Deep in the Heart of Lightness
We have to drop the Heart of Darkness and Dark Continent stuff. Although our white western world may contain the dark hearts of Marlow and our racism may get the best of us at times, I found nothing dark about the Congo except the density of the most amazing forest that I have ever seen and the only thing dark about the whole continent is the color of the African skin. Given the biodiversity and amount of life in the Congo forests and the amazing shine emanating from the Africans, darkness is not what comes to my mind. These labels strike a chord when you read them and have no first-hand experience with their subjects, but they are just literary conveniences (at best! – I believe Stanley is the one who coined the Dark Continent bit and he had vile opinions about the native Africans).
I have been reading Bob Geldof’s “Geldof in Africa” (Mike G – I know you will enjoy this book – get it) and it has two great quotes which struck a chord with me and reconfirmed what I have been feeling in Africa. I’ve been on my own for a while and after some time I start wondering if I am the only person thinking this way. It was nice to read that I am not too crazy… or there is at least someone just as crazy as I am!
“If you ever get the chance, go there. It feels like… going home.” After visiting twelve of the fifty-three nations, I am more convinced than ever that I just returned home for the first time. It won’t be the last.
“No, this is not the Dark Continent. But many of us can only see Africa from the dark side of our mind. The impenetrable place, the unknowable minds. The hoards of walking skeletons, too weak to swat the flies that cover them in the stinking squalor of the relief camps. Or the disease-stricken people fleeing yet another nameless war between countries, clans, tribes or warlords. And, yes, all of that is true too much of the time, but in refusing to see the many other Africas we bring our own darkness to bear. The same darkness Conrad or Stanley brought up river when they wrote about this shimmering place as Darkest Africa. Still others fill the romantic space in their imagination with an Africa of ‘unspoilt’ child-like primitives and wild, beautiful creatures. But the reality is that this continent is all of that and has everything else. Rainforest, jungle, savannah, Mediterranean and coastal climates, with more fish and animals and birds, more peoples, cultures and languages than anywhere else on the planet. It is quite simply the most beautiful place in the world. No, not the Dark Continent. This is the Luminous Continent.” I was really grateful to really get what he is saying when I read these words. I look very much forward to seeing the rest of this continent in the near future. I plan to see all of the North Africa nations next year as well as many in West Africa. My number one destination is Ethiopia. I am also thinking about a kayak trip to Madagascar next October. Finally, I am working on returning to sub-Sahara Africa next summer to see some of the places I missed including much of Kenya, Kibale Park in Uganda where you can hang with the chimpanzees, some other parts of Tanzania – the country I loved the most, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Malawi, the Himba people in Namibia and South Africa. I am saving Botswana (and Seychelles Islands) for my next honeymoon… hope whoever she is agrees!
If asked five years ago, I would have told you that I absolutely want to do an African safari once I had time after our retirement or maybe for a twenty-fifth anniversary (or lotto winner). If asked a year ago, the honeymoon thing would have come up. All pie-in-the-sky wishes residing in the imagination and probably not getting acted on. I know a lot of you have the same plans (well, maybe not the honeymoon bit, but you know what I mean). All I can say is that if you are dreaming about your place in Africa, stop the dreaming and start the packing. It has been the adventure of my life (so far!!!) and it will be the adventure of yours. It is the ultimate proof of the only thing to fear is fear itself. I’m still processing Africa and I’m still not all the way back in America which is a little disturbing to me, but I do know the rest of my life will be greatly affected by what I learned about people and myself because of AFRICA. I’m still blinded by the intense light of Africa. I would like to believe the rest of the world will be just as magnificent, but…. STAY TUNED!
Tags: Africa, Travel
vagabondrick
Dear sir:
My sentiments exactly!