Dear guests



It times like this approaching Christmas when we get nostalgic & let our minds wander to lands afar ...



Africa my dear Africa, RIP



Peter



[ Come fly with me in your dreams ]



Listen to me - music file

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When you've acquired a taste for dust,

The scent of our first rain,

You're hooked for life on Africa

And you'll not be right again



Till you watch the setting moon

And hear the jackals bark

And know that they're around you,

Waiting in the dark.



When you long to see the elephants,

Or to hear the coucal's song,

When the moonrise sets your blood on fire,

You've been away too long.



It's time to cut the traces loose

And let your heart go free

Beyond the far horizon,

Where your spirit yearns to be.



C Emily Dibb - Author [ Ivory, apes, and peacocks ] 1981 Zimbabwe Books

Thanks Peter, many of us can identify with this.

That was Beautiful, and so true. Thanks for sharing it. ,Merry Christmas Ben(rug)

Folks:

Here is a little poem that's my Christmas present to all the AR Family. It's entitled:



"We Are Hercules?"



A blood red moon

That pales to orange

Then lights to whitest bright,



A lion's roar

That fills the night

Likewise my primal soul,



A fire ring glow

The Southern Cross,

The hippo's grunt, I hear.



A nervous bark

A bushbuck's last

As chui's deed is done.



These joys now far,

But heart still there

I dream and dream for more.



Forever bound

One drink can't slake

This cup, a siren's land



My fate is cast

By lotus bite

My fleece is Africa

JudgeG

Thank's for the gift! I can really relate to that, brings back so many wonderful memories from safaris past and it makes me smile knowing there are so many safaris in the future!

You have a great Holiday and a healty New Year!!!!

Hey Rug,

I was just looking over your photo's in frameshot, what did you hit that baboon with? Nice Georgia hog!

This little African Proverb might be worth putting in the memory banks for the future, it rings so true at times.

Peter

[Dont curse the hunting guide till the day is done]

According to the Sukuma people in Tanzania when a person hears that there is wild game in a particular area and wishes to hunt there, the person will often hire a guide from the local people. If one is good, the guide will know exactly where the game is likely to stay. But sometimes the animals are not in their local haunts. Then the guide and the hunter will need to spend many, many hours walking though the bush in the hot sun. After a while both people will become frustrated and it is possible that the hunter will blame the guide for not spotting the wild game. The hunter might feel that he or she has wasted the whole day and wishes to insult the guide.

This is when the Sukuma proverb applies.

Very often at twilight just when it is getting dark, antelope and other animals will come out into the open to graze. If so, the hunter shoots the wild game and all go home happy. The proverb emphasizes the importance of being patient and holding back one's anger until the very end. One should hope in and trust any kind of guide, mentor or advisor until the day is completely over.

Here's another, also by ex Rhodesian C. Emily Dibb.....I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.



The Exile.



I miss the earth of Africa,

The hot dry stones, the sand,

The friendly feel of sun warmed rock

Beneath my outspread hand.



I miss the smell of Africa,

The fragrance of the grass

At dewfall in the evening,

In the glades where leopards pass.



I miss the light of Africa,

The glare that hurt's the eyes,

The shock of blinding brilliance

In noonday's cloud massed skies.



I miss the sounds of Africa,

The barking of baboon

And the thunder of the lion's roar

That greets the rising moon.



I miss the wind of Africa,

That blows before the rain,

The warm wet wind of heaven,

I must breath it once again.



Oh I long to sleep in Africa

Through a velvet summer night

And there to dream of days gone by

Until my soul takes flight.



Then should I wake in Africa

I'll hear the bulbul's song,

And know that I am home at last,

Back home where I belong.

Humbles the hell out of me!
There are poets and then there are folks like me!
Shakari... thanks for sharing a real poem!

Hi Ernest,

.........actually I thought you're poem was great and should have said so.

I rarely take a book with me on safari but I do always take an old leather bound folder of my favourite poems which I like to spend a few minutes reading every morning before the clients show up.....with your permission, I'll add your poem to it.

Humbled again. Of course you may. I just hope I get to watch over your shoulder when you do it.. we almost had the opportunity this December.. but damn the lack of elephant... We'll fix that somehow!

JudgeG Steve ....



You guys and many others like Ray Saeed JUST TO NAME a few have sure left a part of your soul in Africa .... You can imagine how I feel having been born there, humbled is too light a word to describe my feelings ...



A poem Steve says it all .....



I want to wish you all and your families all the best for the future and lets not forget that through AR we have all formed a brothehood that time will never destroy but only strengthen ...



Like those moving words from that OLD FAVOURITE [Hank Locklin] song



[ BLUE SKIES ARE CALLING, BUILD ME A RAINBOW TO KEEP THE CLOUDS AWAY, COME SHARE THE SUNSHINE WITH ME ]



Take care to all you good people and if you dont leave anything behind, just leave a smile



Peter

Ernest,

someday we'll manage it!

Peter,

I fell in love with Africa 25 years ago and eventually found I simply had to live here.......how you ever managed to leave Africa, I cannot imagine.......you must miss it terribly........and I'll raise a glass to all you "Africa-philes and ex-pats" at 2100 hours CAT on Christmas day.

For anyone who may share my love of poetry, here's a couple of verses from another of my favourites..Brian Brooke:-

We all have friends in other lands, friends whom we love to call our own:

We may not grasp them by the hands - but are our wishes thither blown?

The lonely settler silent stands, the night breeze fans the fire brands:

There's much on earth which is unknown: I fancy he is not alone!


The sun is rising in the East, the morning light is cold and clear;

The lion leaves his midnight feast the jackal slinks away in fear;

The sky with golden lines is creased: good luck to all, both man and beast;

To all our friends, both far and near, a prosp'rous, happy bright new year.

Brian Brooke was a very interesting guy and loved Africa. One of his claims to fame was that he went underground and killed a tom Leopard with a spear.........a great poet he might have been, but I'm not so sure he had all his marbles!!