Many Happy Feet
The rangers have been scurrying about the national park like industrious little ants these last two months.
This is a slight exaggeration, but it hints at something exciting that’s about to happen.
We’ve been preparing for this day and Eureka, it’s just around the corner. Can you guess what it is? Well, let me ‘doodle’ a bit more before I let the cat out of the bag.
When the second wave of the COVID-19 virus swept through the mainland, our country had to respond. And one of the responses was the restriction in movement.
Movement was targeted because if we moved, so did the virus. And the last thing we wanted was widespread havoc.
Besides, our national immunisation programme was just starting to roll out. So, travel was stopped, a few local borders setup, a curfew enforced and a whole bunch of human activities restricted.
The national park was one of those activities.
In mid-April, with local COVID-19 cases rising, we closed our doors to the public. It was the right thing to do. The rangers, however, continued watching over the park.
Five months onwards, the mainland borders have relaxed, vaccination rate (double doses) is over 60 per cent, and many businesses are re-opening. Our confidence is growing.
Already, we can sense the wheel of normalcy starting to turn. We hear that Fiji should be returning to a healthy level of activity this month and come November, our international border reopens.
GOOD TIMING
To answer the question posed earlier, I say this. The timing is good. Over the last few months, we’ve received dozens of queries asking about our reopening. I can now say with confidence, the national park is reopening this month.
The rangers are quite elated because our work is showing people physically, how much more the outside world means to us all. With the park closed, that’s a little harder to do. Now, we can continue this important work.
Inspired by the positive news, I headed out to the dunes earlier this week to find a poem. It didn’t come to me at first. I had to sit on the big dunes for a while and stare out at the vast Pacific Ocean and into the endless sky. Then, it happened.
The poem, titled ‘Many Happy Feet’, captures well the mood in the national park at this juncture in time.
Many happy feet have crossed this sandy path
Their owners were very excited to feel the gritty grey sand
Gently massage their soles
And bury their toes and bridges, As they marched forward, Discovering all that lay ahead, The feeling was phenomenal! It ignited something in them Something we all possess
a wonderment, a curiosity, an inquisition, a sense, a belonging, a poem, a story, a prophesy, a yearning, something that we just can’t word with a single word,
It’s a like kaleidoscope of many things,
You get the point, right?
And it dawned on them, the owners of these
Many happy feet, who left so many imprints behind, that the sand dunes are aptly named, for every step was another opportunity of more sandy love, more impressions
And that deeper connection to something greater than all of us
Nothing like Mother Nature to capture the imagination,
Fire up the body’s sensory
And invigorate the soul
Reminding all of us, that there are
Great adventures to be had just outside the four walls that confine us,
All it takes is a good-natured spirit.
We are looking forward to welcoming the many owners of happy feet back to the national park. It’s a good place to come visit, especially after our traumatic experiences with COVID-19.
We live in such times and this one is going down in the history books. And what we take from the lessons of today, may it make us much more prudent.
Tomorrow could be a can of worms, a pot of gold, a drowned island nation, the discovery of Extra-Terrestrial life or another strain of COVID-19. No one really knows, but I think the most crucial thing is that we step into tomorrow with empathy, conscientiousness, and a greater respect for our natural world.
Don’t forget, the national park is reopening this month. Come see us soon. Stay safe.