Every night when I drive home from a long day full of safari excitement the night enfolds me – an ebony blanket speckled with thousands of dazzling stars. The beauty of the African night sky is beyond description, it is something that you have to see at least once in your life. And each night I realize how truly blessed we are to call this home and to enjoy what most of our guests would call a “once in a lifetime African safari” experience.
Standing on the deck at night I can see countless constellations mapping out the colossal canvas of darkness.
There is the ever present Southern Cross – reliable and steady, always on duty to guide any and all lost souls who might require its assistance.
At the moment we can evidently see Orion – The Hunter. But in the tardy hours of the night he lays his giant head down to rest in the West and Scorpio – The Scorpion rises from the East, indicating that our summer is almost over. There is also a bit of a myth surrounding these two giants. I have done some research and discovered that there are many versions of the story, but it seems it all comes down to Orion who was a boastful mortal whom had many a time succeeded to become rather unpopular amongst his peers. Therefore Scorpio was sent to slay Orion. Some seem to think that Scorpio had been victorious in his task and that Zeus had taken pity on Orion and immortalized him in the stars. Others seem to think that Scorpio had never gotten the opportunity and is still on Orion’s trail. Thus you will never see Orion and Scorpio in the same sky. The hunt will continue evermore…
Then there is the astounding Milky Way. I had thought long and hard and searched far and wide for the right words to describe the Milky Way.
I see the Milky Way as an African Dream.
When we have a dream it is often hard to accomplish the goals that we have set for ourselves. We start off with a blank canvas, A Jet-black mantle. – Where we map out our goals. Then slowly appears a flickering of light, a flickering of hope. Gradually more and more minute glistening little sparkles appear on the canvas, and we gain more and more confidence in our task. Our dream starts to become a reality.
Just like the Milky Way each night – it starts off blank and ends with an extravagant array of illumination.
The stars in the night are untold myths. They are our African Dreams – waiting to become realities.
“Cos in my African Dream, there’s a new tomorrow, My African dream, is a dream that we can follow…” Vicky Sampson.
Justine Ferreira