Belly laughs and a beautiful cry

HEAVENS to Betsy, we all need a laugh, and a good cry.

There’s a lot of misery going around – it does love company, after all – and I confess to being lured there by the magnitude of things that are wrong with the world at the moment.

Granted, a few things have tweaked the outer reaches of my mouth a millimetre, but most in wry bafflement or cynical agreement. I certainly have not made any bulk contributions to the multitude of “laughter lines” on my fizzog.

Recently, however, a video injured my tummy muscles and crinkled my face. I think I should sue.

It felt so good to literally LOL, and more than once. I watched it many times and laughed just as hard each time.

The video was taken by Instagram user sabrewildlife on a game drive in the Sabi Sands.

The backstory was that a leopard had hoisted an impala way up in a tree for her cub to feed on, and had returned to rest on the grass beneath the tree. A cub tucked in, sticking to one spot and severing part of the animal.

The video showed the impala dropping to the ground, narrowly missing the mom, but clearly giving her the fright of her life.

She rocketed up into the air and seemed to fly 10 metres before landing again. And then, as patiently as all natural mothers, she hauled it back up.

The fall-and-fly sequence was just seconds, but the reaction was so funny it made me laugh a real jiggly laugh.

The description may not make you smile – it was one of those you-had-tobe-there moments – but if you need a laugh, look for it on Instagram.

Of course, no one would laugh if it hit and injured the mom (an impala can weigh up to 60kg), but it was made clear no one was hurt.

The crying bit came when I was moved to tears by the story of wilderness guide Sicelo “Black Lion” Mbatha, whose book extract and story we featured last week. (Black Lion: Alive in the Wilderness by Sicelo Mbatha with Bridget Pitt, Jonathan Ball.)

I hate crying and seldom do. My eyes hurt for days and it’s just draining. But reading Mbatha’s book really touched a nerve. If I had my way, I’d make every single person in the world read it. Specially those at COP26.

Billions of words, in books and in documentaries, have been used to describe the natural world and instruct us on why we need it.

But Mbatha’s storytelling invokes a fireside in the wild, with glowing eyes of hyena and lion and owl, and all the accompanying sounds around you. The glow of the stars and smell of the soil and breeze rustling through the trees.

On a bush walk, you feel the heightened alertness and the joy of being alive and tapping in to the healing the wilderness gives.

It also describes one man’s determination, no matter the unfairness and obstacles he faced, to make his way in the only world he wanted to live in – and share with anyone open to its lessons, even if they are not aware they need those lessons for the health of their souls.

Please read it; it’s beautiful and as soul-restoring as a good laugh.

THIS weekend is crunch time for the country – and for the major political parties because, with the exception of Cape Town and Mangaung, no one has enough support from Monday to form a municipal government off their own bat.

The fact that our political landscape has changed so dramatically with the myriad permutations of coalitions that could emerge are factors that fascinate political pundits. For the rest of us, who actually live in the wards and bear the brunt of water and electricity disruptions, potholes and underfunded emergency services, it’s a potential nightmare.

Some cities do not have enough fire engines, while their CBDS are cesspits. The infrastructure they do have is old and in dire need of maintenance,

“IF WE don’t act, we will allow the path of greed and selfishness to sow the seeds of our self-destruction. Code Red to the G7 countries! Code Red to the G20! For those who have eyes to see, for those who have ears to listen, for those who have hearts to feel!”

The most powerful speech you will hear this year was given in Glasgow by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, this week.

She stared down some of the most powerful leaders, wagged her finger and told them that if they do not act on the climate change crisis, it would be nothing short of a dereliction of duty.

Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and Jair Bolsanaro all sat stony faced and listened to this grandmotherly figure who spoke with wisdom, eloquence and almost prophetically about what is to come. Notably absent were Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin – the world’s number one and number four worst polluters respectively. Understandably, Cyril Ramaphosa was fighting an election back home and also not in attendance.

Ramaphosa was not needed in person when his American counterpart Biden announced a landmark deal to help finance South Africa’s transition from coal to renewables for our electricity generation. The US and the EU have pledged R131bn to help Eskom with cleaner, more sustainable power.

Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter, says we are the poster child for intervention in renewables for electricity generation. Our much-maligned utility, now a by-word for incompetence and corruption, could yet be a pathfinder as the world looks to address the climate