MEDITATING WITH RHINOS BOOKMARK

Helena Kriel Loot.co.za (R195) MELINDA FERGUSON

LIKE many of my generation, my interest in books about African wildlife was kindled by Joy Adamson’s iconic Born Free. Since then, I have read and enjoyed many such books.

Occasionally a new book arrives, one whose title suggests something quite different, one that sets itself apart from most. That book is Helena Kriel’s Meditating With Rhinos.

In her new book, she tells of a return home to Johannesburg to take a much-needed break after the end of a marriage. Through her sister Lexi, she is encouraged to volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary near the Kruger Park. There Helena meets sanctuary founder Petronel Nieuwoudt, who is with “a sick baby”. It’s a “rhino scene”, says Lexi. Rhinos?

Helena is immediately in awe of the Charlize Theron-esque Petronel and her work with rhinos. Before too long, after immersing herself in working with the rhinos, she realises she is committed and has inherited “the rhino portfolio”, and it changes her life.

Those of you who got to know Helena through her excellent The Year of Facing Fire will already know a couple of things about her. She writes like a dream, is multidimensional, intellectually curious, passionate and courageous. Her new book reflects these qualities throughout.

“I was told by an animal communicator that if one wants to communicate with an animal, one does it through the heart, not the mind. One communicates through love, the feeling of love in the heart. I am not in my mind, not thinking this through, but allowing myself to be taken.”

A particular stand-out are those parts of the book that deal with Helena meditating with a distressed baby rhino. This is African wildlife writing of immense stature. Passionate, insightful, and captivating, Meditating With Rhinos is a rich and extraordinary book, one that I will never forget, and it is one of my top three books of 2020.