Safari Calendar 2024

 Another splendid year of opensim fun has drawn to an end and another is just gearing up - grid hopping in virtual worlds has never been more rewarding or reliable!  To celebrate the new year, here's a calendar that celebrates just a few of the loveliest people and places. 

This calendar is an inworld object, available at the HG Safari clubhouse, and if you hit the Calendar Info button, you will receive a Notecard that gives you the HG addresses and LMs to each of the places featured in the pictures. A big thank you to all the artists and builders who agreed to pose for the calendar, and to snowbody Cortes for invaluable help on the script. 

So who and where does this year's calendar feature?

Our cover artist is Luna Lunaria, seen here on her region Luxor, on Wolf Territories Grid. An absolute genius when it comes to texturing Luna is well known for her architecture and sculptures, reflecting a love of ancient and classical cultures. That said, this build has some delightful nods to the movie and televisions series Stargate, and you will find some distinctly sci fi elements if you search for them, as well as venues suited for lounging and dancing. Nothing really prepares you (or your graphics card) for the exuberant luxury of the burnished surfaces on Luxor. This huge build, located on a grid that is larger than Second Life, offers hours of fascinating exploration.

Alia Soulstar is featured for the month of January, she is shown here in her Starfleet uniform on the bridge of the USS Feynman. It's been a busy year for the Starfleet Infinity roleplay group, who have just celebrated their first anniversary after a big organizational reset, in which the group has doubled its numbers and added new ships and new opportunities to partake in missions in space on 3rdRockGrid. Alia has been key in these changes and improvements, working with the team on improving everything from uniforms to website to meshy and scripty stuff. Endlessly elegant and unfailingly kind, Alia's talents extend also to her fabulous NUNA art gallery, also on 3rd Rock Grid, which tells the story of art from prehistory to modern times.

Not all annual events are featured because some events, like the OSGrid Auction, OSCC, and the summer festival dates aren't decided until well into the year. However, this years calendar does show the dates for the Hypergrid International Expo, and all three seasons of the Safari are marked down, so you'll always know if we are in season or on hiatus.

Bloom Peters

February is marked by the bright and joyful Bloom Peters, on her grid Winxtropia, inspired by the Winx Club animated series, with fabulous low lag mesh creations that give the grid a unique and magical appearance. She is pictured here in front of her breakthrough creation on Crescent Melody region. Bloom (previously known as Cuteulala Artis) is a 3D audiovisual genius, animating electronic music with stupendous musical 'instruments'. With many more musical builds in the pipeline, with even more cunningly imagined designs. Don't miss Bloom's Youtube channel and be ready to be amazed by even more music in 2024.

Over the years, starting in 2016, the HG Safari opensim calendar has featured, not real world events, seasons and holidays that vary from country to country and from one hemisphere to the other, but rather it features milestones in the virtual, like the Grid Birthdays and key dates in opensim history like the first ever hypergrid jump.

Govega Sachertorte

Neverworld grid glories in so many attractions - its vast continent, Bountiful, its connections with the art of Jerry Garcia, its longevity (8 years and still going strong!) and peaceful atmosphere, its beautiful and witty grid owner Govega Sachertorte, and of course numerous community build projects like this one, Neo Rome. While Nexus Storm is rightly praised for much of the beautiful work on this region, the core team on the grid all contributed extra touches, making the sim an experience for art lovers, freebie shoppers, racing afficionados, history buffs and maze runners alike. Marching ahead joyfully, this grid represents the month of March. 

April flowers surround the house on Tosha Tyran's region Far Far Away, on Craft Grid. The build show you a beautiful, peaceful house and invites you to think - suppose war came, and I had to escape? What should I take with me? What would I have to abandon - possessions, familiar places, one's job and place in society, loved ones, and the everyday elements of life that give us a sense of place and security. By putting ourselves in the place of refugees, we're invited to see their plight through a first person experience. Just one of Tosha's many extraordinary build on Craft, Far Far Away will stay with you long after you complete the experience.

Wendie Blackthorn

Kinky Haven has it all - superfast servers and amazing destinations to visit. Wendie Blackthorn's grid is home to a small and incredibly talented group of builders, making environments that amaze, inspire, and delight. With a strong bias for the erotic, for visual fantasy architecture and large scale builds full of tunnels, the grid is fascinating from all sides. The original Dalaran is located  in World of Warcraft, and Wendie's homage to the original is a splendidly walkable  city with a visitable sewer system, and dozens of buildings that will capture your imagination and delight you with clever scripting and amazing textures everywhere.

Victoria Logan

Victoria Logan in a glorious azure gown marks the month of June on her OSGrid region Arts-&-Friends . This region laid out like a mountain ringed lagoon has been hosting a community art display that celebrates women in literature, history, art and science. Victoria attracted some of opensim's big names in art to make fascinating and diverse displays in all kinds of different formats and approaches to the subject matter. Here, Victoria poses in front of Caro Fayray's  prim sculptures of pioneering women like Amelia Earhart and Marie Montessori. Victoria has plans for another group art show coming up in 2024, so don't miss it!

Camryn Darkstone

For July, a true architectural gem set in a wooded valley. This is Camryn Darkstone's reconstruction of Fallingwater, perhaps the most famous house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Camryn's version is enriched by contributions by Walter Balazic and Dirk Mathers. This piece of opensim history dates back to the days of SL, and today is found on Littlefield grid on sim Mill Run. Camryn demonstrates with this build all her talent  by making the house easily visitable by avatars without sacrificing the original proportions - an almost impossible feat of realism and immersive construction. A serene masterpiece.

August on the Funsize Dinkies World Resort is holiday time ... well every day is a fun day and a holiday on this region, built by Ted Junior. Sofee Giano is seen here in full Dinkie getup, with cute glasses and a kitty on her tee shirt. Dinkies are mini people of the cat persuasion and their cute style, language and accessories have attracted many adherents in various grids across opensim, but the Dinkie region on Alternate Metaverse Grid is perhaps the busiest with all kinds of games and activities organized on a regular basis. Many local residents adopt the Dinkie look for these events, and are attracted by the kind, gentle, G-rated fun that Dinkies are famous for.

Loru Destiny

Clothing designer Loru Destiny is seen here in some of her fall fashion, complete with butterfly motif and adorable headgear. (don't forget to visit her region Glede on Artdestiny grid, and sample her clothing - lots of elegant formalwear, made specifically as free items for the opensim community. Loru, of ArtDestiny grid, is pictured here in front of one of her husband Tryad Destiny's original paintings, on Spooky City region, which holds several galleries of his beautiful and thought provoking art.

Star Ravenhurst

Builder and writer Star Ravenhurst is pictured here in full autumnal glory. Known for her signature look that always includes some sort of winges, this time there's something of the dragon about her appearance! Appropriately so as she is pictured on her region The Land of  Xzar in a part with a decidedly gothic feel to it. The region is named for her novel, and the various parts of the build represent sections of the storyline, from a small town somewhere in America, to wild and exotic scenery in the swamp... more details can be found on Star's Youtube channel. This three dimensional storytelling brings fiction to life in an extraordinary and unforgettable way.

November brings us to an angelic creator Tutz Zabelin, of Pangea, one of Opensim's premiere art grids.  The creator of about two dozen regions, Tutz is a skilled landscapist and has made unforgettable regions representing Vietnam, Portugal, Italy and several that reflect her native Sweden. Add to that a magnificent Steampunk region, and one for Ronja Raeubertochter (best known internationally for her character Pippi Longstocking), there is also the wonderful Treasure Island region, pictured here.

December rejoices in the golden glory that is Cherry Manga's glorious Anatobotanica. Cherry's talent and imagination is legendary in opensim. From avatars to EEPs, objects and artwork of every kind, all free and full perms, Cherry has contributed to the opensim culture over the past decade and more with her unmistakable style. This particular build on Pangea grid, Anatobotanica, is the first time that she has brought some of her real world studio inworld, using objects and environments to express the creative experience from her unique point of view.

There are of course enough beautiful places and interesting people to fill fifty or a hundred calendars, not one. Congratulations to everyone who has been building and innovating through 2023 and wishing you all a prosperous and happy 2024!

HG Addresses

Luxor grid.wolfterritories.org:8002:Luxor/223/516/47

Starfleet Infinity  grid.3rdrockgrid.com:8002:Starfleet Infinity
Crescent Melody,  Winxtropia  bloompeters.ddns.net:7002

Neo Rome  hg.neverworldgrid.com:8002:Neo Rome

Dalaran  kinkyhaven.com:8002:Dalaran

Far far away craft-world.org:8002:far far away

Arts & Friends  hg.osgrid.org:80:Arts-&-Friends

Mill Run  lfgrid.com:8002:Mill Run

Dinkie Resort alternatemetaverse.com:8002:Funsize Dinkies

Artdestiny  artdestiny.de:8002:SpookyCity

Land of Xzar   grid.genesis-roleplay.org:8002:The Land of Xzar/561/180/22

Treasure Island  pangeagrid.de:8002:Treasure Island

Anatobotanica    pangeagrid.de:8002:Anatobotanica