Time in Nature
Time in nature is such a vital part of our human existence. No one can say wholeheartedly they haven’t enjoyed some time in nature.
There’s this deep connection we feel when we let go of our human centrism and immerse ourselves into the world, we truly are a part of. I’ve been a ranger for a good number of years. It’s a job I got by fluke! I was based in Suva many moons ago doing environmental education work for an NGO. I enjoyed the work, but my heart was always in Sigatoka. The desire to go home was ever so strong.
I daydreamed a lot about home and it did affect my work.
I think the universe heard my heart. And somehow through the people’s network I was part of, news of a Ranger position at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park reached my ears. I immediately gave in my application to the National Trust of Fiji and was given an interview the following day.
A month after that, I was on the Pacific Bus heading home (Sigatoka) for a new kind of environmental job, as a park ranger.
My first ever introduction to a park ranger was a cartoon. Do any of you remember the Yogi Bear Show? It’s about a mischievous bear, called Yogi, with a propensity for stealing picnic baskets from visitors at the Jellystone Park and the ‘by-the-book’ Ranger Smith, who did his very best to keep order in his park.
Throughout my formal education, I never thought about being a ranger. It’s not a profession I heard about in school. I didn’t even realise we had a national park.
But fate would have it that I pursued a career very environmental oriented, and my few ignorance illuminated.
FIRST DAY AT THE DUNES
My first day at the Sigatoka Sand
Dunes National Park sealed my fate. I got there early, introduced myself to the rangers and went on my exploratory hike of my new workplace.
Every inch of this landscape was going to be my work.
At the first lookout, I took in the seamless sea of brownish green and the hazy outlines of the big dunes in the distance. It was breathtaking. I knew then, this was what I was always meant to do.
Out in the open land I stood awhile. So different from the concrete jungle I had left behind. The air was fresh, and the sun was warm on my face. My senses were on overdrive. Everything rushed at me, as if impatient to be introduced.
I just stood there and soaked in as much as I could. This was nature
and she was glorious to behold.
A dragonfly helicoptered over a Beach Vitex, a Goshawk flew circles around the Driodrio Forest, the bats shrieked from their roost, a kaleidoscope of butterflies in yellow, white and black fluttered by, an agitated grasshopper frog leaped across and vanished into the grassland and the industrious ants crawled all over my shoes as I had accidentally blocked their path.
All of these and many more, I sensed that day. It was a powerful awakening. And this is what I advocate for daily in my capacity as a ranger. The conservation of our natural world. It’s the source of all life. The reason our heart beats. The reason a seed germinates. The reason the waves break along the shore. The reason a caterpillar pupates.
Nature not only serves our wellbeing, but it keeps our planet wholesome and thriving. And this is something we modern humans have forgotten.
There is a natural order to the world we live in. It’s like the ‘Deep Magic’ spoken of by the Great Lion Aslam in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ by C.S Lewis. A set of natural laws governing the world we live in. It supersedes any human laws. We know this because the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, always.
I believe that one of these natural laws, not set in stone but existential, is ‘Mankind shall not forsake Nature’. And we need to ensure we do a lot of these in this day and age. This Easter weekend take some time for nature. It’s a greener and healthier option, plus there are many important life lessons that you can learn.