The Wild Heart Retreat
The Wild Heart Retreat
Morgans Bay, South Africa
Up to 10 in group
April 14 - 19, 2026
Retreat Highlights
- Situated in a pristine nature reserve on the Wild Coast, one of South Africa’s most breathtaking regions.
- Step out of the critical mind and into creative flow through movement, meditation, and art.
- Reconnect with your vitality, joy, and curiosity in a supportive, nurturing environment.
- Express yourself with confidence and freedom through guided creative sessions.
- Cultivate presence and inspiration to carry into everyday life.
- Deepen your relationship with nature, yourself, and others through shared experiences and ceremony.
- Enjoy wholesome, home-cooked South African meals made with love.
- Leave feeling grounded, inspired, and creatively reawakened.
About this Retreat
I am Nicolene Burger, a multimedia artist and Creativity Doula. Since my first visit to the Eastern Cape with Thabo in 2013, I have dreamed of creating a retreat space that brings people back to themselves through creativity, authenticity, and connection. My work spans painting, installation, and performance, but for me art is more than expression. It is a way of listening, transforming, and reshaping life itself.
I hold a BA in Fine Arts from Stellenbosch University and a practice-based master's in Theatre and Performance from the University of Cape Town. Alongside my exhibitions and performance-installations, I guide individuals and groups as a coach in creativity, business, life, and love. My work is not only for artists. I support people from all walks of life, entrepreneurs, collaborators, leaders, and seekers, helping them to launch new projects, find clarity in partnerships, resolve conflicts, and design lives that feel aligned.
My approach is intuitive and holistic. Whether through intuitive painting, ritual performance, or coaching sessions, I help people move through stuckness, release limiting beliefs, and step into flow. Over time, creativity has taught me how to live with more bravery, openness, and compassion, and this is what I share with those I work with. At the heart of what I do is the belief that creativity belongs to all of us, and it offers a pathway to vitality, confidence, and transformation.
I am Thabo Krouwkam, a singer-songwriter based in Cape Town with deep roots in Worcester and the Eastern Cape, where my family has lived for many years. Music has always been at the core of who I am, and my songs draw on the rich diversity of South Africa's languages and sounds. Singing in English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa, I carry the spirit of inclusivity and multiculturalism, reflecting the landscapes and communities that shaped me.
My passions extend beyond music into movement, connection, and the power of presence. With a background in martial arts and a mind sharpened through years of playing chess, I bring both strategy and flow into everything I do. Alongside my songwriting, I explore contact improvisation, storytelling, and embodied practices that awaken creativity and connection.
Recently, I began offering "opening the voice" sessions, guiding people into a deeper relationship with their sound, their confidence, and their authenticity.
Through my creative practice, I have come to understand that music is more than performance. It is a way of entering flow, improvisation, and connection. Creativity has taught me to show up in life with greater bravery, to take risks, and to meet others with openness. It has made me a kinder, more spontaneous human being, and this is the spirit I bring into every circle, every song, and every gathering.
Details of this retreat
For five years, we have returned to this magical coastline to retreat, create, and renew ourselves. These journeys have nourished our partnership and inspired the community and life we have built in Cape Town. Now we are ready to share this practice with others.
The Wild Heart Retreat is designed for anyone feeling stuck, overworked, burnt out, or simply longing for more creativity and aliveness. You do not need to be an artist, only willing to play, explore, and open to the possibility of life as art. Through guided improvisation, movement, sound, storytelling, intuitive painting, and deep encounters with the land and sea, you will be invited into presence and creative flow.
At its heart, this retreat is about relationality: listening deeply, co-creating moments of magic, and remembering what it feels like to be truly connected, to yourself, to others, and to the living world. Come as you are. Leave renewed, expanded, and alive with your Wild Heart.
Mission & Vision
In a world that often feels rushed and disconnected, The Wild Heart Retreat offers a return to what truly matters. Guided by an artist and musician couple, this 6-day immersive retreat is rooted in the vital life force that fuels love, creativity, and connection: expression. Set against the untouched beauty of the Wild Coast, our vision is to create a sanctuary where people can remember that creativity is not a skill, but a natural way of being. Our mission is simple: to invite you into play, presence, and flow, where art, nature, and relationship become pathways back to wholeness.
Retreat Highlights
- Situated in a pristine nature reserve on the Wild Coast, one of South Africa’s most breathtaking regions.
- Step out of the critical mind and into creative flow through movement, meditation, and art.
- Reconnect with your vitality, joy, and curiosity in a supportive, nurturing environment.
- Express yourself with confidence and freedom through guided creative sessions.
- Cultivate presence and inspiration to carry into everyday life.
- Deepen your relationship with nature, yourself, and others through shared experiences and ceremony.
- Enjoy wholesome, home-cooked South African meals made with love.
- Leave feeling grounded, inspired, and creatively reawakened.
The Wild Heart Retreat is designed for anyone feeling stuck, overworked, burnt out, or simply longing for more creativity and aliveness. You do not need to be an artist, only willing to play, explore, and open to the possibility of life as art. Through guided improvisation, movement, sound, storytelling, intuitive painting, and deep encounters with the land and sea, you will be invited into presence and creative flow.
At its heart, this retreat is about relationality: listening deeply, co-creating moments of magic, and remembering what it feels like to be truly connected, to yourself, to others, and to the living world. Come as you are. Leave renewed, expanded, and alive with your Wild Heart.
Mission & Vision
In a world that often feels rushed and disconnected, The Wild Heart Retreat offers a return to what truly matters. Guided by an artist and musician couple, this 6-day immersive retreat is rooted in the vital life force that fuels love, creativity, and connection: expression. Set against the untouched beauty of the Wild Coast, our vision is to create a sanctuary where people can remember that creativity is not a skill, but a natural way of being. Our mission is simple: to invite you into play, presence, and flow, where art, nature, and relationship become pathways back to wholeness.
Retreat Highlights
- Situated in a pristine nature reserve on the Wild Coast, one of South Africa’s most breathtaking regions.
- Step out of the critical mind and into creative flow through movement, meditation, and art.
- Reconnect with your vitality, joy, and curiosity in a supportive, nurturing environment.
- Express yourself with confidence and freedom through guided creative sessions.
- Cultivate presence and inspiration to carry into everyday life.
- Deepen your relationship with nature, yourself, and others through shared experiences and ceremony.
- Enjoy wholesome, home-cooked South African meals made with love.
- Leave feeling grounded, inspired, and creatively reawakened.
Schedule
General Schedule:
• Silent mornings
• Visualisation Meditation Journeys
• Journaling• Brunch• Nature adventure
• Afternoon snack & rest• Creative Workshop
• Local Dinner
• Group Expression Session (improvised application of the afternoon workshop)
• Silent mornings
• Visualisation Meditation Journeys
• Journaling• Brunch• Nature adventure
• Afternoon snack & rest• Creative Workshop
• Local Dinner
• Group Expression Session (improvised application of the afternoon workshop)
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change
Getting Here
The Wild Heart Retreat, Morgans Bay, South Africa
Directions
The nearest airport is East Londen, South Africa airport, which is a 1 hour drive away from the retreat.
We will organise a shuttle service to pick you up from the airport
We will organise a shuttle service to pick you up from the airport
Accommodation
Our retreat accommodation is simple and soulful. The houses are rustic and down-to-earth, carrying a hippie charm that invites you to let go of formality and settle into ease. They are not polished or professional in the usual sense, but their quaint, informal character makes them feel intimate and welcoming, like a friend's home in the countryside. The houses are loose standing and the social areas are roofed but with open sides - so we will be gathering under the stars. Here you'll find space to slow down, reconnect with nature, and enjoy the beauty of living simply.
Program Price
Venue & Amenities
A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi
Spa
Sauna
Pool
Towels
Free Parking
Kitchen
Tour Assistance
Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea
Cafe
Restaurant
Fitness Center
Yoga Studio
Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent
Tucked deep within the Wild Coast, one of South Africa’s most untouched regions, the venue carries a raw and liberating beauty. Life here unfolds in rhythm with nature: barefoot, windswept, and simple. You might find yourself living in the same sarong all week, swimming in the river by day and gathering under the stars by night. The open decks, braai area, and forest canopy invite slow conversations and quiet awe, while hornbills, monkeys, and deer remind you that you are part of something wild
Meals
Menu Types
Vegan
Vegetarian
Pescetarian
Ayurvedic
Includes Meat
Organic
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Nut Free
We gather around nourishing home-cooked meals, some of their favourite recipes, and plenty of braaiing, the South African tradition of barbecue, over open flames. From seafood pots to rustic spreads
What's Included
- 6-day immersive retreat experience, 14-19 April 2026, 1 hour outside East London, Eastern Cape South Africa. Nature reserve access
- Hippie charm housing with bedding provided
- Brunch, dinner, an afternoon snack, coffee, teas, and other non-alcoholic drinks served per day
- Shuttle service from East London Airport
- Guided nature excursions
- Workshops, sessions, and jams* (*improvised and informal spaces to experiment and apply what was learnt in the workshops)
- Optional local plant-medicine additions to some of the nature experiences and jams
What's Not Included
- Airfare
- 1-1 unblocking sessions with the guides (this could be arranged by talking to them directly during the retreat and depending on their capacity)
Similar retreats
Last Chance
/
