Location: Nambwa Tented Lodge, Bwabwata National Park, Namibia
Investment: €5,200 sharing / €6,600 single
Experience: Seven unhurried days, two facilitators and a golden-repair workshop at The Sijwa Project.
Group: An intimate circle.
Language: English
We can gather the pieces and hide them away, ashamed of the damage. Or we can do what the old masters of Japan have done for centuries: mend the cracks with gold, so that the very places where it broke become the most beautiful part of the whole.
This is Kintsugi, the ancient art of golden repair. And it is not really about pottery at all.
It is about you.
Somewhere in your life, you have broken too. Perhaps it was loss, illness, betrayal, or simply the slow erosion of too many years spent holding it all together and putting yourself last.
What if they are the places where your strength was forged, waiting only to be filled with gold?
Kintsugi is a seven-day journey home to wholeness, held in the wild heart of Namibia and co-facilitated by Hella Göbel and Tinolla Rodgers.
Kintsugi — which means golden joinery — is the ancient Japanese art of repairing what has been broken. The cracks are filled with gold and left in full view, because a repaired piece is held to be a symbol of fragility, strength and beauty all at once.
Ceramics are fragile, strong and beautiful at the same time. Exactly like people. Like our lives, they can break — and they can also be mended, if we know how.
Woven through this retreat is the spirit of wabi-sabi: the quiet art of finding peace in the imperfect. Not striving to become flawless, but finding the deeper freedom of loving the whole of who you are — the beautiful and the broken, the light and the gold-filled dark.
The days move through eight movements, held in the word Kintsugi itself. Each one is a step in the repair, so that the outer art and your own inner mending unfold as one.
Through meditation, gentle mindful movement, breath and Deep Rest, we calm the nervous system and learn to be present in the here and now.
Through forest bathing, silent walks, game drives and time in the wild, we draw on the grounding power of the earth and reconnect gently with our own bodies.
Through simple, practical exercises, we learn to meet ourselves in difficult moments with the warmth and kindness we would offer a dear friend.
At The Sijwa Project, you gently break a ceramic vessel and, shard by shard, mend it with your own hands using lacquer and gold. A tangible ritual of repair that no words can replace.
One holds the grounded, science-backed work of mindfulness. The other holds the spiritual, natural and ceremonial thread. Together, they meet you wherever you are, so that the whole of you is welcome.
Namibian-born Hella Göbel carries a deep connection to Namibia, Nambwa and the African wilderness. After a repeated cancer diagnosis in her fifties, she returned to Nambwa for a healing retreat that became a turning point: a return not only to her home country, but to herself.
Her work weaves mindfulness, Deep Rest, self-compassion, forest bathing and nature connection, grounded in extensive training and lived experience.
Hella facilitates with raw, gentle vulnerability. Her work allows guests to feel, perhaps for the first time, that their own fractures can become a source of strength rather than shame.
Owner and Managing Director of African Monarch Journeys, creator of Retreats in the Wild and a certified ThetaHealing practitioner, Tinolla holds the ceremonial and spiritual thread of the journey.
With more than three decades in luxury wilderness hospitality across Southern and East Africa, she has built a life around exceptional care, authentic experiences and profound respect for the transformative power of the natural world.
In Kintsugi, Tinolla holds the opening and closing, the rituals of release and gold, and the deep belief that nature remembers what humanity has forgotten — and that nothing in us is ever truly wasted.
If you are tired of hiding your scars and ready to see them as proof of your strength, you belong here.
No prior yoga or retreat experience is needed — only an open heart and a willingness to see the gold in your cracks.
Excluded: Flights to and from Namibia, transfers to Nambwa, beverages, personal expenses, gratuities, extra nights and travel insurance.
8 – 14 August 2027 · Nambwa Tented Lodge, Bwabwata National Park, Namibia
The full six-night retreat, with the programme and inclusions set out above, is offered at the following rates per guest.
Perhaps the places where life has marked you are exactly where the gold is waiting to enter.
Come and mend the fault lines.
No. This journey is welcoming to complete beginners. You only need an open heart and a willingness to approach your own story with gentleness and curiosity.
You will receive your ceramic vessel and all the materials needed for the workshop, including lacquer and gold. You will break, mend and gild your vessel at The Sijwa Project under guided facilitation.
Your experience includes six nights at Nambwa Tented Lodge, meals, facilitation, mindfulness and self-compassion practices, the Kintsugi workshop, wildlife experiences, park fees, materials, ceremonies and full pre-departure support.
Flights to and from Namibia, transfers to Nambwa, beverages, travel insurance, personal expenses, gratuities and any additional nights are excluded.
Yes. Spaciousness is central to the design of Kintsugi. There is time for quiet reflection, your private deck, the rhythm of the wilderness and integration between guided sessions.
Complete the enquiry form and the team will guide you through availability, booking, payment and all pre-departure arrangements.
