09/10/08

This is a love letter to the people and places our family has visited in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia which has opened us to feelings and ideas that are new and exciting. I’ve read about the seduction of Africa…the hue of the sunset, the heart of the people, the surrender of nature. A collective symphony of an audio-visual feast conducted by the universal leader of the band…performances daily; independent of an audience but enhanced somehow by a single breath shared between friends not known to each other before or perhaps after the experience, which has come to define them both. My family and I have now come to know this as ultimate truth.

It’s been said that when you travel you leave a bit of yourself at your destination and take part of it back with you forever. I can’t imagine how our footprints will ever mark the Okavanga delta in Botswana or the bush in Zimbabwe, but I know the beauty, the pride and the commitment to life in Southern Africa will be embedded in our cellular DNA forever.

I hoped when I planned to take my kids Lexi, Troy and Nathan to Africa, that they would appreciate the struggle and the natural splendor of the continent. We began in Johannesburg and I knew as we drove along a street in Soweto that was the home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners, the spirit of South Africa had already taken hold. There were the modest homes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu in the midst of a burst of pride emanating from every face we saw. After a dinner of local treats and dance, we slept with great anticipation of the next morning’s drive to Pretoria to board the fabled Ruvos Rail…dubbed “the most luxurious train in the world”. All aboard for a trip to a more gentile time…

Ensconced in my luxury sleeping car (compete with an Edwardian bathtub), I was able to be rocked by the rhythm of the train as we traveled through the South African countryside…little villages and big game preserves. Baboons, herds of elephants, kudu along with some of the sweetest little human faces I’ve ever seen, helped ease me and my family into a reflective state to contemplate our upcoming journey. The boys fussed a little about having to wear a coat and tie to dinner but once they arrived in the dining car, they looked so handsome!

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