Month: March 2017

Like a Rolling Stone

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First published on Relais & Châteaux Africa’s blog. The beauty of going slow when on an adventure is the gift of time, seeing more and seeing it more fully. I read somewhere recently that the smallest moments contain the whole universe if we just slow down enough, are present enough, to recognise them. This is what I love about Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat. On the journey to the lodge, in its remote mountain valley in the Cederberg, travelling by car from Cape Town, my mind can wander through the clouds and the faces of the people we pass and the lyrics of Rodriguez and Bob Dylan that play over my speakers as the city slips away. As the red rocks of this part of the country come into frame through the window of the car. I like things slow. Some of us simply do… our natural rhythms flow to a gentler tune. We get to see the little wonders that connect to the larger ones this way. You don’t have to do more …

When in Wonderland

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First published on the Royal Chundu blog here. “Day by day and night by night we were together, — All else has long been forgotten by me…” – Walt Whitman We were together. It was that last day of the year feeling, day by day, night by night. How were we meant to hold back? With the whole of our past flying quickly from us and the brilliance of our future burning ahead. What were we to do but dance between the two and say yes to it all? To hold back the river and look in your eyes, to hold back the river and be by your side… What were we to do, with James Bay singing softly somewhere and the Zambezi swimming its eternal swim around us? And with that sweetness placed before us, a single spoon beside it, filling in the dots, leading the way. It was wonderland and I was Alice. And “all else has long been forgotten by me.” Indulge with us, why don’t you… Here is a look at a …

The Art of Getting to Know Someone

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First published here, on the Royal Chundu blog. As I sit with my laptop before me, both connecting me with the world and getting between the two of us, I am more and more aware that while modern life may let us know more people, it does not necessarily let us know them. We get to follow the lives of friends, family, acquaintances, people we’ve never met, and learn about them through screens – but we rarely commit as much time and spirit to doing so face to face. Through that unscripted, unfiltered, unpolished yet beautiful interaction of two people sitting across from each other, getting to know each other. We find ourselves in other people, and through them. We also, simply, find them, other unique souls to connect with, grow with, feel with – truly, messily, embarrassingly, feel. The heart shows up. In a way that it can’t through a screen, through the facades of technology. When you travel, you get to meet new people, and sometimes you get to stay around long enough to get …