African Vanielje on May 06 2009 at 11:25 am | Filed under: african reflections, my life
a lone dawn kayaker in our gorgeous bay
I know that I normally just write about food and family, but there is so much of my last six months in Africa that has touched me deeply that I want to share it. These sights, smells, frozen moments that I’ve captured on camera have infused my senses and recalibrated my soul. Like looking in a mirror, these African reflections remind me who I am.
This is one of a series of photographs I took one dawn in January. It was very early and the sun was just rising over False Bay. My heart swelled in instant empathy with the lone kayaker, surrounded by the rarely pond-calm sea. He must have felt both huge, and mightily insignificant. He raced across the bay from Fish Hoek to Muizenberg so fast, as if knowing that the sea might wake before he made it. I scrambled to get my camera adjusted in time to snap him as he passed through the beam of sunrise, to no avail. It was difficult to be disappointed though. I still carry the vision in my mind’s eye, and at least I can share this pic, snapped a few seconds later with you. Double click on it to bring it up full size, take a deep breath, and imagine for a moment that it is you who balances so precariously atop all the vast ocean….
Thanks for sharing these memories with us Inge. We will always have a place in our heart for “home”, wherever that may be.
Gorgeous picture, even if he was too quick!
That sense of huge space is the thing about Africa that is so ingrained in my husband too and I’m sure will be in my children now they have grown up here. It’s what makes so many South Africans homesick and why my husband couldn’t take any more of London after 15 years. My eyes have also stretched to be focussed on the far mountains, so that England seems small now when I return … cosy but small!
Kit’s last blog post..In Our Back Garden
Kit, that’s a great way to express it. I always think that African skies are so high they give people space to expand. In europe the skies are all very low and people are more contained.
Val, I agree. ‘Home’ is always where your memories are strongest.
Agree – “home” is where your most intense and vivid memories lie, and like you, this can only ever be Africa for me. Stunning shot. Reminds me of when mt parents still owned a place in Twin Towers in Sea Point and we used to sit on the balcony watching the kayakers go past in the late afternoon. I do miss that huge expanse of watery horizon…
Jeanne’s last blog post..Waiter, there’s something in my retro classic – the round-up
Jeanne, I always thought it was the mountains of the Cape I yearned for, until this last six months with the ocean on my doorstep.
Gorgeous photo… and wonderful moment… I hate getting up early, but sometimes it’s worth it!
katie’s last blog post..Potatoes with Prosciutto, Olives, Green Garlic and Thyme; A place to lay my head
Katie you are so right. I don’t do it often enough…