The Folly of Phaedra

Jeff Kelley:   how many avatars have we lost ?

Ernest Moncrieff:  I'm always lost

Nara Nook: thanks ... little bit lost

Ernest Moncrieff: are we in a Wormhole?

George Equus: I am still in one piece, even hat came along for the ride

This week's visits are split across two posts, because reasons. Why folly? Because if you don't go to see Phaedra for yourself you're nuts. Or maybe it's the folly of the Safari, thinking we could see more than a tiny part of this extraordinary build. 

It looks a bit like a folly, constructed in the form of a composite tower or Parnassus. Phaedra rises from the Ocean of Ignis Fatuus grid like a mountain surrounded by a solar wind. 

The first thing I heard on arriving on Phaedra with the group was Kelso, warning us about piranhas.  There had been a strange lag on the Safari clubhouse sim all day, so it seemed quite believable that around this strange towering installation, another brilliant creation by Max Hill, owner of Ignis Fatuus Grid, there might well be avatar eating fish.

It was going to be an epic Safari. This is part one of two great destinations and, as always, the addresses are at the end of this post.

Outgoing and Upcoming

 After 60 destinations - well 62, if you count the two special Safari trips to the seasonal Hunt builds of Ange Menges and Nani Ferguson - over three seasons in 2022, the Safari is taking a break for a bit. 

Mandjelia on OSGrid was our first destination this year

In 2022 we went to 36 different grids, from Kitely to CopyKat and back. At last count, somewhere between 60 to 70 people joined us in person as Safari tourists, forming part of the group that gathers at the Clubhouse before setting out on the adventure - plus many more who came along to support their friends, our Hosts, at each destination. 

Safari trips begin at the Clubhouse -  last minute information, gossip and jokes

Vintage Portage

Our second destination this week is a special place because it bridges the gap between the virtual and the real and shows what a wonderful tool Opensim can be for academics and professionals. Located on the Science Circle Grid, it is reconstruction of Portage, an archeological site in Pennsylvania, built by Nova Saunders. 

At the side of a tranquil canal, Nova and fellow Science Circle member Quaezar Agnomen  were waiting for us, to explain the build and share the experience. You can read about the first part of this week's Safari in the post called 'The Folly of Phaedra'. As always the address of the destination is at the end of the post.

Nova and Quaesar welcome us to Portage

          The settlement of Portage, PA was established in 1830's during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, at a time when the United States was pushing Westwards with a passion. It was an era of fast moving technological revolution.           Portage is located about 70 miles due west of Pittsburgh, and while there is a town in the area, the original settlement is all but gone from the landscape.

           In the 60 years preceding the heyday of Portage, canal technology had been considered, especially in Europe,  the best way to move heavy and bulky goods from place to place. However, by 1820, a newfangled means of transport was beginning to be talked about, invested in, and dreamed of, first in England and then further afield - trains. So Portage found itself on the cusp of transition between the older, more organic form of transport, by water, and the bold and speedy new one - the steam train.

Love and the Lake, on Ignis

We are halfway through the current Safari season, so of course, it's already time to start thinking about the next one! If you're interested in showing the HG Safari tour group,  get in touch with Thirza Ember ono OSGrid, but first, read this page for Safari Hosts, it explains in excruciating detail how the trips work, what to expect from the group, and will help you avoid common pitfalls. That said, we have plenty still to see on this season, and our tour of Borderlands on Ignis Fatuus Grid was a treat! The HG Address is, as always, at the end of the post.

Nadir Rae

Best sellers in the 21st century are often fantasy and romance novels, adventures, and life hack books - and ever more frequently audiobooks, as people like to be read to, rather than read. The Middle Ages were pretty much the same! The legends around Viviane, Merlin, Arthur and all the gang of the Round Table are a mixture of magic, love stories and battles, with a lot of contemplative allegories mixed in. Nadir has perfectly captured this on her build, which is as large as it is full of detail. As always, we only had an hour to see it, and so of course there's more to go back and revisit.

We arrived at the church by a great waterfall.

Max Well [fr→en]: good evening to all of you, thank you for coming

Dings Digital: I can see myself live on TV, hooray

Arriving by torchlight on Borderlands

You too can see yourself on live TV if you come on Safari, as Lifted Pixel aka Jessica Pixel often livestreams our events on Youtube - here is yesterday's visit, as seen through her eyes.  The arrival point is an old church, it's the place where Nadir and Max had their big wedding ceremony, so it holds many memories for the virtual as well as representing the departure point in the journey around the region's story. Nadir gave everyone a torch on arrival.

James Atlloud: Thank you for the torch

Venus Love [fr→en]: watch out for the wigs lol

Tosha Tyran: yeah, I already tried to set Mal on fire... but he seems to be of stone

Forest.Azure: i'm very naked... and no face

Venus Love: lol yes forest 

Tosha Tyran: I thought that was your costume

A Safari Year

 What a year it's been! The Safari started up in January, in the usual timeslot, Wednesdays from 12 noon SLT, but with a new sim on OSGrid courtesy of Ange Menges. The immediate response by old fans and new of the weekly group hypergridding concept was great - thank you all. 

Prodyck, Lux, Frank and Truelie

The more familiar clubhouse on Francogrid had become unworkable - just teleporting to the grid had become difficult, and regions would often be unavailable for days. The heart of the problem was an issue with server hosts, and as much as Francogrid was the home of the Safari, it seemed unlikely to have a future there.

For that reason, I got busy immediately with porting most of the Safari's Francogrid assets over to other grids. 

Aphra, Cherry, Lifted Pixel, and Mal

It was a time consuming process, with permissions and scripts playing up a lot of the time due to

Calendar Guys

 Another year, another calendar, this year "Men of Opensim"... no, no nudes, you can get them anywhere with depressingly banal results, instead here the focus is on guys going places, or well not exactly going but staying places and making stuff that you can visit. Of course, the number of interesting people in Opensim is uncountable, but these  just represent some of the goings on in the virtual.

You can get the calendar for free at the HG Safari clubhouse, and it's a gift offered in the Notices if you belong to the HG Safari group on OSGrid. The calendar part is a MOAP or media on a prim, linking to the Safari's Google Calendar, which will show you our upcoming seasons of events, plus the grid birthdays of many places on the Hyperverse.

So, who's in the calendar?