As I write this opening paragraph, I am sitting on my bed, overlooking the Mara River. There are hippo snorting water out their nostrils, and bugs (I’m guessing crickets) calling to one another. A cool breeze passes through my tented room, and the feeling is that of the18th century colonial, having conquered Africa, writing to those back home in an endeavour to paint the picture of a landscape, people and tongue they could never have imagined. Just over the horizon, clouds amass in a bulky fluff, white at the top yet heavy and dark towards the bottom…the condensation of a pending raincloud. Above my head, the tent groans and moves slightly with the wind; as do the leaves, responding to the movement of an African afternoon.
Month: April 2024
Camps Bay Retreat
Hidden between two natural ravines, there is an estate on which a Manor ‘to be envied’ was built. Quote: Cape Argus December 1929. And that reporter did not lie.Not just envied though, I would say ‘to be coveted’.
Darling: you are Beautiful.
So arriving at the coastline we hopped off our bikes and strolled towards the water’s edge: a beach deserted, touched only by a few rays of the setting sun- expansive. And all the way along, we found evidence of the San having etched out a living in the area: a chipped and chiselled stone (which most likely would have been used as a knife to cut food with). On this stretch of Biosphere coastline, history breathed a story.
‘Vorsprung durch technik’ (and creativity)
If you put your head down to try extract a single vision, idea or even string of words summing up the entirety of Germany, it’s barely possible. For those who haven’t visited this European dynasty, all the usual stereotypes pop into the head like corn: ‘sauerkraut’, ‘the Aryan’, ‘Volkswagen’ and possibly a mug of ‘Kolsch’. But Germany is none of these stereotypes.
Natal, oh to be Loved.
If Natal were personified, I don’t think she would know her own beauty. Her wild charm would cry out to the unsuspecting passer-by: love me if you dare, but I don’t care if you do or not. She would run, and not turn around to see who was chasing, or pursuing. To her, it would be the same thing. She would call your name and if you didn’t respond: she would look to the sky, and know inherently her own inner strength and will of character. That would be Natal. Sun-bathed, content but above all…free.
Www.Feel-Argentina.co.ar
Argentina: moving, divinely acute and desperately real. People are so different here, and while you can photograph landscapes and architecture of grandeur; it’s the Argentinians that draw you in. Seeming to have positioned themselves in relation to the ‘elixir of life’, there is an acute awareness of the simplicity thereof as well as its’ importance; pure enjoyment.