Simonsberg from Kirstenbosch

From the high ground up the slope, reached along the upper Kirstenbosch walkways and lawns, the panorama to the east is breath-taking. That is if the sensation is not caused by the walk itself.

Over the colours of the foreground greenery there is the vast human impact on the flats to the blue of the mountain range in the east where Simonsberg stands tall in the centre.

Remarking on the attraction of the soft morning mist over the lowland doesn’t work so well here, given its colour in the photo. Smoke and other putrid, manmade additions reduce the whiteness that renders early morning valley views captivating and memorable.

The coughing reflex may enter from nowhere in solidarity with suffering millions who live down there, seeing a blue sky when they look up but knowing that the air isn’t as it should be.