen a live cheetah kill with a cub in tow and the battle for the impala to follow.
Jess caught the whole thing on film and I edited it. If you dare…see the below insta reel for the entire production. It’s bloody, so you’ve been warned.
When we got home after this particular game drive, we confessed it all to the house staff and our hostess Lorraine. I could not shake it off.
Lorraine looked at me and said “Oh Nicole, the hyena’s day will come. That is the promise. Everyone’s day is coming.” For some reason, that was extremely comforting and maybe a little sick on my part but my contention was with the way in which he STOLE that from the mama and her baby. He didn’t earn that kill.
A reminder…Nature is not gentle.
Nature isn’t “real world fair”.
Nature does not care about your feelings.
And whether you accept this as law or not…your day will come.
I don’t say it like this to be morbid but rather to highlight how life can flip on a dime. It did for the impala, the cheetah, and the hyena. In a matter of moments they had to adapt and persevere.
Yet another reason to start the program, create the business, give the compliment, attend the event, take the trip, forgive the person, call your mom, and live your most optimal life today.
OKAYILOVEYOUBYEEE,
xx
Nic.
ps. I’M BACK TO THE ROUTINE. Whose with me? Classes this week + August Fit.
* Tuesday QUICKIE YOGA 12-12:30pm pst. $10. All levels yoga...this is a feel good, mobility based sesh…you might sweat a little but overall it’s just a great break in the day. This class has always been $10 as it began as a community class. If you need financial assistance with any of my classes, just ask, we'll make it work. Sign up here.
* Wednesday UPPER BODY STRENGTH 6:30-7:05am pst. $20. This is part of my August Fit program but open for anyone to drop in. We will start with CARS and then proceed to train all upper body, abs and of course we finish with a little cardio dance break. The group energy is the best. Sign up here.
* Friday YOGA FLOW 6:30-7:05am pst. $20. This is part of my August Fit program but open for anyone to drop in. We will start with breath work, incorporate CARS and build from there. It's only 35 minutes and a great way to show your body some love and attention. Sign up here.
* Saturday FULL BODY STRENGTH 7:30-8am pst. $20. This is part of my August Fit program but open for anyone to drop in. The group energy is excellent and we begin with CARs, strength train and sweat it out with friends. Bring a glute loop/resistance band, lighter and heavier weights. Sign up here.
* Saturday AVIATOR NATION YOGA FLOW 9-10am, 10:15-11:15am.
In person, in Santa Monica. Come on out. Sign up here.
* Sunday NOTE THE TIME CHANGE: KINSTRETCH 7:45-8:45am pst. $20 This is a 60 minute joint specific training that acts as the flossing of your joints, the veggies of all healthy movement. We do the CARS routine, strength train different joints each week, and end with breathwork. Sign up here.
* Sunday NOTE I’M SUBBING: AVIATOR NATION YOGA FLOW. 9:30-10:30am, 10:45-11:45am. In person, in Santa Monica. Come on out. Sign up here.
pps. JOIN AUGUST FIT. It’s not too late. We kicked off Friday 8/4 but you can still hop in. This is a monthly strength group for women. We meet 4x a week, for 35 minutes. Lower body, Upper body, Full body and Mobility Yoga flow. We do CARS in every class. Show up live and join us virtually, or do them On Demand. Thirty days and 13 classes. What would the cheetah do?
She would train.
Learn more here or just sign yourself up.
ppps. FEMPOWERED LIVE in Denver, Co August 18-19th is coming up. A 2 day women’s transformational experience that will shock your socks off. Incredible, inspirational speakers (eeeek myself included), business owners, authors, coaches, and women who are walking the walk. For any of us that have been hesitant to step into greatness as mothers, entrepreneurs, and goddesses of influence; the time is now.
Two full days to make new connections and motivate you to take the next right step toward your highest good. My publisher and host of Fempowered Live, Samantha Joy, has created this opportunity to remove the ‘gatekeeping’ mentality and further elevate women just like you. Use my code SWEATSTILL100 to save $100, check out the site and I’ll be seeing you in a few weeks.
Nature teaches us so much. Welcome home.