African Travel Articles
SAFARI: A
journey through the sands of time My
journey (safari) in your presence always begins from within my own sense of
exploration. Mine is a combination of philosophy, physics, the sciences within
life, and all the promises of tomorrow.
I will stop and pick up a piece
of quartz crystal lying on the surface of a dirt track in the Kruger National
Park and hold it in my hand knowing that my journey has begun.
My
guides are Plato (knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and
believed) Sir Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion, Albert Einstein's
teachings on relativity, the writings of Socrates, and the discoveries of
Charles Darwin. My guides are also the sands and the crystals and the organisms
of our history that lie within these grains and have been transported by the
winds and the waters of our past.
I hold my piece of quartz crystal and
begin to think about time, and about space, and about the nature of things. My
journey through the sands of time has begun.
Travel with me now as we
try to unravel our past and unwrap our future by experiencing this moment in
time - a biological half-life of exponential decay, or as I like to view it -
Incremental understanding.
So as we walk or drive on this road we begin
an incredible journey into a world we all know but seldom have the privilege of
experiencing first hand while it is happening. I am always honored to be asked
to guide you but ask you to please remember that like my own guides and mentors
- I do not have all the answers, and certainly do not expect to ever have them.
The first rule of medicine's Hippocratic Oath is:
"To consider dear
to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him
and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my
own brothers, to teach them this art I will prescribe regimens for the good of
my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to
anyone."
For me as a nature guide, this is my ethic, and although
stolen from another discipline, my principal remains the same.
On our
safari we will explore not only the significances, processes and philosophies
of nature - the animals, plants and other organisms around us - the ecology,
ethic and culture of our world, and more recent, the footprints and other field
signs on these sands of time. The clock is ticking - a biorhythm so incredible
in its vibration, so enthralling in its lesson, and so inspirational in its
simplicity that now is the time to be on safari.
Written by Neil,
a professional safari guide in South Africa
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to view all Neil's itineraries
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