My blog

South African Gypsy http://cherylsmart.blogspot.com/

Don't blink, you will miss it!

When I made the decision to come back to South Africa after a good six years of travels, I came back with two goals. One, grow within my chosen career, and two, travel Africa.

After a good five months in a small local game reserve, with good people and great experiences and memories, the option to head to the more vast, untouched part of Africa has finally come up and who could say no to that?

Sometimes on the long roads around South Africa I drive through so many small towns, and if I had to squint anymore trying to take photos with bad eye sight of all the old buildings, farm cattle and churches, you would swear I was Asian. Everyone knows Asians see and take pictures of everything around them. They also don't just click once and take a single digital image, they click three to four times per shot. They need to be certain that they have a few good photos of that old, decrepit house and dirty goat.

I find that these long road trips excite me alot more than they used to when I grew up here. I am so aware of my surroundings and take pictures of things I never used to notice before.

Sometimes you don't need to jump on the first plane, or in my case a ship, to another continent to travel. Sometimes you can just take a weekend camping trip to a local dam or a road trip to another province. Or if you are as travel obsessed as myself, you can go as far as to make a goal to reach as far north as the African continent allows you. Travelling around Africa never appealed to me when I was younger. I never appreciated living in Kenya as a child and I certainly had no plan to galavant back there as an adult. After those six years away from Africa, I grew very desperate to head back and really go and see it with new eyes.

Now I also take three to four snaps of a dirty house and a dead tree to make sure I got the best shot, and I really get excited to sit and watch an African sunset and drink a dark beer. Making the decision to get a job in the bush was one of the best decisions I have made for my current years. The pace is not according to a clock or the day of the week. Nature and people and moments separate days. Trips to local towns and weekends away to more desolate areas are as exciting as a trip to Paris.

"Always keep your eyes open, keep watching, because whatever you see can inspire you. "

"One way to open your eyes is to ask your self, what if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?"

Love is

I have just come back from a wonderful two week holiday in the city. I must say, I had a few separation issues from the bush whilst I was amidst the hustle and bustle of traffic and people.

My two week trip was taken for a wedding. Being that the bride was one of my best friends and all, and I had been asked to be part of the bridal party, I could not exactly RSVP a no, and I wouldn't have even dreamt of doing that.
So I packed up my car and made the great trek of 12 hours through to Kwazulu Natal, my place of birth.

I thoroughly enjoyed the drive, and found the change of scenery to be rather refreshing. From rolling hills speckled with aloe to more rolling hills sprinkled with acacia trees. It was breathtaking.  I made a short sunset stop in Kokstad to visit a very old and dear friend. So while we sat in my car, and watched the sun go down over the beautiful city, we laughed, caught up and shared new stories.

This trip, as I mentioned, was for a wedding, and it was nothing short of spectacular.  When I was thinking about the words I was going to string together for my speech, I had a good long think about marriage in general. Why do people get married? And are they sure its to the right person? How do they know if it's true love? I was thinking about all these little things and decided to rather just think about the couple at hand and write about them, and THEIR love. I started by browsing through a few quotes until I concluded that they were all utter rubbish, and mostly pretty boring. So I invented an array of quotes based and inspired by my two friends that were tying the knot. The speech was a hit and I had a few members of the crowd in tears. The truth was, I had written that speech in about 15 to 20 minutes, as my darling two love birds had left me with so much material to use, I could not have written anything short of four pages.

During the ceremony and after spending so much time with the couple, it hit me...almost as hard as the few glasses of champagne I had been generously receiving. It hit me like an epiphany! Love is...

Yup, thats it! And so I began thinking and wrote a little reminder on my facebook page so that I wouldn't forget the moment and the way I thought about it all. Being a girl who has grown into a woman terrified of marriage, I did not want to let my progress of warming to the idea to completely disintegrate with my wonderful bubbly feel good liquid.

Love is unique to each person. It has no boundaries or rules, because if you truly love, then there wouldn't need to be boundaries and rules. Love is caring more about another person than about yourself, wanting to give them the best that you can because. ..well...you love them. Love is free, it isn't scary when it's real,it's glorious. Love is not always with another person, love is sunrises and sunsets, love is the sound of rain on any surface. Love is not meant to be exploited or used, be careful with it because it is rare.  It can only be seen and felt with open eyes and pure hearts. Love is helping another person when you can, love is kind words and positive actions. Love is uplifiting and gentle. Love just is....

I have been blessed in such a way that I have fallen in love everday for the past six years. I fall in love with my environment and all the things in it. I fall in love with the people, be it friends or mentors, but the one thing I have not done very well is love a man, a partner, a person who should mean more to me than me myself, more than my passion for travels and adventures...until now.

He was a chapter in my past, that life very strangely brought back into my future after a very personal conversation I had with the higher powers and after a statement I made to the world. I asked God in a very pleading manner, why he had given me a soul with so much passion and fire for the world and its people and no one to share it with? Why had he instilled in me a heart so big with so much love and no one to go home to everyday? Why is it that he had given me a love to travel and experience the world, when a lifestyle like that makes it almost impossible to bump into someone along the way who may want to embrace that way of living too.

Ha...im sure he laughed, because the very next day someone did enter, or should I say re-enter my life, and started to change my whole way of looking at love in the means of another person. This is what I wrote...

" Are you allowed to be in love without fear, without worry or insecurities. Are you allowed to be in love without boundaries, without change without doubt. Yes you are, you can be whoever you want to be and whoever you are. And when you find that person that allows you to dance without following rules then you can love without all of that other stuff."

And even if I dont know what the outcome will be, i will continue to dance....

Come sit at the fire and hear a tale

It has started to get very cold out here in the bush, and nights consist of fire places and sherry. The good thing about being able to build fires again is the conversation a fire draws. People forget about their phones and laptops and all huddle around together and swap various stories about back in the day. Each one has some form of soothing liquid in a glass combined with a witty tongue to add to the humorous session around the crackling flames. Hunters swap stories about their different trophies and whose is in fact the largest. In between these very serious discussions, the stories about bush toilets, and involuntary bowel movements sneak a bit of the conversation lime light.

After much laughter and plenty of liquids I get to know each and every individual on a few different levels, and in winter, the layers of each character slowly peel away until it feels as if I have known some of these guests for a good life time.

In fact, right now I have an elderly gentleman, (if a gentleman and hunter can be used in the same sentence) who has concluded to calling me his girlfriend.

It all started one early crisp dark morning when I was going about my morning wake up calls to get the men up and ready for their day. The mornings commence at around 4:00am, and as I got to Craig’s room I noticed his light was already on and he had in fact beaten me at the wake up. To be sure, I took a peek inside to make sure he was up and about and a knock on his door was indeed no longer necessary.  Well I did find Craig up, but he was still in bed and it seemed as if he was reading, so I just shouted a friendly good morning to remind him that it was time to take on a new day of hunting.

A chain of events continued as a result of my very innocent duty of wake ups. Craig entered the lodge for breakfast and we started to chat. A few of the other hunters and their Professional hunting guides were already up and about indulging in their first cup of coffee for the day. After a few good mornings I said to Craig “I noticed you were up before your wake up this morning, but I peeked to make sure you were definitely awake” well, I could not have given the guys a bigger door to run into and snag me. The comments that followed were PG rated and some serious blush enhancing material. A long story short, I have been labelled the wanted peeping tom of the lodge.

Days like these make me really appreciate every single individual that steps foot into my home away from home. These gentlemen like Craig are businessmen, entrepreneurs, doctors, pilots, family men, grandfathers, fathers and sons, but when they enter our lodge they are just people, people that like to unwind, make a few dirty jokes, share stories and bond over a fire and the bush.

Nature has this funny way of bringing everyone down to the same humble level, it doesn’t matter where you come from, what your title is, or what great things you have achieved. In the bush you are secondary to nature and the guy sitting next to you is just another human being.

I was asked last night if I had a dark side, I was initially a little confused, and when I asked for a further explanation to the rather strange question, my guest elaborated by saying that I am always so happy, in the mornings, in the evenings and generally every time he sees me. I had to admit to him that yes I do in fact have my down days but they don’t last for longer than an hour or so.

When I look around what do I actually have to be grumpy about? I am blessed with surroundings that are not only breath taking but have this magical way of stripping all your layers and burdens and bringing everyone back down to earth, literally and figuratively. I meet wonderful people every single day, and I get to know them from the core. In fact a grown man left us a few weeks back and there were a few tears at his parting.

Nature shows us cruelty and some heart wrenching things, but it is combined with extreme appreciation and understanding of a balance between cruelty and compassion. This lesson alone will help you grow in leaps and bounds.

How can I have a dark side in a place where fires burn and people bond, in a place that comforts you and accepts you, that blesses you every single day with sunrises and sunsets, with new births and regretted deaths?

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining. They just shine.”  

An elephant is a mouse with an operating system

It is 3:30 in the afternoon. The sun is beginning to dip and there is a chill in the air. The birds are warming up for their afternoon chorus to end yet another day. A shadow is covering the trees as the blanket of the night prepares to move in and coat their leaves.

It has been yet another glorious day of sunshine and sounds.

I arrived to "work" this morning and was greeted by a very disgruntled boss, who explained that gaiitjie our male elephant had chased her last night.  Much to her disgust he ran at her with absolutely no intention of stopping. She made a great escape in reverse and called a fellow ranger who intercepted the two and chased gaiitjie away. Apparently gaiitjie is in musth, meaning he is looking for a lady lover and can be a little feisty.  

My day that had started fairly quietly soon became an endless string of events. From receiving stock, to menu planning, to gallivanting around in the bush looking for flowers for our arrangements.

So as I sit here pondering over my last few hours and soaking up the last warm rays of the African sunlight, I cant help but wonder. Are we on the land of the elephants? or are they on our land? And I have decided like many times before, that Africa and its land, demands great respect, and so I truly believe we are mere passerbys in the land of the grand elephant.  We are privileged and blessed enough to leave a footprint, that will remain for such a short while, before the wind scatters a layer of the red earth over it.

You are a spectator, a visitor, and if you have respect and understanding you may consider yourself a guest. For Africa will treat you well, and bring fire to your eyes, but tread carefully, because her creatures will leave their footprints on the same dirt as you, and their legacies will be carried through in stories that will be told to teach your children about values and respect. 

As they say in Kenya " Hukupata nguvu za kushinda njovu" .You do not have the strength to defeat an elephant. 

African footsteps

Africa is a place that paints your footsteps with its earth, and colours your soul with its sunset.

I have been here for officially three months, and have no desire to leave. Everyday rolls smoothly into the next and every morning greets me with love and passion.

The local people approach you with caution and then embrace you with their hearts. I have yet to be disappointed by mother nature and yet to be heartbroken by her ways.

Yesterday I spent the day looking for Rhinos, and the day before I encountered our male lion Mohawk. He crossed the road and then stopped when I switched off my engine.  His eyes stared straight into mine and he made me feel completely naked and humble. He walked straight up to my window, not taking his eyes off mine for even a second. When he reached me, he shook his head, roared and walked off. I knew at that exact moment, that he was the king of that land, and I was merely a passerby who needed to be reminded to have respect for my beautiful surroundings.

Each day holds something different, and each day is as fulfilling as the last. Surrounded by people who have a wealth of knowledge about a place that demands respect, maturity and realism, I have grown so much in heart and in fact. I await every new morning eagerly, and start each day steadfastly.  This is a place that separates men from boys, and grants you the chance to become a raw version of yourself.  This is a place that teaches you respect and manners. This is a place I do not want to wander away from again, for a very long time. This is my heartbeat. This is Africa.

Lets try this again.

It has been almost three months that I have been back on land.

I never found time to write once I had returned to the ship because I was often pre-occupied.

While sitting on the floor at St Maarten island, I received an email requesting to come in for an interview at a game reserve.  At that stage I had plenty of time at my disposal to consider this. As I had arrived at the airport and been informed that my employers did not confirm my flight from the island, and I knew I had paid for this flight, and would miss my connection if someone did not fix this in half an hour or less. Oh well, at that point so many bad chain reactions had happened prior to me getting to the airport, I had no choice but to sit on the floor, try and contact someone, and hope for a miracle. All in all, I was quite relaxed and had befriended a few airport employees.  I would have been ok if it became fact that I would sleep at the little island, with next to nothing. No, not worried in the least, I began to read emails, and found this interview request.

So here I am, three months later, not many itchy feet travel attacks, much happier and enjoying life in the bush with clean eyes. My view on Africa has changed so much, and sometimes it feels like I'm living here for the first time. Who knew it smelt so nice, and the sunsets and sunrises were so golden and pink. Who thought elephants would roam in front of your morning view.  I never knew, and I never thought that my morning drive would consist of  no traffic, sunrises, sunsets and an odd elly.

I haven't thought much about exploring anywhere else right now. I am rather enjoying the transition between crazy travelling to a more mature way of indulging into my passion of travel. Ah the simplest of joys, how much calmer I feel not rushing around with complete uncertainty of the next point, bus stop, or plane.

Oh yes, it is really lovely here in Africa, so many wonderful places to see.

Who do I thank for this wonderful passion? It could not have been my mom, who has always been rather introverted nor my dad who has limited his passion for so long. It may have been my grandfather who told me stories about adventures and travel for two hours while he was getting ready to leave us. Or maybe my grans naughty streak and her determination to embrace and go against a few rules, as long as it was done in a ladylike manner, who gives a damn!

Maybe it was my granny and gramps from moms side, who took me camping from nine months old. I remember endless warm days lying on a mattress at the back of a bakkie, staring at the passing trees and scenery whilst we made our next journey to new adventures of camping, fishing, friends and playing games in the dark.

In fact it could have been a combination of many in my life. My mom's encouragement to think for myself, and not to rely on anyone, my dads sense for adventure and drive, my grandparents old souls and positive thinking, my aunts stories of travel and freedom. Who knows really. Maybe it's just me and what I like doing. Following a passion can often lead to irrational behaviour and decisions, but you go for it regardless.  Sometimes it leads you to exactly where you need to be. Self discovery is often found in the journey of life, so why not just be true to yourself by following those inner desires and enjoying a satisfying path discovering who you really are, what your inner wants are, what your passions are and how much peace and joy you receive really going for what you value. I doubt anyone could be negative or resentful after really living in a way that embraces all the things around them. It can only cause a chain reaction of positive go getters. Lets face it, it seems that everyone around seems to be heading towards the same goal. Everyone just wants to be happy or loved.