That’s the thing about leaving somewhere that made you happy…you start taking those inconspicuous moments, those small memories and you polish them up like a street market strawberry! You compare, you pine for, you second guess and you become the classical ‘when-we!’
I dont for one minute regret our decision to move to South Africa, but my god – let me tell you about the time ‘when-we’ lived in Malawi. It was bloody wonderful, I say! When-we went to the lake, the blue water would turn silver in the early afternoon, twinkling for as far as you can see. Then the sun would begin it’s descent; painting the lake liquid gold, to orange, to purple and finally to deep blue. When it disappeared, the gin-stoked laughter would rise up, as friends chatted, joked and chinked their glasses to ‘another!’ The last flock of birds would fly passed, prompting a group Insect repellent spray session, pasting one’s head, toes, arms and even nose. The Kapenta boats would rev up their engines and disappear beyond the purple horizon and gentle waves would break over and over and over again.
Mothers would usher their children indoors, candles and fires were lit and the fish eagle would announce the suns’s departure with one last call.
The sun would sink beyond the black shadows, clinging to what’s left with golden rays.
It’s ‘just another day,’ we’d say, laughing like children and oblivious to it’s finality. Oblivious to the way it would make us feel when far away from its sandy shores, oblivious to fleeting time, oblivious to the sweet, sweet memories made ‘today,’ oblivious that it would be the last time.
Amazing photography and your choice of vocabulary made me so jealous that I was never there!!
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Thanks Liz, I am really, really missing this place! Haven’t quite gotten used to the South African Winters!
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I can see why you would miss that…
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Nice collection of photos. 🙂
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Thank you Dave 🙂
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Lovely photos…(Suzanne)
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Thank you Suzanne 🙂
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Loved the photos – terrific – and the dialogue. As someone who spent 8 years travelling those parts, it makes me want to go back again, today.
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Thank you 🙂 I know the feeling about wanting to ‘go back.’ It’s a tough choice sometimes. When there are so many other beautiful places still to discover, do you you go back to the place you know and love or do you choose the new destination?! Right now, with this cold South African Winter, the lake is very, very tempting!
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There’s a gorgeous word in Portuguese which describes this very feeling – saudade. I feel that same deep, melancholic longing every time I leave Africa to travel somewhere else. 🙂
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Now that’s a good word to know!!! Writing it down in my little book of quotes for future use!
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2 bouts of cerebral malaria sent us back to SA from Botswana. Why you? Family? Kids education? I don’t regret our return, but I indeed miss that other Africa!
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Hi Peter 🙂 It was a combination of things, 1 being offered a great business opportunity and 2, schooling! I homeschooled my kids for just over a year and while there were parts of it that I enjoyed – nothing beats someone else teaching your kids! And so I come to the 3rd reason, which was to save my sanity! Missing Malawi a lot though and Mozambique too!
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