LIVING IN AFRICA

Sunset and sunrise is always magnificent in the African bush. I used to live in the beautiful Imfolozi Game Reserve. Often we would watch elephants - 100 strong - congregating at the waters edge at dusk. Other times we would be up before dawn to wait at the watering hole when rhino would bring their young or a conglomeration of giraffe, zebra or the lone buffalo would meet.

Some of you know my story. Most of you don't. It is so bittersweet it bears repeating. Tonight is a night for memories. Memories of Africa. I didn't dream of Africa. I live in Africa. But a long time ago I married a man who very much epitomized Africa.

He was a trails officer. We lived in the bush. At night we could hear the distant call of the wild. Lions after a kill. The scavenging giggling of hyena or the soothing call of owls. During the day different buck would effortlessly hop over our very tall protective fences into the garden. Baboon would ravish our vegetable garden. Monkeys the flower beds.

From boyhood he passionately loved animals and desired to work in the bush. He was a visionary and always knew what he wanted. This included a barefoot wedding on the beach. Which he got. Ultimately he became one of the most highly qualified and sought after trails officers. But his heart was always in Imfolozi Game Reserve. Our final home.

A trails officer is different to a game ranger. Very different. A trails officer takes people into the very remote reaches of the wild. You walk, under guard, where no vehicles can drive. Most of the time the animals are quite oblivious to you. It is the most thrilling, yet humbling experience.

Imfolozi is one of the largest Game Reserves. This magnificent and protected place is spread around the confluence of two rivers in KwaZulu Natal; the Black and White Imfolozi (uMfolozi) rivers. Whether the rivers were named after the once numerous (now endangered) black and white rhino or vice versa, is not known. Imfolozi is the corrupted Zulu word meaning type of nettle bush, believed to be named after those growing wild along the river banks.

Imfolozi Game Reserve is home to a wide selection of wild birds and beasts. They are protected by passionate men and women, who are often threatened and injured or unjustly suspended in fulfilling their life's ambition - the survival of these African animals. Many, like the Rhino, are fast heading to extinction. It is a tragic reflection of both a corrupt government as well as the insatiable greed of mankind.

How long will these animals roam free through the deep valleys and steep hills of Imfolozi? Will our children also enjoy both savannah and coastal plains of Imfolozi where the rhino, nyala, elephant, leopard, buffalo, giraffe, hyena, zebra, lion, kudu, wild dog, eland, cheetah, wildebeest, springbok roam freely and without fear?

So it was fitting that his life work would culminate and end with the fulfillment of his dream. Cancer claims so many. Cancer claims younger and younger. But in his short life he had lived the dream. So many around the world - myself included - have been privileged to really taste Africa. May others rise up to protect the beautiful beasts of Africa.

Perhaps it is true that the best of men die young. Perhaps growing old together was our destiny. Perhaps more love and happiness was contained within a short young marriage than many experience in a lifetime. Perhaps his life was a shadow of those of the animals he loved and protected, senselessly snuffed out before their time. Perhaps his life bore witness to others to love passionately and live passionately.