Some rivers are feminine

Awe and exhilaration are most memorable when nature reveals its treasures to the solitary observer; occasionally also when those sharing are quiet and attentive.

Noting surroundings comes easily when nature is raging. It brings inner peace when the bush is lush and quiet, when a panorama spreads far in distant colours, or where quiet waters glisten.

The observer is challenged more in the everyday setting where nature is reduced to one tree through a window, an unseen chirping bird, or a windowsill container plant. But nature is always there, its living representatives always the real thing, even when a weed flowers from a crack in the paving.

Peak experiences arrive when the eye or ear are receptive and the mind prepared. Sometimes the essence for triggering a memory is picked up from a faint fragrance only.

The human spirit convalesces in the solitude of its favourite veld. It happens through a wordless form of communication; communion is probably a closer approximation of the little moments of magic.

For people are after all part of nature. Before tools and technology, their experience of it was as close as it is for any animal.