Nature Calls

In the vast land of the Drakensberg one encounters Nature and all her marvels whichever way one chooses to look. Enraptured, enthralled and absolutely awe-struck, there is no feeling like rooting oneself into the earth.

Losing oneself in the thrall of nature is like a breath of fresh air. Well, actually you are breathing in fresh air. The crisp, cold air that sears the lungs ever so slightly, and leaves the ears and cheeks blazed with the pink of hyperaemia. It is exhilarating to say the least.

Coming from a small town and always being in touch with nature, it amazes me how people who originate from the concrete jungle can live breathing in the constant pollution and hear through the cacophony of sound pollution on a daily basis. Every day that I spend beneath the shadow of the skyscraper giants, I feel like I am losing an integral part of who I am. I am losing my sensitivity to the subtle beauties of the world beyond the bricks.

The smell of baked earth with subtle the undertones of flora in bloom overloads the senses till you are drunk on nature. The high is unreal, far better and safer than any substance user's imagination. Running in the fields, frolicking in the sun, or simply just lying beneath the stars takes on a whole new meaning when you find yourself in pure solitude, with like-minded people.

Speaking of stars, when was the last time I saw a sky so overloaded with stars it seemed impossible? The city lights block out most of the stars that defined my childhood, so much so that the weak perish and only the strongest shine through. Last night, I was dumbfounded at the beauty of the clear night sky, so blanketed in stars it seemed as though someone had taken a hand full of conflict-free diamonds and scattered them across the heavens.

In a total fit of spontaneity and sheer madness, I found myself running through knee high marshland, in jeans and All Stars. Surrounded by city friends who stared on in shock at my momentary insanity, I found myself at the riverbed just as the sun began its' lazy journey into the Neverland beyond the consciousness. Mud splattered, with toes squelching in the earth contained within my shoes, I found my breath stolen from my lungs. The view, for all the difficulties leading up to it, was by far the highlight of my weekend.

It is in these moments that we find the sheer brilliance of God around us. Surely, it is through nature that we can see His splendor everywhere we look. Getting closer to nature and all its simplicity, opens one's mind to a world far beyond the mechanical routine we have made the norm.

For all life's problems, the aches of living, the pain of loss.... Everything falls away and you find yourself lost in the infinitesimal beauty of the stars.