Tribute to Africa

Today I’d like to share a special tribute to our incredible continent.

It’s by Meredith Hill, from the USA, and her sister-in-law, Sandy Salle, a born-and-bred Zimbabwean and now American citizen, who share an exceptional company called Hills of Africa Travel. Based in the USA, they bring clients on personalized trips to Africa.

Speaking from first-hand experience, they are the people to call if you ever consider coming here, and we highly recommend you do Dave & I joined them as the official photographers on their recent Soul Safari, which was an altogether stunning experience!!

In their own words, here’s what these two wonderful people have to say:

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Joost & Amor

I’m so grateful not to live in the sometimes blinding glare of the ‘celebrity spotlight’. My hope for Joost van der Westhuizen and Amor Vittone, and especially their children, is that they salvage some positive from the scandal that’s consuming the South African media at the moment. We haven’t followed it, so don’t know many details, but came across Joost’s interview last night on Carte Blanche, as well as on Kwela a few days before. This must be extremely tough on the entire family.

Having said that, though…I’m no doubt not on the same page, but it does seem sad that the full focus of Joost’s apology, to the public and his wife, was placed on his dishonesty (lying about being the ‘man on tape’), when surely the heart of the hurt lies in the betrayal itself?

Settling in after “Soul Safari”…

It’s great to be back home and settling in again after our phenomenal “Soul Safari” with Hills of Africa Travel. What an AWESOME trip it was, from the stunning venues, five-star accomodation and food, exceptional wildlife and cultural experiences…to the ten-star group of fantastic new friends!!

Our sincere thanks again to Sandy and Meredith for including us as the photographers, to Ainslie MacLeod (author of The Instruction: Living the Life Your Soul Intended) for the insight he shared, to our exceptional hosts at Madikwe Safari Lodge and in Cape Town, and to the rest of our fabulous fellow travellers, from all over the USA and Canada. It’s been a privilege and a pleasure getting to know each of them, and witnessing their delight in a first trip to Africa

The journey involved far too much on too many levels to summarize in a blog post, so instead I’ll include a group photo from Madikwe Game Reserve and one from Cape Point, as tiny representation of our two destinations, which so beautifully encompass the themes for my two novels, the African bushveld and the Sea, respectively.

SOUL SAFARI 2009 - Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

SOUL SAFARI 2009 - Cape Point Nature Reserve, Cape Town, South Africa

Now it’s all about processing…hundreds of images and hours of video footage…what a wonderful way to relive an amazing adventure!!

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In praise of Power Yoga

Yoga, in my opinion, must be the ultimate in mind/body/soul alignment. After doing a fair amount of it over many years, including Hatha (“The Yoga of Postures”), Kundalini (mainly chanting/’Mantra’ and breathing/’Pranayama’) and Bikram (“The 26 Pose Yoga in Heat”), I’ve recently found my favourite: Power Yoga.

According to the stunning website, www.abc-of-yoga.com, this is the “Western version of the Indian Ashtanga Yoga which emphasizes developing one’s physical flexibility and nurtures the desire for self-discipline…emulating a rigorous full-body workout and promoting mental stability and concentration”. Browse the site for much more insight into the practise of yoga in all its forms.

Undeniably, each type has its own appeal. I find Hatha relaxing, Kundalini invigorating, Bikram intense, but for me Power is the perfect package. It provides a satisfying sweat, excellent strength and stretch exercise, together with sufficient breath focus and meditation.

Perhaps it’s also that I have such a dynamic teacher in Claire Lane of Bikram Yoga on Republic, herself a graduate student of Bryan Kest (www.poweryoga.com) in Santa Monica, CA. How awesome to benefit from his fabulous influence here in Johannesburg!

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Blog Action Day 09

Special thanks to Ida at Ethnic Supplies for the heads-up via Facebook of Blog Action Day 09, which is today! This year’s theme is Climate Change. If you’re a blogger, you may still have time to register your blog at www.blogactionday.org and “have your post appear on the Blog Action Day homepage when you publish”.

Born in Uganda and based in the UK, Ida Horner established Ethnic Supplies Ltd., which is a social enterprise specialising in African handicrafts, textile, art and crafts from East africa. Here’s a link to the thought-provoking article she posted on her blog today: Climate change and poverty. It’s been great to connect with Ida’s infectious warmth via Twitter!

On the subject of climate change, I think “A Beautiful Lie” must be one of the best music videos out there, highlighting this topic. The site, www.abeautifullie.org reports “CO2 Levels Highest in Two Million Years Thursday, June 25, 2009″. Have a read there to discover how you can make a difference.

Also on this subject, James Lovelock, celebrated scientist and writer (as well as originator of the Gaia theory), enthralled us in his Hardtalk interview with Stephen Sackur, addressing man’s “unsustainable exploitation” of the planet. Here’s a link to a small clip from their discussion, which refers to population reduction: www.youtube.com, and another to this phenomeanl man’s website: www.jameslovelock.org. His work is well worthy of consideration, especially today

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Loerie Awards

It was awesome to discover that ‘Lucky’, the VW Golf 6 advertising campaign by Ogilvy Cape Town, won Gold (in the ‘TV & Cinema Commercials’ category) at the 31st Annual Loerie Awards held in Cape Town recently.

You may remember my previous blog post (Cheetah), which mentions the advert and ‘Lucky’, the phenomenal three-legged cheetah at its heart. CONGRATULATIONS to Ogilvy Cape Town on an outstanding job, as well as to all the other winners!!

Especially significant to us was that Draftfcb Johannesburg won a Silver Loerie Award in the Experiential category. This was for their internal marketing program, connectEd, which incorporates Twitter. Dave and I are particularly delighted about this because his son, Michael, was one of the illustrators on that campaign. WAY TO GO Mike & the rest of the team!!

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Synchronicity

Through a sequence of synchronicity, Dave and I are delighted to be joining Hills of Africa on their phenomenal “Soul Safari” in South Africa next month, as the official photographers.

This is a 9-day internal and external journey with celebrated psychic Ainslie MacLeod, author of ‘The Instruction: Living the Life Your Soul Intended’. He has been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on her “Soul Series”, alongside the likes of Eckhart Tolle, Dr Wayne Dyer and Dr Jill Bolte Taylor – all of whom I consider as exceptionally inspiring, powerful contributors to our collective wisdom.

The “Soul Safari” incorporates 4 nights at Madikwe Safari Lodge in the Madikwe Private Game Reserve and another 4 at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Cape Town.

As such, the trip perfectly represents the two underlying themes, and tributes, in my novels (see My Books pge of this blog). The first one takes place in Cape Town and centres around the sea. The subject of conservation is African Penguins (being critically endangered). In fact, our group will be visiting their colony at Boulders Beach! The second takes place on a fictitious game farm in the Waterberg mountains. It centres around the African bushveld and Cheetah in particular.

How amazing to have the opportunity to explore this more fully, both internally and externally. THANK YOU Sandy & Meredith of Hills of Africa for that! Also, my immediate family all live in Cape Town, so I have the added bonus of visiting them again

Incidentally, all of this has arisen from connecting with Sandy and forming a cyber freindship via blogging, facebook and twitter – just one example of the exceptional potential of the internet explosion!

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Presidential Medals of Freedom

We so enjoyed watching President Obama awarding the medals of freedom last night. What an amazing gift of leadership he is bestowing on the world.

It was particularly poignant for us that South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu was included in the group of exceptional men and women who were honoured in this way. Here’s a link to ‘The Times’ editor Jackie May’s excellent blog Minor Matters, which shares the Archbishop’s beautiful statement.

Heartfelt gratitude to him, as well as the other recipients, for paving the way forward with hope and possibility.

Ashes and Snow Exhibition

We watched enraptured when Carte Blanche recently featured ‘Ashes and Snow’. This breath-taking exhibition by Gregory Colbert has been viewed by millions of people around the world as “the most attended exhibit by a living artist, ever.” Apparently it may be coming to Cape Town next year, in which case I’ll be booked directly on a plane!

If you’re not familiar with it, the project “weaves together photographic works, 35mm films, art installations and a novel in letters”, capturing “the extraordinary interactions between humans and animals”.

In a word, it’s exquisite!

Cyber Friends

I’ve just popped back from a Condron.US forum and came across a prospective cyber friend, whose blog is Nottingham Graffiti.

Firstly, sincere thanks to Condron for the wonderful job they do in connecting like-minded bloggers. My potential friend in Nottingham wrote the following:

‘What is great about blogging is that, as your blog develops, you gather people about you (in a virtual sense) who share your views (or who sometimes don’t but still have something to say to you) almost organically.’ He continued to say more which struck a chord, so I visited his site.

At first glance, we have little in common, since I have never even been to Nottingham. But scratch the surface, and you will inevitably find a common sense of purpose. He mentions that his home city is notorious for being the ‘gun and knife crime capital of the UK’ (and adds emphatically that it ‘isn’t, never was and never will be’). Well, you probably know that Johannesburg is touted as the same in South Africa (hopefully not the world!).

That aside, though, my cyber friend goes on to explain his relationship with the city of his birth. It inspires him to share this with others in Nottingham and elsewhere, at About Nottingham. So eloquently explained, it precisely echoes the motivation behind this blog of ours.

This, I believe, is the real benefit of blogging, and the social media explosion as a whole.

Happy connecting, everyone…and celebrating the humanity we all have in common