Interview: Inventure experiences in the Karoo

Speaker 1:
All right. We’re talking, something brand new around, Whine Down Wednesday. Inventure experience in the Karoo. On the line, we have, Julie, Robinson.

Hi, Julie.
Welcome to the show. so much I understand that you’ve created, an inaugural Inventure experience for women set in the heart of the breathtaking Karoo. What is this all about?

Julie Robinson:
Well, if I can actually just take you back for a moment, we actually, these experiences, down in the Karoo actually started for men. So I did my first experience for an intimate group of men, last year. And then we did a second one this year, and now we doing an inaugural one for women down to the beautiful Karoo in September. And really what these experiences are about is inviting people into the most magnificent, I believe, part of our country to go completely offline, off the grid. You set up a full remote camp, in a magical location and everything is taken care of for these individuals to come on this experience.

And really, the intention is to invite a deep reconnection to ourselves, to the natural world, to each other and to creative and sensory experiences that I put together and by going on beautiful walks and just being in nature and writing and gentle movement and breathwork. I think that really helps to facilitate an experience for people, I guess you could say, quieting out the noise and doing a lot of that deep in a work without forcing it. And I think one of the core components that we take people off their device, you know, I think we all are addicted to our devices on some level. And when we can go into nature, without not just being offline, but not even having our physical device with us, I think there are beautiful things that start to happen for people. And it’s, it’s a deep remembering. It’s a deep experience of coming alive. And that’s what the name means. It’s a it’s an inner adventure experience.

Speaker 2:
I see that’s where the “Inventure” comes from. Aha. All right. we’re going to ask you to, just to hang ten. Julie, as we take a break. And when we come back, we’ll continue the conversation.

I’m still speaking to Julie Robinson, founder of Inventure in the Karoo. Julie, tell us then, who is this experience best suited for, women, obviously. But what kind of women?

Julie Robinson:
Well, I think it really depends, I guess you could say, on where you are in your life. So, I like to say it’s for anyone who has a sense of curiosity, who needs some stillness and quiet. Who just wants to put aside the noise of the every day and to actually access different parts of themselves.

So I would say probably for everybody. However, at the same time, I think, you know, this would appeal to a certain person who is wanting to go and be almost snuggled with the earth, to put it that way. This isn’t a, luxury experience with these sort of bright lights and, you know, we it’s it’s a premium experience. It’s a hyper tailored experience. And I think for people who and especially for women who actually want to, arrive in an environment where all your needs are catered for, but it’s taking you back to the basics without distractions. And, this can be, I mean, we’ve got, about five people who are confirmed for this trip already, and, we have a maximum of eight. And these are entrepreneurs these are women who are highly stressed, who have a family, . Mothers, kids, occupying a variety of roles in their life. And, it’s a space you completely switch that off, as much as we love it, and to be able to actually spend some time with yourself and with an intimate group of women who are probably in the same space around being entrepreneurs and holding a variety of different roles in their life.

Speaker 2:
Okay. Why did you specifically choose the Karoo?

Julie Robinson:
So Inventure. It’s a great question. And the Karoo for me was an adventure actually came from. My own healing experience through illness. and what was invited within myself as I went through that journey of healing in the Karoo. And I actually went down during my healing, you know, journey and experience. I spent some down in the Karoo and, and it was the first place that I was actually able to start writing and processing a lot of what my experience was around ill health and my emotions around it, my journey, past experiences. And there’s something about that land that is impossible to put into words. It is an energy. It is a feeling, and all we have to do is arrive and experience that in a deeply profound way for myself. And then when we created Inventure as a concept, one of our offerings is to take people into that space and then create beautiful experiences where they feel connected, alive and loved. And, and then it almost as if the land does the rest.

Speaker 2:
All right, Julie, it sounds like an incredible, experience if one wants to be part of it, when will it be held? And, what are the details that one needs to know?

Julie Robinson:
So the experience our next, experience for the group of women is, going to be held in September. So the 10th to the 14th of September, and that you’ve got three more spaces available for that. And then the next one for men will be between the 3rd and the 7th of October, and we going to have six spaces available for six men who would like to come and join us.

Speaker 2:
So it’s really an intimate group of people. Yeah? How many, packs?

Julie Robinson:
So I’m looking at doing this four times again next year. Because of the weather in the Karoo, we only have a particular window. There will be two in May next year if it’s not too cold. And then one in September and one in October again next year. So, yeah, it’s hyper tailored, you know, hyper curated for the people who come so that they get the most out of that experience.

Speaker 2:
I see you incorporate breathwork here. It’s definitely camping as well. What of those who are very much city people, like Mo here who say, oh, I can’t it sounds like a very “woo woo” type of experience.

Julie Robinson:
Yeah. I mean, it’s so funny. It’s so funny that you say that because for our experience we had in May, there was a photojournalist who came to join us, and he was incredibly skeptical of the process. And he said to me, this sounds like some hippie experience. And then he actually wrote a really wonderful article about his personal experience, which is actually available on my website, if people would like to have a look at that. And so I incooperate a lot that works with the mind and the body and, you know, we don’t just do our life experience cognitively in our heads and through language, it’s actually stored in the body.

And so when we start to slow everything down, move gently take ourselves out of that intense Joburg energy or Cape Town energy, or wherever we are coming from and, wherever that may be in South Africa, when we come into that space we can’t just work with the mind. We need to actually work with the body, with movement, with walking, with grace, with our hands.

And then it’s amazing, actually what happens. And I think for women, we have a lot of things we can access. For men. I don’t think there’s a lot that that men have available to in a safe, contained group do that deep inner work. And I think the mental emotional health crisis that we see across the globe, it’s spaces that allow people to feel, to reconnect, and to and to really drop in to the parts of ourselves that we don’t pay attention to in our day to day.

That is what I truly believe is the work that is required.

Speaker 1:
All right. Great stuff. Thanks a lot for chatting to us this afternoon. And I like the fact that you’ve also included men in it. How often are you planning to run these things?

Julie Robinson:
So, as I mentioned, we’ve got two later this year, one for women and one for men. And next year I’m going to have four. There’ll be two in May, one in September and one in October. And I’ll put all those details on my website.

Speaker 2:
Hoping to, potential fill those last three spots there. Me and my mates. Yeah. Thank you. Julie, thank you very much for coming on.

Julie Robinson:
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:
If you want to be part of that experience, do check Julie’s website out. And it is the Inventure in the Karoo.