Koa Smith’s South African Barrel And Foraging Bender
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike,” wrote John Muir, the famed Scottish-born American environmentalist.
Koa Smith has long been open about his goals of aligning his mind, body and spirit with the natural world, whether that be through meditation, ice baths or indulging in certain plant-based medicine. His new 32-minute film, The Source, offers an introspective and intimate look at Smith during his most recent trip to South Africa.
“I came here with expectations trying to score waves,” Smith explains. “But this place is so wild. It had other plans for me.”
Edited by Gabriel Caswa, The Source has the slick production we’ve come to expect from Smith. Yet it’s not just a surf film. It follows Smith as he takes a hard reset away from the pressures of surfing for a living.
After getting in his own head at Jeffrey’s Bay, Smith hits the road around South Africa with the goal of swapping screen time for nature time. He forages for kelp and muscles, sings songs with locals on the Wild Coast, and watches hyenas, leopards and lions in Kruger National Park, one of Africa’s largest big game reserves.
While all those places made an impact on Smith, it’s the latter where he articulated his goal for mindful living. Few people on the planet are more aware of their surroundings than the master trackers in these parks.
“Overall, it’s making me way more alert, way more aware,” Smith said. “That’s how I want to live. I want to live aware, I don’t want to be in my mind, thinking about my own life and what I have to do. I feel like that will drive you crazy after a while. You gotta be in tune with nature, connected with the noises and the animals. I think that’s what feeling really alive feels like for me.”
The extra cherry on top is that he scores his favorite wave nearly alone, courtesy of a last-minute flight to Skeleton Bay. Nothing like a 30-second barrel to clear your head.
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