THE RYTHM OF AFRICA

With all the travel my body clock was off. Frikkie told me I would wake up the middle of night and he was right. 4AM and I am bright eyed and bushy tailed. I started looking through hunting magazines and I came across a collection of articles that were written and published by previous hunters from the states about their adventures with Frikkie du Toit. I was so into reading the tails of hunts and the great adventures that I lost track of time. The sounds of the bush starting to come alive, made me relize it was just before dawn. I grabbed the camera and found a great spot to watch the spectacular South African sunrise. This morning it started with soft pink and red edges on the clouds and grew to a sky of firey pink, orange, and red just before the sun broke the horizon. Not only was the view incredible but the relaxing rhythmic call WORK HARDER....WORK HARDER of a dove in a nearby tree made it perfect. I wonder how long it would take this time? How long until I would truly get into the rhythm of Africa. By dinner that evening I had the beat. To me Africa has a beat, a calming, smooth soothing rhythm. It is very hard to explain but anyone who has been on safari in the bush knows what I mean.  If you listen, Africa will speak to you. She will tell you to slow down and just take in everything you see, hear, smell, and touch. She will tell you to just follow her lead and feel the beat. The beat of time passing at the slower and calming pace, the same pace time has passed for thousands of years each and every day in the bush. Once you are moving to the rythm of Africa you will forget about your problems and things that need done when you get home. You will relax and refresh your mind, body and soul. The deep sleep is incredible too. The harderst part is not finding the rhythm of Africa. It is when you return home and have to enter back into your normal world when you are still moving to the rhythm of Africa. A world now that will seem to be moving as fast a hummingbird's wings .