Travel · Africa
It’s the end of March, and I’m in Europe. And like so many others, I’m dreaming of being somewhere so much warmer.
Sitting bundled up in layers upon layers. Looking out of a double-glazed window, watching yet another round of freezing icy rain and sleety hailstones hit the glass, as the tail end of winter makes itself known in the northern hemisphere before giving way to spring. In my mind, the sky is blue, the sun is golden and the freedom is palpable. Yes, my heart is thousands of miles away as I yearn, with a physical ache, for the broad horizons and open swathes of glorious Mother Africa. Outside my window, people scurry past in moody shades of grey and black — faces set with purpose.Back home in South Africa, I know the scenes are joyously vibrant and boldly wild. Animals are grazing abundantly, revelling in the slightly cooler temperatures as autumn starts to work its golden magic over grasslands and forests.
It’s a majestic time in the deep south! The champagne air fills lungs with pure, clean oxygen. None of this city smog — just earthy, citrus-sharp notes of African veld. Is there any perfume, or medicine, quite like it?
For the price of a round of hideously overpriced coffees in a Parisian street café, I could rather be on a life-changing guided walk among regal giraffes at Bellevue Forest Reserve, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. Or a thrilling game drive through a host of free ranging wildlife, from elephant and lion, to buffalo and zebra. I could be woken by a cacophony of blissful birdsong as the first sparkling rays of sunshine dance between the emerald and russet leaves. (Instead, I now hear only the plaintive call of the odd pigeon and dove — I suspect they too would rather be in the sunny south!) Instead of joining hundreds of other humans huddled together on chairs in a rare patch of sunshine, next to a manicured lawn (on which we are not allowed to walk), overlooking a neat bed of cultivated flowers… I could be running unfettered through miles of unashamedly chaotic, tumbling cascades of greenery, filled with buzzing insect life. Where every plant holds a miniature universe of mystery and industry.
If I chose it, I could be the only person for as far as the eye can see. I could fling my uncovered arms wide to embrace the sunshine, kick off my shoes, sing to the skies, drift with the breeze, whisper with the trees.
I’m not knocking ‘civilisation’. But it’s not really for me. And nor is it for so many others who share this dream of returning to nature — even if only for a brief sojourn. Of being alive, and exposed, and fully immersed. Not in a curated, sanitised, tourist-packaged version; but in a great, raw, authentic escape to reality.
Even if 99% of our lives must fit between the lines, and follow the rules, and conform to the grey and neat and predictable — please make sure that you live at least one wild and wonderful adventure in that remaining one percent.
Soon I will be home in the warm, welcoming heart of Africa. And so can you.Who’s joining me?
Explore Bellevue Forest Reserve
www.bellevueforest.co.za
