There we were; boots laced, water bottles packed, spirits high.. ready to conquer The Forest Adventure Centre in Kereita for our monthly wellness outing.
If you’ve never watched your boss almost slide into a bush while hiking, are you really bonding with your team?
The venue? The Forest– where the trees are tall, the air is crisp, and the hiking trails… well, let’s just say some of us found out the hard way that gravity still works.
Culture isn’t built in boardrooms, it’s built in forests, on trails, and in shared moments that remind us we’re all human first.
Wellness programmes are a regular feature for our team, but this time around, things looked a little different. It wasn’t just another day out. It was dirt paths, echoing laughter, and the occasional unexpected fall (some of us are still recovering- pride more than anything).
However what stood out the most wasn’t the terrain.
It was the instinctive teamwork:
- A colleague pausing to help another find stable footing
- Someone shouting back, “Watch that log!”
- Genuine concern when someone slipped, followed by belly-aching laughter when they were okay
- Conversations that had nothing to do with deadlines, and everything to do with memories and connection
Now, let’s be honest- this wasn’t your casual walk in the park. There were slippery trails, surprise tumbles, and a few heroic saves by colleagues who suddenly discovered their inner hike trail guides.
Some teammates couldn’t wait for lunch… you know who you are (the countdown started 20 minutes in). Others, immediately post-hike, were cleaning their shoes like it was a sacred ritual ; an admirable but ultimately hopeless battle. And a few of us were so tired, even bending down to untie our laces felt like a full-body negotiation.
There were photo stops at every viewpoint,.. because if you didn’t post it, did it even happen?
And then… the waterfall. That moment when we finally reached it… tired, muddy, and mildly dramatic; felt like something out of a movie. There was awe, silence, and then wild celebration. We had fought for our lives (some more theatrically than others), and the reward was as refreshing as it was symbolic.
But nothing – and I mean nothing – matched the feeling of seeing the starting point again.
The overwhelming joy. The pride. The collective sigh of victory. The trail didn’t finish us, we finished it!
And in doing so, we didn’t just conquer kilometers. We broke barriers: New friendships were formed. “Too serious” colleagues turned out to be closet comedians. Some of us crawled out of our shy shells. Others were introduced, for the first time, to teammates they’d only emailed. Gone were the formalities; the “sir’s, the “ma’ams”, the power poses. In their place? Laughter, teamwork, and the shared experience of being human, muddy shoes and all.
This was just one of many wellness journeys, but this time, it felt a little different. Because sometimes it’s the different moments that create the strongest bonds and the deepest stories. Here’s to more trails, more laughter, more waterfalls.. and the kind of culture where we don’t just survive the climb. We celebrate the summit.