Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast

Beneath a Stirring Sky

• Phoebe Smith

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The sky is stirring over Canada's Northwest Territories, and we wanted to know what it really means when the norhtern lights dance. So Wander Woman Phoebe Smith sent her editor and correspondent Daniel Neilson to travel to Yellowknife to sit with Dene guides who treat the aurora as memory and medicine, not a bucket list stunt. Join us for stories that bring light to the darkness and stir the sky - and the soul. 

Also coming up:

  • Celebrity Chef Rick Stein on his new series about Australia airing on the BBC
  • Travel Hack: How to photograph the aurora borealis
  • Top 10 winter festivities around the world that aren't Christmas - from Up Helly Aa to Diwali and moew
  • Meet the man behind the former hunting farm that became a stronghold in Namibia for protecting endangered species - and ensuring local people benefitted too
  • Gear chat: what to wear when stood watching for the Northern Lights
  • Shaaw Tláa - a pioneering prospector and proud member of the Tagish community is our Wander Woman of the Month

Contact Wander Woman

www.Phoebe-Smith.com; @PhoebeRSmith

Speaker 1:

On this month's Wander Woman Podcast.

Speaker 5:

Yake Nakas. In our Dene language is what we call the Northern Lights. Yake Nakas, which means the sky is stirring.

Speaker 1:

I send my Wander Woman correspondent and editor Daniel Neilson to Canada's North West Territory in search of the Aurora Borealis to learn the indigenous stories behind them. I also chat to celebrity chef Rick Stein about his new BBC series, which sees him sharing food and personal history in Australia.

Speaker 2:

I found myself in New South Wales in 1966 and loved it from the moment I stepped off the boat.

Speaker 1:

And I meet Gary Roberts of Onguma Nature Reserve in Namibia to learn how a former hunting farm is giving opportunities to wildlife and the locals.

Speaker 3:

Because there was no work and no job opportunities, poaching could have been a problem. And it was a problem, and we felt that if we created work, it would then obviously give people dignity.

Speaker 1:

Also coming up, how to photograph the Northern Lights and get pictures people will actually want to see in my monthly travel hack. Discover ten winter celebrations across the world that aren't Christmas. And in my regular gear section, I help you dress to keep warm while standing around, waiting for the Aurora to come. Finally, I'll be revealing this episode's Wander Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is lost in the history books. You're listening to the Wander Woman Podcast, an audio travel magazine with me, Adventurer Phoebe Smith, exploring the off-the-beaten track destinations, wild spaces, wildlife encounters, and the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts. Come wander with me.

Speaker 5:

Hey, how's it going? My name is Joe Buffalo Child. I'm the founder and owner of North Star Adventures Limited. We are 100% indigenous-owned, 50,000 years of experience.

Speaker 4:

Yes, that is Joe Buffalo, the original Aurora hunter. He's an Arctic Expeditions Guide, Mackenzie River Guide, photographer, and cultural storyteller. His enthusiasm for the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis, is infectious. He's also Dene, born of the land we now know as the Northwest Territories. And when he talks about the Northern Lights, he isn't talking about a spectacle or a bucket list moment. He's talking about something that is forever in the skies above his people. I had travelled up to the North West Territories to be one of the best places in the world to see the Aurora Borealis. With North West Territories tourism, we'd spend five days in this territory of Canada with indigenous owned operators exploring the region and hopefully seeing the Northern Lights. We'd also be learning what they mean for the cultures who live beneath their almost nightly celestial light show. But first, we meet Joe at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, the capital of the North West Territories, because before you look up, he wants us to understand the land beneath our feet.

Speaker 5:

Welcome! This is Denende. People call it the North West Territories. We call it Denende. We are the Dene people, and Denende is the land of the people. Story goes, we migrated across from Asia 50,000 years ago when one of the ice ages exposed the land bridge and the animals come over, so we follow the animals. The mainland of uh Indian country was under ice, exposing only the west coast. So, again, like I said, some of our cousins continued migrating south. All the way down the beautiful, beautiful Arizona and New Mexico. So when I make the journey to the spirit world, I'm gonna ask my cousins and my ancestors why you stay here where it's dark and cold, freezing.

Speaker 4:

It's almost impossible to comprehend the size of the land just from looking at the map. It measures more than one million square kilometres and is home to just 41,000 people. Yep, 41,000 people. In North West Territories is the deepest lake in North America, the Great Slave Lake, and Canada's longest river, the Mackenzie, which flows from the Great Slave Lake up north to the Arctic Ocean. But this isn't just about geography. For Joe, it's about memory, it's about movement, and it's about the generations of people living with the land, not just on top of it.

Speaker 5:

So we settled here. This is Denende, home to five Denny tribes. The Akecho, which is the largest tribe of the Denny. From here, northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba to the Hudson Bay, all the way up to the Arctic Ocean. This is our land, this is our traditional territory. The Kleecho tribe, a small little tribe right here. The Decho, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Oh my god.

Speaker 4:

Joe's story isn't only about survival, it's also about endurance. And when you hear what he carries with him, you realize that his story reflects many of that of the Dene people in the North West Territories, and some of it is very dark.

Speaker 5:

Then they brought in the residential school. Both Canada and the United States. We are still experiencing intergenerational trauma today. I went to residential school, but luckily I was raised by my grandparents. I have no father and no mother. Given to my grandparents at birth, raised for the first six years of my life in here on the land on the Slave River and Little Buffalo River. Those six years was enough to give me a suit of armour. That's how I kind of describe it. To prepare me for when I got we got taken away from them because we have to do a month on the land in springtime and a month on the land in fall time. Social services told the teacher, or teachers told us social services, their mission school took us away. You don't know how to raise your children, we know how we're going to take them away from you. Happened all over the place. But I tell people we are the Native American people of Indian country. We're always going to be here. Subject us to whatever you want. The white paper of 1969, the residential schools of the 1800s, the genocide of the murder, assimilation policies, colonization policies. We're always going to be here. So this is our home. Welcome to Denende.

Speaker 4:

That night, as the temperature dropped and the sky darkened, we joined Bobby Drygeese of B Den A Adventures. We sat inside his warm lakefront hut, we drank tea and waited for the Northern Lights to begin their show. Meanwhile, we listened to the stories that weave their way through this land, ate freshly cooked fish and bannock. Then I asked him about the Northern Lights and what it meant for them. The Northern Lights, like for people come around from around the world to see them here, and they mean something to each individual person in each individual culture. What does it mean to your culture?

Speaker 6:

When we're living out in the land, we're hunting, gathering, we're doing stuff, we're trying to do trying to live life right way. So that's why at nighttime we see that northern lights is just our ancestors, they're happy, they're dancing, they're they're seeing us have a good life. So that's why a lot of people believe that. And some people believe like that Northern Lights is medicine, man, they travel from community to community to heal people and the whole story about that, and lots of different ones like this.

Speaker 4:

It's something Bobby's father also believed. But when he told him about his plans for an Aurora tourism company, his father had different concerns.

Speaker 6:

And uh the elders, they said a whole bunch of rules. They said make sure you tell the truth all the time. That was the first rule. Second rule, he said, make sure everything's safe, you're safe, I'm safe, everything's safe, safe, safe. The third rule is certain stories and you can share and tell. Certain stories you can share can't tell. Fourth rule, like there said there's that we still do ceremonies and rituals and all that stuff on the land, so you can't bring people to the sacred spot. So that's something my dad always said too. Like, even when I told him I was gonna make a business here for the for the culture camps and the aurora tourism, I was like, What the heck? Why are you gonna do that? Your neck's gonna get sore. What are you talking about? Straight up, so you can go like that all the time. Your neck's gonna get sore, so it's been 16 years and it is getting sore. So I always gotta do the stretches all the time.

Speaker 4:

Well, our neck survived the tour, and we saw the lights wending their way across the sky, reflected in the lake, subtle but beautiful in the cold still night. Then the next day we met Tracy Terrian for a city tour of Yellowknife before joining her again in a cozy cabin for a lovely evening of great food and aurora spotting. She told of the challenges of starting bucket list tours, but also why now is the best time for almost a decade to see the Northern Lights.

Speaker 6:

My name is Tracy Terrian. I own the bucket list tours. I have lived in the Northwest Territories for about 37 years. I've operated this business for about five years. I started in 2018 and with no marketing and just started getting my feet on the ground and COVID hit. So then the next year we got all geared up for the new season and we were evacuated for three weeks. So last year was actually my full-on uninterrupted season. Okay, and it was brilliant. Um, particularly last year and this year in the 2011 cycle that we're in has drawn many, many people to Yellow Nafe, and we've all seen increases in our business and our numbers.

Speaker 4:

Okay, so tell me about this um cycle. What is what is it?

Speaker 6:

There's an 11-year cycle to the Aurora, and the 11th year it brings on the greatest storms, and it's the strongest of the 11-year cycle, so we are on the peak of that cycle. Not to say year one is not fantastic, and we get fantastic auroras to this time, but the 11 is the peak of an 11-year cycle, and it'll s quiet down after this a little bit.

Speaker 4:

The science can tell us how the aurora happened, but that doesn't explain why people fall silent when they see it. So, what is it about these charged particles from the sun colliding with gases, oxygen and nitrogen, high in the Earth's upper atmosphere near the magnetic poles that people love so much? Uh, her beautiful cabin, we saw the lights over the sky. The most beautiful I ever seen them, but the best was yet to come. The next night we joined Joe again and we drove beyond the city limits. Cameras ready.

Speaker 5:

We're on our one of our world-famous Aurora hunting tours. We are the world's first Aurora hunting tour company. Right now we're out about uh uh 18-19 kilometers outside of Younglife, and we are looking at one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Yake Nakas. In our denial language is what we call the northern lights. Yake nakas, which means the sky is stirring. And it is is it beautiful? Woo! Spectacular, beautiful.

Speaker 4:

You tell me you had a rating system, what is it? Oh right. Explain the rating system and where are we at now?

Speaker 5:

Uh well, actually that's kind of a secret. It is kind of a secret. So, but at the end of the day, we have a rating of the aurora intensity on a scale of one to ten at the end of the evening. Right now we're looking at a level 4.50. It's gone up 0.25 now. So, which is pretty good. Anything above a 3.5 is good. And this is a 4.5 right now, and it's still kind of early, so I'm excited to see what's coming here next hour.

Speaker 4:

And then there they were, a seven on Joe's scale. First they weave across the sky, snake-like, and then on this night, they suddenly fell like a waterfall, filling the sky with shimmering whites and greens and purples. But even more was to come. They started dancing and flickering like I'd never seen them before. I then remembered what Tracy had told me.

Speaker 6:

I think when something as magical and powerful as the Aurora and Science collide, there's a great interest because it is due to science, but she's magical, she's powerful, she's spiritual, she does something to you. I I g that's me personally, and that's what I see in people. It it changes you, and it's just it's kind of hard to put in words. It's the sounds of people seeing her for the first time, is the thing I love the most about my job.

Speaker 4:

And out there under the sky that never really feels still, but the restless northern lights represent stories to be told. Even waiting for them encourages you to share stories with new friends. But through Joe, Bobby, and Tracy, we saw three ways of understanding the same thing belief, memory, and science, all sharing the same sky. And maybe that's the beauty of it. For a few quiet moments, it reminds us that the world is bigger, older, and far more mysterious than we are.

Speaker 1:

Wow. Listening to how Daniel got on in the North West Territory, I am really quite envious that it was him who got to go and experience it. Seriously though, how cool was it to hear from people who have witnessed the lights for tens of thousands of years and are willing to share their creation stories with us? I for one feel privileged, and I'm sure that you do too. Thanks to the Denende people for being so generous with their knowledge and stories.

Speaker 1:

Speaking of knowledge, you'll not want to head out to see the Aurora without first boning up on how to capture them on camera. That's where this month's Trouble Hack comes in. How to photograph the Northern Lights. Curious? Cameras ready.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so given all I just said, you may be a little surprised to hear that the first piece of advice is this. If you're lucky enough to see the northern lights, step away from the camera. At least for a bit. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, whatever your beliefs, witnessing the aurora is a genuinely awe-inspiring experience that makes you question, in a good way, your place on Earth and the cosmos. When you see these lights flicker across the sky, there's nothing like the feeling it gives you.

Speaker 1:

Another key reason is that they look very different to the naked eye than through the lens of a camera. And warning, cameras exaggerate the greens and the purples. Through a photograph, the northern lights are usually more dramatic. In some way, this can take away what you're seeing with your eyes, but don't let it. This phenomenon is amazing. Lodge it in your memory, then pick up the phone or camera to capture it.

Speaker 1:

Now, phones these days are brilliant at capturing the northern lights without too much problem at all. In fact, without hitting anything but the shutter. You will want to brace your phone on a tripod, however, or prop it up against something to stop shake. You can pick simple phone tripods up for next to nothing these days, and they are worth every penny. To up your game on a phone, put it into night mode, and if you can, override the exposure, slowing it down. It will do that automatically, of course, but you can play with it a little through Native Photography app or a third-party one.

Speaker 1:

But if you've carried your DSLR with you, then there are several techniques to employ to capture the Aurora. But note the lights are ever changing in intensity and movement. So expect it to be a lot of trial and error. Firstly, a tripod is a non-negotiable. And then switch it to manual. Here are the starting points. Firstly, you want a wide aperture, the widest you can. F2.8 is ideal. A wide angle here helps too. You want landscape in the photos, trees, a lake with reflection. All these things will add context and composition. Your ISO will need to be high too. You can push it to around 3,200. It will add a bit of grain, but keep this constant. The variable option is the shutter speed. Slow it down, but not a crazy amount. About five to ten seconds is the area you want to experiment with. And then once on the tripod, use a remote shutter if you can. This can sometimes be done with an app. It will stop a little wobble caused by pushing the button. And key, turn off autofocus. It will never find the northern lights. Happy snapping.

Speaker 1:

But just quickly, let's go back to my first point just one more time. The northern lights are great to photograph and record. But for me, there's something deeper about them that can't be captured in pixels. Consider sketching them, writing about how you feel when you saw them, or maybe record a voice note. You'll then always remember the view, the sight, the cold, the silence, and that little crackle you swore you could hear from the celestial body above. I guarantee that the image you remember will be about the people you were with, what you were feeling, and not the still image that you took.

Speaker 1:

That was my Wander Woman travel hack, the regular advice I give you each episode to help you travel with an abundance of knowledge. However, that's not exactly how my first guest, celebrity chef Rick Stein, travelled when at the age of 19, following the death of his father, he headed resolutely for Australia. Now, 50 years on, he returns to Oz to retrace some of his footsteps and recreate a few dishes for the BBC in his new six-part show that airs in January 2026. I caught up with him just before Christmas to ask what drew him down under. Why does he have a particular affinity with New South Wales? And what is the one thing he never travels anywhere without. So what first drew you to New South Wales and what makes the region so special to you as a chef?

Speaker 2:

Well, I mean, what drew me to New South Wales is I went there as a 19-year-old, and um really I just wanted to escape from the UK and end up in Australia. The reason I went to Australia was my parents had been there a couple of times. This was in the sort of mid-60s, and just filled me with sort of an an idea of it somewhere where I really wanted to go. So I found myself in New South Wales in 1966 and loved it from the moment I stepped off the boat, really.

Speaker 1:

And and how has it kind of inspired you as a chef?

Speaker 2:

Well, it's just that I think Australia, like the UK, has has been through a complete sort of revolution in terms of food and hospitality. Which started in the early 80s in Australia, uh, when I think a lot of people, sort of young people, realised there was a future in running restaurants and cooking. And I think they were all excited by that so many in influences coming in from the Mediterranean, Greece and Italy particularly, and Southeast Asia, and and China, Japan, that it just became because of all the immigrants into Australia, there was so much sort of so many influences that this whole idea of sort of fusion cooking, which happened in the 80s, started in the 80s, was very much what they were all about. And I, as coming from a fairly sort of sheltered background in in the UK at that time, I was just really really overwhelmed by what was going on in Australia.

Speaker 1:

And is there a particular New South Wales ingredient or dish that's that's either surprised or inspired you?

Speaker 2:

Well, I think that generally the sort of ingredients in New South Wales are so sort of special, and it's not particularly unusual ingredients, it's just the plenty of everything. I mean, you know, I take something really simple like basil, like these days it's better, but in in the sort of 80s, if you wanted basil from a supermarket, it came in a little a little plastic bag or a little plastic. And you went into sort of shops in food produce shops in Sydney, and you got a bunch as big as a bunch of roses, you know, and it was like pence or cents. It was just this sort of plenty. And also the fact that in Australia that you can grow anything, because right from sort of tip of Tasmania to the tropical Darwin, they can grow anything. And and generally it the raw materials are fantastic, the seafood's fantastic, the meat, the lamb, the beef is brilliant. So it's as a as a chef, it's a very, very sort of rewarding place to cook, I think.

Speaker 1:

And how about the landscapes? Obviously, in this series, we see you actually travelling around. How do the landscapes inspire what you create there?

Speaker 2:

Well, I think the sort of the landscapes are very much part of it, really, because you guys just guess this sort of sense of sort of almost infinite infinite land because it's such a big country. It's really weird, really, that the sun in Sydney it sets it it sets over the in the in the west, which is looking inland, so you get this whole different sort of feeling of a country. You know, we're where I live in Cornwall, the sun sets over the sea. In Australia, it sets over the land, and it always sort of seems to disappear in this great sort of redness, which reflects the sort of the landscape of much of the interior of Australia. You just get this sense of a sort of enormous country, you know, really, really old country, which has to affect you, I think, you know.

Speaker 1:

And you um you speak a lot about the importance of sourcing things locally. What qualities do you look for in local um suppliers when you're crafting a menu?

Speaker 2:

Well, I mean, with something like fish, local is very much best because it's fish um stale so quickly. So it's really important if you're running a fish restaurant that you have local suppliers. But but also in in Australia, the particular things that I I find really special are the oysters, which are everybody eats oysters in New South Wales, unlike in the UK, where they're a bit of a sort of gourmet food generally, although the traditionally they were poor people's food, but not anymore. And things like prawns, I mean local prawns in Australia are just fantastic. There's there are small prawns in the UK and Longestines, but we don't have these sort of really chunky prawns with great sweet flavour like they do in Australia.

Speaker 1:

And do you have a favourite place in New South Wales that means something to you?

Speaker 2:

Well, I suppose my favourite place would would be Mollymook, which is where the first restaurant about 12 years ago I started my association with the restaurant in Mollymook. It's on the south coast of New South Wales, and it's where we have our Christmas holidays every year, and the same people sort of come back year after year, and the beach, Mollymook Beach is really special. Um, so that's my sort of go-to place in Australia.

Speaker 1:

And if you could cook one final meal inspired by New South Wales, what do you think it would be on the plate?

Speaker 2:

I think it would probably be simply um something like a sand whiting, which is a it's a they're not really like our whitings, which are a bit on the bland side. A whiting is a fabulous fish. I think just pan-fried the whole fish with a bit of burn, what is that, a bit of brown brown butter with with lemon juice, parsley and capers.

Speaker 1:

And if you had to sum up the most recent series you've done in a couple of sentences of why people should watch it, what would you say?

Speaker 2:

Well, I think it's just my experiences of my early days in New South Wales when I was a teenager, and comparing the way it is now and travelling round the cat the state, remembering where I'd been in those past in the 60s, and comparing of what it's like now and what I now know about Australian cuisine and finding places where they're cooking something really special.

Speaker 1:

And one final question, which I asked all guests to the podcast, and I'd be interested to hear yours as a chat. When you travel to somewhere like Australia, is there one piece of travel gear you pack in your suitcase that you would never leave home without?

Speaker 2:

It's a difficult one that because I'm I'm always very sort of um bit haphazard in what I take. I'm just thinking there's a I just have this little bag where I've got things that um Yeah. I just got this tiny little speaker, to be honest. So I love my music, so I just take this little speaker, which these days I've terribly um you know, the the sound from tiny speakers is so good. So I always pack that and I always feel if I've left it behind. That and a um Swiss Army knife, which I find I use all the time. I know it's really boring, but honestly, it's got a corkscrew, it's got scissors, it's got a little pair of pliers on it, a couple of knife blades. So it's sort of the number of times I've found myself using it, it's amazing.

Speaker 1:

That was Rick Stein, who I'm not afraid to admit, having journeyed through a cold, damp London to go and meet him, made me very envious of the idea of spending winter in Australia, or indeed any hot country. And though many of you will be listening to this having just celebrated Christmas, there are so many other amazing festivities to experience around the world when the weather is cold in the Northern Hemisphere. From Diwali to Up Heliar and many more in between. We run through a heedy selection in this episode's top 10.

Speaker 1:

At 10, we're heading very far north for Yule. Often a word consigned to go alongside log, Yule in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark marks the rebirth of the sun after the darkest days of the year. Yule is celebrated with fire rituals, decorations, feasting, saunas, because, well, why not? And a lot of candles.

Speaker 1:

At nine, one of Britain's ancient traditions, the winter solstice, is acknowledged by all in the country. But some make the trek to places like Stonehenge, to stand in the cold and witness the sunrise aligned with the stones, placed by people who are even more thankful that the days are getting longer again. This is more about quiet contemplation with a flask of tea, but maybe with the added sense of cosmic alignment.

Speaker 1:

In at eight it's Diwali, the ultimate festival of lights. Across India, Nepal, and in streets in Indian communities across the world, lights glow in homes, fireworks are launched, and sweets are exchanged. It celebrates light over dark and knowledge over ignorance. I think that's something we can all get behind.

Speaker 1:

At seven, we're heading to Edinburgh for Hogmany, an even louder cousin to New Year's Eve events. Torchlight processions, fire festivals. Can you see the parallels with Yule? And hearty singing that eventually warms the heart with a nip of whiskey to warm the body. Hogmany has its own traditions too, including first footing, which is the taking of gifts to friends' homes after midnight.

Speaker 1:

At six, it's the Jewish Festival of Light and Hanukkah. It commemorates resilience and faith. Something more important than ever this year. Menorah's are lit, meals shared, and family cared for.

Speaker 1:

At five, we're heading to Cusco, Peru, for the Incan winter solstice, Inti Rayme, held in June. This dramatic reenactment honors the sun god Inti with processions, music, and ritual, all against the beautiful backdrop of the Andes. Again, it's when the sacred sun begins to shine for longer.

Speaker 1:

At four, it's Kwanzaa, a week-long cultural celebration between December 26th and January 1st for African Americans and the African diaspora. It was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga as its way to connect African Americans with ancestral heritage and focuses on seven principles, including unity, creativity, and responsibility. This is a thoughtful and intentional idea, and definitely not one built on consumerism.

Speaker 1:

At three, it's China's Dongzi Festival, a winter solstice event held, of course, on December 21st. Pleasingly, the origins of the festival are traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos, and its celebration of the longer days will bring in more sunlight and positive energy into our lives, literally and metaphorically.

Speaker 1:

At two is the fabulously named Up Helly Aa in Lerwick, Shetland Islands. It's a fierce midwinter fire festival rooted in Norse heritage. Because if you're going to embrace winter, you may as well do it in a helmet, horizontal rain, and setting something on fire. Yet despite the theatre and the burning at a galley, this is a local rite that brings together a community.

Speaker 1:

And at one, it's the Chinese New Year that for an estimated two billion people marks the start of the lunar calendar. In China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and in almost every city on earth, people gather to eat Tangguan sweet rice balls symbolizing togetherness, to light lanterns, bringing light again, and set off fireworks. Each year is tied to an animal of the zodiac, shaping rituals and symbolism. 2026 is the year of the horse, specifically the fire horse. This is the year of the bold, strong moves defined by fiery determination.

Speaker 1:

That was my top ten winter celebrations that don't have a Santa, stocking, or a bauble anywhere in sight. I hope they inspire you for the winter and indeed the year ahead. Speaking of winter, it's not over yet.

Speaker 1:

So given my focus on the Aurora this episode, I thought this month's gear section would be perfect for helping you dress for hours stood around in the cold, waiting for nature's fireworks to show up. Listen up.

Speaker 1:

Let's start with the basics, and that is underwear. Aurora hunting is not about how you, or indeed they, look. In fact, it's way more about how you feel, and when you're stood waiting patiently for them to appear, the odds are you will likely feel cold. That is, if you don't layer up like your granny. This is not the time for skimpy pants and thongs. Go for big hip huggers that go far up your back so that when you bend down to get a better composed shot, you don't expose your lower back and get a chill. And wearing a vest, or at the very least, a merino base layer tucked into your unmentionables, never hurt anyone either.

Speaker 1:

For trousers, think ski pants. Lined, waterproof and windproof too. Socks should be long and warm. I love heat holders made from wool, and boots should be lined, think muck boots or similar, but not too tight. You want to be able to wiggle your toes to keep them warm when stood still.

Speaker 1:

On top, layer up. Fleeces are a cheap and easy way to add instant warmth as a duvet jacket, but be sure to use a waterproof too, as it will also block out the wind. My nearly every episode mention goes to a net gator, but in this instance I suggest getting a fleece-lined one, as well as a hat with ear flaps, but no bobble, as it can be a nightmare to fit it under your hood.

Speaker 1:

Finally, gloves. Mittens are definitely your friends. Think water and windproof with plenty of room to move your hands around inside to warm up fast. A second thin pair of gloves to wear while fiddling with your camera is key, as is a pair of reusable hand warmers to ensure you keep your fingers in good working order.

Speaker 1:

And finally, don't forget to take your flask. To celebrate the moment you finally see these magical lights. Cheers.

Speaker 1:

That was my monthly gear slot, the part of the episode where I help you get all your ducks in a row to ensure the best chance of success on your adventures. Now, someone who knows all about that is my second guest. Gary Roberts is a manager at Onguma Nature Reserve in Namibia, a place that went from being a hunting farm to protector of endangered species, thanks to the vision of its owners. But more than that, the creators of this place realize that the key to protection is to empower local people so that poaching becomes a less attractive option. I caught up with Gary not long after they rebuilt one of their lodges following a fire to see how they have worked to come back better. Do excuse my voice on this one. I didn't know it at the time but had managed to contract pneumonia.

Speaker 3:

The property was bought in 2000. It was a hunting farm, so there were animals on it, and it was a commercial hunting farm. When we purchased it in 2000, um all hunting was stopped, and over the last 22-3 years we've been trying to get the farm back to tourism only, and with that, obviously rehabilitation. This was previously a cattle cattle farming area, and um overgrazing was a problem, so we have now had to try and get the land back to its natural um natural form, and yeah, so it's taken quite a number of years, and it's on it's gonna take a number of years more still to get it back to where it should be. But at as I say, we've stopped there's no hunting, it's purely a nature reserve, so there's 38,000 hectares of pure nature reserve with lodges on it.

Speaker 1:

And then tell me about this lodge because it wasn't always as we see it today.

Speaker 3:

All right, this lodge um obviously Camp Kala uh opened in November 2022. Um it was it was a lodge that was um it that we had a lodge built in 2006 called Treetops, um, and it unfortunately burned down in 2020. Um we had a uh a fire which um destroyed the main public areas and two bed in two rooms. Um it was during the COVID time, and luckily that we had no guests in it at in-house at that stage, so there was no um there was no injuries or or nobody was hurt or anything. Um but that gave us the opportunity to rethink it and re-uh redecide as to where we wanted to position um this this lodge, and that was uh the befores and go leading up to the uh to the afters.

Speaker 1:

Has the idea been to sort of build it back better, doing different measures that are perhaps more sustainable? Um yeah, how how have you kind of approached the the new one?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think we certainly have been very uh sensitive. We it's been built on the same footprint as the old lodge, so we haven't destroyed or taken over any of any more area than was actually utilized before. So we feel that there's there's been less impact on on the actual um site itself. And yeah, we've been very conscious about how we can um the building methods, um all our all the walls, uh bricks that were used were all made by recycling of uh wine bottles and beer bottles, which we crush and it went into the cement. So actually, a lot of the the recycling we've tried to do as much as possible. We've been very sensitive to trying to um be very conscious of how we built and what we built, uh trying to use very much local products as much as possible, keeping it very much um the construction was um very sensitive to the land and and the environment.

Speaker 1:

And then we saw the um the farm before.Can you tell me um how that came about?

Speaker 3:

Certainly the the the Oshovelo farming was was an idea of our our our founding chairman um who felt very much um that one of our biggest challenges in this area was unemployment. Um we have a village it's which is about 10 kilometers away from us on our boundary, which um only has a population of about 3,000 people and there's very limited work. So as a result the people had to um because there was no work and no job opportunities, poaching could have been a problem. Um, and it was a problem, and we felt that if we created work, it would then obviously give people dignity, give them a salary, and we uh we feel that this has been a way of um creating jobs and job opportunities. So the farm was very much a uh it was a challenge for us to try and create work, to try and make sure that um that we could give back to the to the local um community, and and between working with them with the farm was was was created. It was started in 2012, so almost 13 years ago, and um it's been a totally hard work dedicated uh dedication from from um Jan and Lizette uh Cronier who are the actual um who manage the farm who actually do um they are professional farming so it's run as a professional commercial farm, it's not uh it's a lot large scale, um, and that has certainly been uh given opportunities to a lot of people to to earn a salary um and the we employ uh up to 400 people um during the the high uh harvesting season, and um with this we've certainly seen the community go from strength to strength there um and and I the the whole um community itself um obviously just now we they're able to see what a difference it is making, and tourism has helped us actually achieve that as well because um through this we able to give back to the to the community.

Speaker 1:

That was this episode's Hidden Hero, the personal people making a difference to others in travel destinations around the world. It was good to hear about a place that completely turned itself around and crucially didn't forget about the local people who live on the other side of the fences. I think it's key to find places like this when we travel to support initiatives that support the people who live there.

Speaker 1:

And just like that, it's nearly the end of the episode. So nearly time for me to reveal my inspiring Wander Woman of the month. I hope you've enjoyed what you've heard. Please do subscribe so you never miss an episode, and please, please, please do leave a review. It means so very much. You can follow me on Instagram at Phoebe R Smith, find me on Blue Sky, or go to my website, phoebe-smith.com, where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter and of course send me a message.

Speaker 1:

Now, this episode we journey back to Canada, to the Klondike River in Yukon, to discover a woman at the centre of the infamous gold rush.

Speaker 1:

It's summer. August 17th, 1896. The sound of water is running steadily as a group of four people are fishing on a small tributary of the Klondike River known as Rabbit Creek. Among them is a white man called George Carmack, known to anyone interested in prospecting history, as well as two Tagish men and fairly unusually a woman. Her name is Shaaw Tlaa, but she is also known as Kate Carmack, wife to George. And they are about to discover a very large amount of gold here.

Speaker 1:

The Wild West. Those cowboy films, fiction though most of them were, did, however, portray the danger, the disputes, the violence of that time. When law was a new concept. And the rush of finding gold was all consuming and worth fighting to the death for. The Wild West was just as wild as you imagine it to be. The role of women, at least as portrayed in hundreds of cowboy films, was highly stereotyped. The damsel, the saloon girl, the homesteader's wife. Occasionally you'd find the gunslinger, the businesswoman, or the resilient pioneer, but even less common was the trailblazer. Kate Carmack was a businesswoman, a resilient pioneer and most likely an occasional gunslinger. More remarkable for the time is that she was native Tagish who lived in a remote part of the Yukon. And as part of the Klondike Gold Rush, she and her husband made millions. A photo of her from California in 1898 shows her with a steely gaze, wearing a dark, elegant dress with a high neckline. Jewels adorn it. She is every part the wealthy Victorian woman. But her background and most of her life couldn't have been further from that.

Speaker 1:

Shaaw, one of eight children, was born into an arranged marriage between two First Nation groups as part of a trading alliance. The coastal Tlingit, known for their cedar canoes, elaborate totems and richly woven fabrics, and the Tagish First Nations group, who live around Tagish and Marsh Lakes. Her first marriage didn't last long, with her husband and infant daughter both dying in an influenza epidemic. But her mother encouraged her to marry her dead sister's husband, a white man called George Carmack. He was an American prospector who was initially credited with registering a discovery claim, being the only white man at the scene. This was later corrected to her brother Keisha also known as Skookam Jim, the first claim that sparked the entire Klondike Gold Rush. The size of the Klondike Gold Rush was astonishing, attracting more than a hundred thousand prospectors in just four years between 1896 and 1899. It was the gold rush immortalised in Jack London's The Call of the Wild, in Robert W. Service's poems, and in Charlie Chaplin's film The Gold Rush.

Speaker 1:

Shaaw Tlaa spent the first two years in the Yukon caring for their daughter, Gracie, and looking after the house. She trapped rabbits and ptarmigan, foraged for food and made warm clothes for miners. Her and her husband made millions, and in 1898 they moved to Seattle with the idea of sailing to Paris, but their marriage didn't last long. She struggled with city life and he left her and remarried in early 1900. As there was no official record of their marriage, she couldn't file for divorce nor share the spoils of their fortune, which her own family had discovered. Shaaw Tlaa returned to Carcross in the Yukon Territory to a cabin built by her brother Keish. She sold needlework to tourists and lived out the rest of her life there. She never got a penny from her husband's fortune. There was one final twist. Her daughter, Graphie, travelled to Seattle and married the brother of her ex-husband's second wife. Graphie, along with George's sister, attempted to take over Carmack's huge estate from his widow. They settled out of court for an unknown sum.

Speaker 1:

Shaaw Tlaa, however, never saw her daughter again. She died from influenza on March 29, 1920, at the age of 63. In a series of unsung heroes, there are fewer less recognized than her. In 2018, Shaw was finally inducted into Canada's Mining Hall of Fame, two decades after her brother, husband, and nephew. But that really is all there is left of this remarkable woman's legacy. Let us now commit to remembering her name too.

Speaker 1:

That was my inspiring Wander Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is lost in the history books purely because of her gender. I hope that when talking or reading about the Gold Rush, you will begin to casually drop Shaaw Tlaa or at least Kate Carmack into the conversation. She deserves to be a name, we all know.

Speaker 1:

This was the final episode of season three of the Wander Woman Podcast, which just won Best Broadcast at the Travel Media Awards 2025. Woohoo! A huge thank you all for listening. But don't worry, we'll be back with season four in 2026 with more stories from around the world. Gear chat, hidden heroes, and as always, more inspirational Wander Women of the Month. See you next time, Wander Woman out.

Speaker 1:

The Wander Woman Podcast is written and produced by me, Phoebe Smith. The editor and writer of additional material is Daniel Neilson. The logo was designed by John Summerton. A final shout out to all the people I met on my journey and were willing to talk to me. It's because of you that this episode was able to happen at all.