S5, E27: Feel-Good Fridays | Australia’s Plastic Win, a Different Kind of Summit Story, and the Women Changing Safari

What does a safari look like when the guide isn’t a man? Award-winning writer and editor Ellen Carpenter went to Botswana’s Okavango Delta to find out. (To learn more, read her Afar story about the experience.)

Transcript

Aislyn: Everyone welcome. This is Unpacked by Afar. I’m Aislyn Greene.

Nikki: I’m Nikki Galteland, and today we are joined by the fabulous Michelle Heimerman. Welcome.

Michelle: Hi. It’s so great to be here.

Aislyn: Michelle, we’re so happy to have you. We finally got you on the podcast. That’s been my goal for the past, what, three years?

Nikki: We got Michelle. Yeah. And we’re especially excited to have you this week because it’s Feel Good Friday. So we are all together today to share stories that are making us feel good this week. And on this episode, we have some good news for beach goers.

Michelle: And a mountain climber with a unique approach to Everest.

Aislyn: And the female guides who are changing the way we Safari.

Nikki: That’s all coming up after the break.

We are back and I want to start us off with a story about some really beautiful beaches. So I just heard the fun fact that Perth, Australia is the most isolated major city in the world, which means it’s very far away from other major cities. So that’s what I was looking at, it’s like at least 2,000 kilometers away from another urban center. And with that in mind, I had the thought that, like, it must have some very beautiful nature around it. So I was looking at my photos. And yes, Perth has beautiful beaches, which then sent me down the rabbit hole of how do we keep these types of places clean? And I was very happy to see that Australia has had a major reduction in plastic pollution over the last 10 years. So yay for no plastic!

Michelle: That’s amazing.

Aislyn: Go Australia. How did how did they do that? Like what was their approach?

Nikki: Yeah. So I think the big takeaway is that it was a whole suite of programs at once. They weren’t just trying one thing. And I should also say that they’re not even necessarily like the top plastic recyclers or the least plasticky country in the world, but I like to celebrate progress. So they did a bunch of different things, like they expanded their container deposits, the sort of programs where you can take a bottle and return it for some money back for doing the recycling. And they’ve also been doing a lot of the things that I think we see in our neighborhoods around where we all live doing plastic bag bans. So the sort of single use plastic film, grocery bags or things like plastic straws. And then the really hard part, and I think where there’s a lot of progress still to be made, is working with manufacturers to try to make sure that they’re not producing as much plastic packaging. They’re not using the more difficult to recycle plastics when they’re avoidable, those types of things. So a whole group of programs together.

Aislyn: It does remind me of that, there was a documentary a few years ago called Plastic Island, I think it was about Indonesia, and you know, what has happened there in terms of plastic washing up and how people are dealing with it. Yeah. So it’s nice to hear some kind of inspiring ways that people have approached having less plastic in their lives.

Nikki: Exactly. It’s a big problem all over the world. Unfortunately, they are still producing as many countries in the world, they are still producing more plastic packaging overall, but they’ve gotten better at preventing it from ending up in the waterways and on the beaches and that kind of thing. So progress still to be made. But I think it’s a happy story and it makes me very excited to go visit a beach.

Aislyn: Absolutely. You know, I live in a water community, and one of the things that I think is very second nature to people is basically fishing things out of the water, everything from a piling that washes up to a plastic bag. But living in California, one of the other programs that we’ve seen expand here from the Pacific Northwest is this thing called, this company called Ridwell, where essentially you have this adorable little box that you put out, and every two weeks they come by and they gather there’s, I think, 10 different categories like plastic film corks, bottle caps, tote bags, everything. And then they partner with people to transform those ingredients into legitimate second lives. So it might be plastic decking. And I think, our most recent category was they took unused like beauty products and had a partner at an unhoused shelter for women and children. And it’s just been really neat to see that there are ways to truly recycle products like that. Like it is about stopping it at the beginning and having less plastic in our lives. But then once it’s there, what do we do with it?

Nikki: Exactly. And making that process easy, something that you can just put out on your front porch or like with a bottle deposit, something that incentivizes you to go a little bit out of your way to help reduce the plastic out in the world.

Aislyn: And living, you know, on the West Coast. I just feel like it is very much, it’s a little bit of a bubble. I don’t know, Michelle, do you see that much in New York as well?

Michelle: Yeah, I, uh, I live in the Hudson Valley a couple hours north of the city, and everybody that lives here in the community is so nature focused. And you’ll find most people are carrying around tote bags or using reusable cups, and everybody kind of inspires everybody else. And people really care about nature in the community. And I feel like the less plastic you start to see, the more people you know, feel better about it and that they’re actually making a difference. So it’s nice.

Aislyn: Yeah. Yeah. Do you both still collect tote bags? Because I still have the impulse when I see a really cute one, but we have 30,000 tote bags, so I still want them. But then I think about the back seat of our car or our trunk, and I’m like, we don’t need anymore tote bags. Yeah.

Michelle: The thing I love about tote bags is it’s such a small world and I will I love carrying like, friends, you know, tote bags. There’s this shop called A3 and he’s like, it’s an amazing design and photography and book shop. And I was in LA and there was this couple there and they were like, oh my God, I know that shop. I know Stephen and you know, we all took a photo together. I’ve had that happen multiple times where somebody knows, you know, the person behind the shop that the tote bag is from. So it’s a good icebreaker.

Aislyn: You’re not helping me with my tote bag problem, Michelle, that is an argument for getting more. Uh oh. Well, what do you have for us? Are we traveling around the world to any place in particular with you?

Michelle: Yeah. A few weeks ago, I was really excited because history was made when this Polish skier and climber, his name is Bartek Ziemski. He summited Everest and he skied down without any supplemental oxygen. No guide support.

Aislyn: Oh my gosh.

Michelle: And just the week before, he was the first to summit and ski down Lhotse without oxygen, which is a neighboring mountain next to Everest. Like every May, Everest has this small window for summiting, and I think what I found so fascinating about Bartek is he’s super humble. He doesn’t have social media, he doesn’t have sponsors or a support team. And, you know, you see so many people out there that kind of build this up. And he’s sort of just like this old school alpine style trek alone, carrying his skis on his back at nearly 30,000 feet. And he sort of just, you know, goes and does his thing. And it’s just so impressive.

Nikki: I think about skiing down when you’ve done this huge trek and are oxygen deprived, like it seems very dangerous that you’re like, you’re not quite as sharp and like it must be very technical skiing. So it seems very impressive.

Michelle: I started kind of this obsession with Everest a couple years ago after trekking to base camp. Did not climb the mountain at all, but it was with this group, Mountain Lodges of Nepal. It was to actually shoot our Epic Trips. Cover story. I have zero desire to summit. I have a lot of respect for, you know, everybody that does. But just I could barely walk around. It’s flat. You’re walking around the glaciers. It’s beautiful. But after like half a mile, you know, and I’m like, how are these people with skis on their back? You know, I just had a small camera in my hand.

And yeah, I think what I loved the most about Mountain lodges of Nepal is like, it really had priority on local villages. Everybody is so captivated by Everest itself, for them to kind of take the time to really trek there and sort of see these places that you don’t necessarily see. If your goal is just to get to base camp, the smell of incense and the deep bellowing horns that echo from the Buddhist monasteries and the lodges where we’d gather around fireplaces and sipping on tea while local villagers would come and they’d play music and dance and prepare for these stupa ceremonies. So it’s just like you’re seeing so much more. And then Everest is just a small portion of that.

Aislyn: I love that flipping of the narrative, because I’ve never had an interest in summiting Everest. Like that’s just not who I am. But I remember when you guys did that reporting and even the video that you posted on social media, it really showcased that you can have a cultural experience. And for people who aren’t adventure seekers in that same way, you could still go and have this incredible time. So we should link out to that video because it’s gorgeous.

Nikki: Absolutely, yes.

Michelle: No. In Nepal, it was just a place that I kind of always thought was overtouristed and something I wasn’t interested in. And I think by seeing these villages that tourists don’t always go to, that are kind of just hiding around the corner from a few other more popular treks. It’s really special. So highly recommend it. And it’s manageable, even for non-serious climbers.

Aislyn: I was going to ask, like, what kind of preparation do you have to do even just for that trip that you took?

Michelle: I mean, I was just walking hills.

Aislyn: Oh, wow.

Michelle: A few miles of hiking, being comfortable, walking long distances in the hills help, especially once you get up to higher elevation. But with mountain lodges of Nepal, they do helicopter across certain areas. So you hike the easier terrain. And then once you get pretty high up, they’ll helicopter you, which allows you to spend more time in the monasteries and with the locals than having to worry about any technical hikes.

Nikki: That sounds like almost impossible to top, like literally the top of the world, right?

Michelle: Yes.

Nikki: Yeah. So cool. Okay. So, Aislinn, what do you have for us this week?

Aislyn: I don’t know. Can we just end on that note? I’m just here to support Michelle telling us more stories about being in these monasteries. Yes, yes. Let’s send you back. Oh, to do an episode of Travel Tales. I love it. I don’t think that this tops it, to be honest, but it is a cool story and I will be up front that it’s actually an Afar story that also has a podcast component, but it definitely falls into the feel good category. So I feel like we’re okay. Um, but yesterday we published an episode hosted by the writer and editor Ellen Carpenter, and she used to be the editor in chief for United’s in-flight magazine Hemispheres. So she is a traveler, you know, she, she knows her way around the world and she’s been on safari quite a bit. But until last year, she had never had a female guide. And then she traveled to African Bush Camps, which is often referred to as ABC. And she got to spend several days in Botswana with the women who were carving out a new career path for themselves. It is so cool. And so that’s what I want to talk about, these cool ladies.

Michelle: Amazing. Can you tell us more about the program?

Aislyn: Yes, absolutely. So first, I will share a stat with you that in Africa, more than 90 percent of safari guides are male. So it is just historically a very male dominated field. And African bush camps is trying to change that. They have 18 lodges across Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. And ABC has been around since, I think 2006. And in 2021 they started a female guiding program. There are now 8 trainees and 4 qualified guides. And so the episode follows Ellen meeting these women and learning about their lives and their paths to the camps, and then actually going on safari with them. So you get to hear from the two guides she spent most of her time with. Their names are Tshidi and Bae, and you get to hear from ABC’s founder Beks Ndlovu, and he’s actually one of only a handful of Black Lodge owners, so his story is quite fascinating as well. But Beck’s goal now is to have 50 percent of his guides be women going forward.

Nikki: I loved hearing about the different ways that those women came to be. Guides like some of them had sort of a passion from earlier on. Some of them just found it as a job and kind of developed this passion and expertise. It’s a really cool community. It seems like they’re building.

Aislyn: I think that was the thing that kind of surprised me the most is most of these guides found out about the training program through a link on Facebook, and most of them come from the cities. They were not raised in the bush. They weren’t raised in nature. And you might think that that actually is a mark against them. But you know, what you’ll learn about in this story is that that’s actually made them better guides. Because a lot of guys who do grow up in the bush, you know, they don’t necessarily have parents who know all the information. And so ABC really loves that they kind of come in, they’re wonderful students. And one of the things that Ellen actually said, and she proclaimed this in the episode as she believes that the women that she met are better guides and they are definitely better drivers.

So, and based on an experience that I had in my first Safari last October, I might agree because we had this guide who was so aggressive, like the way he was driving. We were pursuing this leopard, we had this terrifying run in with a cape buffalo, and he was basically like, yeah, come, come on. You know, he was trying to get the buffalo to charge the Safari Jeep. And I was like, I don’t want that. So I would happily have signed up for a female guide at that moment.

Michelle: Yeah. I met an amazing woman in Botswana also last year. It was at one of the Natural Selection lodges, Meno-A-Kwena, her name was Sigga, and she was so passionate and so enthusiastic. And we didn’t, you know, get to go out on a game drive or anything with her. But I absolutely would go back to this lodge just to spend more time with her. She really just had an incredible personality.

Aislyn: We had wonderful male safari guides too. So I don’t want to, you know, paint any broad strokes when it comes to gender. But I just love that women have the opportunity in, in countries where maybe historically they haven’t always had access to safari life in this world. So listen to this story. I promise it’ll make you feel good.

Nikki: Yeah, it’s a good one.

Michelle: And now book your safari with a woman.

Nikki: Yes, yes, yes.

Aislyn: With Bae.

Nikki: This was a feel Good Friday episode of Unpacked by Afar.

Michelle: Make sure to tune in every Friday for a dose of good news from Afar’s favorite travel writers.

Aislyn: You can subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and follow @AfarMedia on social.

Nikki: And don’t forget to subscribe to our Behind the Mic newsletter at Afar.com.

Michelle: This show is part of the Airwave Media Podcast Network. Music from Chris Colin and Epidemic Sound.

Aislyn: See you next Friday. We have to top these stories.

Nikki: Hard to do.