Nicole:
Tiffany has now joined us, and we are that much stronger as a solid goddess triangle now. How wonderful it is to have her with us finally. We have whisked her away to Punda Milias resort that is sheer heaven with bouganvilla, cacti and acacia trees painting the grounds. Each of us have our own separate bandas, tent cottages, with luxurious beds and mosquito netting for us to nest at the end of our “senses-on-full-tilt” days. Open showers allow us to rinse the dust off under the beauty of the bamboo after a day exploring Soysambu Conservancy on Husaberg 390s. This was the first time I did dirt on a very tall bike, and boy was it a confidence builder after a kick ass day by the three of us.
Tiffany has now joined us, and we are that much stronger as a solid goddess triangle now. How wonderful it is to have her with us finally. We have whisked her away to Punda Milias resort that is sheer heaven with bouganvilla, cacti and acacia trees painting the grounds. Each of us have our own separate bandas, tent cottages, with luxurious beds and mosquito netting for us to nest at the end of our “senses-on-full-tilt” days. Open showers allow us to rinse the dust off under the beauty of the bamboo after a day exploring Soysambu Conservancy on Husaberg 390s. This was the first time I did dirt on a very tall bike, and boy was it a confidence builder after a kick ass day by the three of us.
Netta, our tour guide extraordinaire of Soysambu and owner
of Dusty Helmets, an adventure moto safari company, gave us the private Conservancy
tour of a lifetime. This beautiful soul is so connected to the land, animals
and locals that this private “farm” would definitely bog down without her. She
is the oil, the love and the inspiration of this entire operation. I am changed
forever for having been introduced to her and this gorgeous African landscape
and sanctuary for wild animals.
She and her right-hand man, John, let us loose on their 3
super-responsive Husaberg 390s, to ride through open bush with John leading and
Netta as sweep. Our mouths we’re lined with dust as jaws dropped to ride past
giraffe, baboons, zebra and gazelle. It was quite a surreal experience to
realize that we were actually here in Africa together working on a project so
dear to the hearts of many. Serendipity would ride pillion day after day as
people, animals and accommodations lined up in full beauty to greet the three
of us and our cameras.
The staff at Punda Milias welcomed us with huge smiles at
the end of our riding day with menus in hand and chilled Tuskers (local beer)
on the ready. I got the girls hooked on our custom smoothies of banana, passion
fruit and what I called “Wicky Wicky,” kale called Skuma Wiki, which means push
vegetables for a week with only 1 day a week of meat. I would be slow to learn
Swahili by picking up only the basics with “sawa sawa,” or “OK,” “asante”
“thank you,” and “pole pole,” or “slowly slowly” like the take-it-easy attitude
these beautiful locals carry within.
Lorraine, Tiffany and I make a beautiful team with each of
us bringing to the table a strong varying background that would lend something
special to this project. With three riders shooting this film ourselves with no
support vehicle or crew, we all juggle lots of jobs to keep it moving forward
seamlessly. We take on at least four cameras a day with many SD cards that have
to be labeled and downloaded before we take on the next day of shooting.
Finding accommodations with electricity is a luxury as we come with our
international outlet adapters and multi USB port adapters ready to charge
batteries and connect card readers. We pre-purchase a “dongle” wifi connector
that gives us access to the internet wherever we land.
I am usually the last one to bed as I download my heart
out, and categorize the day’s footage onto both Lorraine and my external hard
drives. It’ll be so much easier in the editing room with footage labeled while
it’s still fresh in our minds. Ahh, the luxuries of the road: a nice bed, a
shower and our beloved electricity. Time seems to be slipping away, as days
seem like weeks with this way of life stealing my heart.Rallying for a Wild Life
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