As the sun sets on another day in Africa and the plight of our beautiful land continues.
I am energized by the dedication of some in the cause of the wild, and yet fascinated on the other hand by the misguided opinions of others who have no knowledge of the "stage set "
My closeness and fascination with nature has taught me many things, one of which is that we have no more than right now to really live, the past is your own personal encyclopaedia of mistakes and victories as a reference for now,
and the future doesn’t really exist !
Take in the moment and the sensations of life and live, that’s what life is about , living now, no more or less, we are here and that's all. Pointing fingers at the past is not going to change where we are now !
I have often written about the times when I am most alive, for me it’s when I am in the bush, preferably amongst the wilds of Africa .Perhaps for you it’s a different place but the essence is the same however and we need to feel a part of it all
Whilst society races ahead in the name of progress, it becomes harder and harder to be in touch with our reality .It’s too fast out there and the checks and balances are often discarded, there is more and more need and it is not sustainable .
Incredibly in the not too distant future , with the current onslaught of Elephant poaching we will no longer be able to see Elephant in the wild areas of Africa, as they get slaughtered irrelevant of size to feed an insatiable thirst for some perception of value.
Today sitting here in a remote area of Zimbabwe, a combination of sensations surround me , dust and heat, the smell of the Mopane and a whiff of Elephant in the wind. This heightens my senses and excites me that I am still able to be a part of this, so completely privileged to be here amongst these wild animals in this natural place .
The haze from all the bushfires covers the distant tree line like blue smoke and the wind is talking to me as it passes through the branches of the baobabs, there is no other place like this for me it’s my “musha “or my home .
It is here that I get to be me, a place I share special moments with the beings that matter the most to me, both those that are absent and present
I feel a deep sense of protection over it, this we have to preserve!, we have to know that in years to come Elephant and Buffalo will move silently on their journey through the jesse here and we need to know that our children’s children will hear the roar of the lion and the call of the Hyeana, those quintessential sounds of Africa .
Now is the time to make a stand, it’s no good in pointing fingers from afar, there is no time to be a "coffee shop guerrilla!” We are here, get in behind the people who are doing and not talking, those who need your support most , dedicating their lives to the cause
I leave you with a passage that has been with me since I was 18, words that hit home every time I read them - By T. Roosevelt
"It’s not the critic who counts , not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles , or where the doer of the deed could have done better .The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena , whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood , who strives valiantly , and who errs and comes short again and again -because there is no effort without error and shortcoming -but who does actually strive to do the deed , who knows great enthusiasms , the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Will.
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