'Jungle Joe' embarks on new adventure

Joe van Niekerk needs a new nickname. Known as ‘Big Joe’ in South Africa and ‘Le Grand Joe’ in France during his 13-year professional rugby career, and then ‘Jungle Joe’ during his seven-year stay in Costa Rica, the former Springbok loose forward has entered a new phase of his life since returning to South Africa last November. Perhaps ‘Daddy Joe’?

‘It was a very reflective period for me,’ he says. ‘My daily routine involved meditation, yoga and a lot of self-enquiry with questions like “Who am I?” It was like being in a cocoon of transformation. During that period of solitude, someone took a photo of a much thinner Van Niekerk – he had lost 15kg – which went viral and led to speculation about his health and state of mind.

‘We had started doing our own healing work and decided we wanted to contribute to humanity and the planet as much as we could. So we ended up buying a 25-hectare organic farm that had been producing fruit and vegetables for about seven years, and slowly turned it into a retreat centre, a health and wellness space.’

‘When I look at health and well-being these days, I take a holistic approach,’ he explains. ‘In other words, I look at it from all aspects – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – as a whole. That’s how I’ve come to an understanding of what true health really is.’

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