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Nourish-Your-Body-with-Healthy-Food_Self-care and wellness are something we value highly on safari at Great Plains through healthy eating, mindfulness and connecting with nature.

Guests regularly mention that a massage is the best way to disconnect from everyday life at home and really connect with nature and the bush. But wellness goes beyond our in-camp treatments and is embedded in everything we do at Great Plains, from our mindset towards the earth and each other. Looking after our planet and each other is integral to our ethos.

The team at Duba Plains Camp, led by Dipsy, our Wellness Concierge and Raymond, Executive Chef, have put together a wellness package to try at home from a massage, a healthy salad and revitalising fresh juice.

DIY-At-Home-Awaken-Your-Senses-Treatment

DIY At-Home Awaken Your Senses Treatment

Dipsy recommends trying the Awaken Your Senses massage at home to bring some R&R from the African Bush to your home. The idea of this treatment is to use all of our different senses and really ‘tune into’ yourself and your surroundings while being MINDFUL. Awaken your senses and indulge in a head and body massage utilizing aromatherapy oils. Profoundly relaxing and awakening.

Step-by-Step:

  1. Find a quiet place with a view of nature
  2. Set up a comfortable space with a robe, towel, massage oil, essential oils, some fruit pieces and a glass of water. You will also need something to shake to awaken your auditory senses (anything you have at home that can rattle to make noise).
  3. Sit comfortably and still and mindfully look at the view. What do you see?
  4. Close your eyes; what do you hear? Birds singing? What sounds are close and what is far away.
  5. Slowly wiggle your toes and fingers to connect to your body.
  6. Open your eyes.
  7. Rub essential oil between your palms, close your eyes and take a deep breath; hold for a second at the top and release the breath. Inhale deeply, feeling and imagining the fragrant molecules entering the brain, where it will cause the release of feel-good hormones. Do this three times and awaken your sense of smell.
  8. Rattle your auditory senses, marking the beginning of the treatment.
  9. Start the Massage Treatment on the front of the body. Close your eyes and start with a medium-strength scalp massage, then down to the face, neck, décolletage, etc.
  10. Slowly massage your arms, stomach, legs, and lower back.
  11. Once you have finished massaging your whole body, put on your robe and take three deep breaths.
  12. Consciously eat your piece of fruit with gratitude for the time it would take to grow it. Slowly sip your water as you feel your spirit lifting.
  13. Finally, rattle for your auditory senses to mark the end of the treatment.

Sit for a few minutes reconnecting with the sights around you and the sounds and smells.

I hope you feel more relaxed and rejuvenated after this Awaken Your Senses Treatment!

Dipsy’s Top Tips for Self-care and Wellness

  1. Eat healthy, nourishing food
  2. Be physically healthy and move your body every day
  3. Set the highest vision of yourself
  4. Bodywork, like massage, is excellent for stimulating the circulatory and lymphatic systems, which are integrated systems of detoxification.
  5. Remember to pause and appreciate the small things, a flower on your walk or a bird tweeting on a branch.

Nourish-Your-Body-with-Healthy-Food_

Nourish Your Body with Healthy Food!

A healthy body is a healthy mind. From Raymond Maarman, Executive Chef, Duba Plains Camp

Feel nourished from the inside out (and the outside in!).

“When on safari with Great Plains, we incorporate wellness into everything we do, from our camp designs, low impact model, experiences, and cuisine. I’m pleased to share some of my favourite nourishing recipes below for you to recreate at home.”

Root vegetable salad with a caper Redwine vinegar dressing

  • 2 parsnips
  • 2 red sweet potatoes
  • 1 radish
  • 2 tbs beansprouts
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tbs butter
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 tbs fresh chopped parsley

For the salad:

  1. Peel half of 1 parsnip and sweet potato and make grilled chips.
  2. Cut the rest of the parsnip and sweet potato into long thick strips and roast with the honey, olive oil and seasoning.
  3. When the vegetables are cooked, assemble with the beansprout and the grilled chips with the mixed herbs and pea shoot. Add the dressing on top.

For the dressing:

  • 1 tsp capers
  • 30ml olive oil
  • 30 ml Redwine vinegar
  • salt pepper
  • 2 tbs honey

Blend all ingredients in an electric blender and season.

Ray’s-Healthy-Homemade-spinach-papaya-_-pineapple-fruit-juice

Ray’s Healthy Homemade spinach, papaya & pineapple fruit juice:

  • ½ papaya
  • ½ pineapple
  • 2 leaves of spinach
  • ½ drop honey

Throw all the ingredients in a fruit juicer and taste for sweetness.

Written by: Dereck Joubert