"Usho"

Recently I had the pleasure of bumping into this Old Gentleman - as i walked toward him  to get closer  a great sadness descended upon me - a realisation that this is an experience that few will ever have . These Old men are few and  far between now , he and others like him are symbols of what we had once and have now lost -destroyed by our weakness for what we call wealth  .
These great Monarchs have been the subject of legends , stories of their existence having passed from generation to generation -titillating the imaginations of those who have paused to listen .
Perhaps its our ego that pushes us to conquer and dominate - or perhaps its our need to never be still that drives us to complicate everything we do .
Intelligence - the word we use as a crutch to comfort ourselves , and make  excuses for our seemingly inability to gain perspective - a word we use to belittle other species , and allow us to lay claim to that throne our ego drives us to
They say that wisdom comes with age ?
I believe that wisdom comes with silence !

Will Maberly 2014

The Ngweshla Sentinel 

Energy

Buffalo bull , Zambezi Valley  2013

As they say sometimes pictures portray a 1000 words , this picture displays power to me , the amazing strength and power of animal comes out of the picture and effects me . Perhaps its because I know these animals well and their capabilities ,what ever it is there is no mistaking the awesome strength  here.

As i watched this Dagga boy , I felt no hostility toward me - despite the fact that we  were close , perhaps he sensed the same in me .

 There is an enormous tranquility and quietness that comes from the wild , slipping over our shoulders like some favourite blanket or garment , we get a sense of warmth and peace from the wild  that makes us feel we are home .

Will Maberly 2013 

Perspective

Recently , we witnessed a scene that has played on my emotions ever since , I have spent much time since then thinking about it , and the deeper lessons from witnessing this

We came across a mature Elephant cow , whose baby of probably 3 months or so had died . This happens a lot , and I have often seen these young calves that have passed away , but I have never really witnessed the grief of their Mothers

Her whole demeanour was one of sadness and anger – in fact almost rage that her child had died ,she was standing there for some hours protecting the body of this young animal from predators and Vultures , repeatedly leaving , and then charging back to chase the birds off  

I witnessed the moment she left for the last time – to wander off  and perhaps link back up with her long gone family group , there was a moment , as she stood over the calf , before she left for the last time where it seemed that her body went limp and she hung her head , trunk on the ground , next to her calf-Perhaps it was the moment she made up her mind to go on in life , then she stood proud and aggressively looked at the waiting scavengers , and me and then left .

It was at this stage that I felt ashamed that I had disturbed her ,it was so real to me – the play out of emotions , her anger and fear ,and yet her almost stoic acceptance of the duality that is life and death .

I could feel her sadness as she trekked off , not looking back any more , perhaps she was teaching me a lesson , perhaps I was witnessing this for a reason – and I sat for some hours working through what I had seen and what I should learn from it .In fact when she walk passed me she was quite aggressive , making a point I guess !-  perhaps for me its time to move on from some things in my life – stuff holding me back from what I am destined to do .

I  believe that its all here for us – we just have to open our minds to it and have strength in our convictions – its like we have to let it in . I personally find it very hard to let it in with the day to day lives that we lead , its hard to get perspective – we are jammed up with things that have no real value – Its only when I sit with the earth that can I get perspective, only when we walk where the animals walk  do we really see !