Editor’s Note

Sometimes the universe sends you a message. The one I’m receiving loud and clear at the moment is that nature, the bush, wilderness, the great outdoors, whatever you want to call it, is the antidote to our collective lockdown blues. Not only have I spent the past few weekends hiking amazing trails only a few hours’ drive from home (thanks to some fabulous advice on our recent Travel pages), I’ve also had an epic weekend in total isolation from humanity at one of SA’s most sacred and untouched places — the top of the Blouberg mountains close to the Botswana border.

Sleeping in a cave or under the stars, cooking on a camping gas fire, bathing in shallow rock pools and sitting on a cliff watching Cape vultures roosting and breeding on its ledges is, let’s face it, as far as you can get from Netflix bingeing and Fortnite tournaments to pass the time.

The sentiment is definitely shared. When the limits to travelling across provincial borders were lifted this week, the South African National Parks’ booking site crashed because of an overwhelming surge of interest.

It makes us remember how important the wild places of this country are — or maybe South Africans are just craving the distinct brand of humour most of our game rangers possess.

The Kruger National Park’s new executive manager, Gareth Coleman, really spelt that out to Aspasia Karras when she interviewed him a few weeks ago and again on Wednesday.

“Pockets of savannah are important for humans to have a sense of place for their own mental health and wellbeing,” he told her.

It’s brilliant to be far away from the trappings of modern life for a while, even if it does entail some dirt and discomfort. It’s just a pleasure to be miles away from a computer or TV screen when news is bad and getting worse.

It reminds you, like the resurrection plant we found seemingly dead in the cracks of a Blouberg rock face, that things can turn around. We snapped some of the plant off, brought it home, put it in a glass of water and in a few hours the dry dead plant was sprouting green leaves.

I took this as a very positive message from the universe.

For comment, criticism or praise, write to nagela@sundaytimes.co.za