FLYING HIGH, SEIZING THE DAY
I WATCHED two beautiful creatures in flight.
High in our magnificent Cape mountains, I watched them alight.
Do you know this delightful word: “Alight”? It means to land, from flight – gently. This story is about doing precisely that.
The first creature is a little bird, a Cape robin. Whenever I summit a particular peak, he’s there, alighting on a rock, while I sip my coffee, watching the sunrise. He’s almost like family. So I’ve named him: “Robin Williams”.
His namesake, Robin Williams, once taught me to fly. With the words: “Go on, lean in. Listen, do you hear it? Carpe diem, seize the day boys! Make your lives extraordinary!” he urged.
Climbing my peak is my extraordinary way of seizing my day, while I chat to my Robin on his rocky perch.
The other beautiful mountain-top creature is a man.
A few weeks ago, we climbed a trio of peaks together: Devil’s Peak, Maclear’s Beacon – the highest point of Table Mountain – and then Lion’s Head. All in one go.
He’s supremely fit. My office colleagues asked: “Is he a professional triathlete?” Nope, he’s just a Capetonian who adores our ancient guardian peaks.
We were charging down Platteklip Gorge, this man and I, when I saw it:
He leapt from one rock down to another below. And as he did so, his arms stretched out wide – like a bird’s wings, in full flight. To balance himself, through the air, as he landed.
Unconstrained by having no wings, he’d learned how to fly. And then alight – safely and surely. A creature of the crags and the clouds.
Watching human life force engage nature has been my lifelong love.
As a tour guide, bike-rider, gameranger, whale-watching-by-kayak guide and ocean paddler. Plus a decade of outdoor duty in sacred places around the world, while chief reporter of this newspaper.
The world of natural splendour can certainly be found in exotic places.
Or on TV, to the soundtrack of David Attenborough’s mesmerising voice.
But so, too, is natural abundance on our doorsteps.
It’s easy to forget, in the rattle and the hum of the daily grind.
Which is why it’s so essential to have inspirers among us.
With fynbos-scratched arms and broad buchu-scented smiles! Who alight down among us from on high, and inspire us to take our own first steps up into the skies.
He sure inspired me, this guy. Just like Robin Williams did. And little Robin Williams.
He’s a tanned, sublime mountain warrior, who has scaled our Table Mountain temple many hundreds of times.
Who I love spectacularly – but perhaps don’t tell enough.
He’s also a Williams.
He is:
My brother.