After a cold spell in a Shongweni winter there are always a few days that dawn as perfect as you can imagine a day to be. The air is so clear that you can see for miles, catching every tone and hue of the freshly rain-washed landscape. There is a bracing coldness to the air despite the clear sunny sky and very little wind blows. You gulp down mouth fulls of that atmosphere and it makes you feel indestructible, like you could walk any distance, endure any hardship and cope with any crisis provided you could stay in such an idyllic spot.
I was in camp that day planning to go on a recce hike up into the very rural village perched on a pretty inaccessible ridge that boarders the reserve. To get there one needs to wade/boulder hop/scramble across the river beneath the Dam Wall and then climb a switch-backing path up 250 meters of nearly vertical hillside to emerge looking down on the Dam, the wall and the entire reserve. It is breathless and breath-taking stuff!
At the top we started heading in the direction of the village. Three of our instructors; Brad, Lara and Jason were with me and we four lilly-white walkers went to see what kind of reception we would get in the village, hoping we could make friends and pave the way to eventually take school children up there to spend a night in the village and serve the community in some way while having a genuine cultural experience. I knew that there had been some crazy tribal warfare in the past and that poachers come down from that village into the reserve from time to time...so I took a big stick with me.
What an amazing place! There are no streets, just paths through the virgin bush, grassland and subsistence farms that link the 'kraals' together. Little children waved to us from behind their mother's skirts and everyone wanted to see and greet the curious "umlungus" that were like creatures from another planet. We used all the Zulu we knew to ask for directions to the home of one of Spirit's security guards who lives up there. When we found Lumulani's house it was awesome to see him in his kingdom. He was heading off to hunt for pigeons as a "snack" but we chatted to him and his friends for a long time.
While the poverty is real and life is hard without doubt, nobody seemed to be going hungry and there is a beauty and innocence to that ancient way of living that made me wonder why anyone would ever leave. It is a short, but difficult, journey to eDamini village, which is just across the valley (but 200 years separated) from them, to catch a taxi into town but if I was Lamulani I think I'd make it as infrequently as possible.
Having hiked out of the village and climbed back down into the reserve it was almost time to head home and get showered so that I could suit up for Ross and Laura Nixon's wedding. Ross has worked at Spirit for ages so many of us were going to be there and what a celebration it was! Great people, great food, great dancing, I gave it everything I've got, and the presence of God was all over it. 
Thus concluded a wonderful, wonderful day and I went to bed in the knowledge that I would be test driving Land Rovers the next day in my first tentative steps towards, maybe-possibly, swapping my beloved fiesta for the best fourbyfourbyfar.More on that still to come I'm sure:)
Till next time
PaUL
