Tag: South Africa

Drakensberg | Tryptich #NaPoWriMo

Africa, Kim Koning, Poetry

Dawn
Embed from Getty Images
Lost in the mists of time
The dragon lies sleeping,
His hot breath forms clouds
Holding the fierceness that is his beauty.
Dawn dances over his scales
As his muscles ripple in harmony,
Her soft light touches each horn
And his heavy tail slides into sight.
The walls of air fade into sky
While dawn blushes in joy,
Her lips curve into a smile
Anticipating his wakefulness.
As dawn’s sweet singing
Fills the dragon’s lair,
His eye opens to gaze on her
With a passion aflame with fire.
Afternoon
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I feel dreams cascading down the waterfall of my memory.
I feel the power of life terrible in its fragility.
I look inside myself and feel the whisper of sadness raining beneath tears
of joy.
I close my eyes and I am covered in sound.
I remember the strength of Africa –
An aged land that holds the key to the mysteries of life and death,
Love and hate, joy and fear, quiet and chaos.
I shut my eyes and see the brilliant white light caught in the forked
lightning
As the air crashes around me with the thunder of her power.
I hear the echoes of silence caught between the whispers of God’s heartbeats
Then Africa rains, freely and unashamedly she mourns the death of another day.
Night
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I do not have a name for this feeling,
This deep wide open space within me.
My eyes search for blood saturated sunsets,
My mouth yearns for the raw taste of dust.
My ears listen for the screech of crickets,
They hear the rustle of grasses.
My skin aches to feel the gentle heat of its sun,
I see endless plains behind the veil of closed eyes.
I dream of the acridly fresh smell of a summer storm,
My spine shivers as the sky turns dark green.
I watch forks of electricity shock the noon sky,
And the ancient dragon cocoons into a blue chameleon.
An eggplant curtain is torn open as showers of hard stones bruise the earth,
Steam rises as the hard ground melts before baking.
I fall asleep to an orchestra of sound and chaos,
Crickets screeching, frogs bellowing, snakes hissing.
I hold my hand in front of my face and all I see is a vacuum of shadow,
The eye cannot measure the boundaries of this night shadow.
Only the fireballs of space draw its shadow in pieces of light,
These ancient guards of the night know the depths of Africa’s soul:
As I know the untameable wildness within my African heart…bani gama lako? *

© All Rights Reserved Kim Koning.


The Drakensberg (‘the Dragon Mountains’) is the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, rising to 3, 482 meters (11, 424 ft) in height and is site to the World’s second highest waterfall, the Tugela Falls.

Drakensberg translates to Dragon Mountains or as the Zulu nation calls it Ukhahlamba “Barrier of Up-Pointed Spears”. Both of these names are appropriate. To me, these mountains always resembled a sleeping dragon.

 I grew up in the lush verdant green lands of KwaZulu-Natal, embraced by the warm, maternal currents of the Indian Ocean on the east and fiercely guarded by the mighty Dragon, the Drakensberg Mountain Range, on the west. To this day, I believe that this mighty mountain range is the most hauntingly beautiful place in the world. When I think of “home”, these peaks and valleys of “The Dragon Mountains” will always be the home of my heart no matter where I am in the world. They are my “True North”. This “Dragon” / “Barrier of Up-Pointed Speare” is my place of peace.

* “bani gama lako?” (Zulu) translates “Who are you / What is your name?” *

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“Stretching majestically for 245km, the Drakensberg mountain range forms a natural barrier between the western reaches of KwaZulu-Natal (South African Province) and the Kingdom of Lesotho. This is a mountain range of spectacular natural beauty where golden sandstone and soaring basalt buttresses rise above pristine steep-sided river valleys, rocky gorges and high rolling grasslands. With an elevation of over 3 000m, these magnificent mountains offer exceptional conditions for walking and hiking. In the summertime, clear morning skies puff up with towering cumuli-nimbus clouds in preparation for the daily afternoon thundershower. In winter the days are warm and dry. But a balmy 20°C afternoon will plummet with nightfall to below zero, and snow regularly illuminates the peaks.

The Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park offers a natural haven of incredible variety. High up in the Berg the weary walker is rewarded by the hardy and fragile mountain flora common to high altitude climes. On the slopes of the Little Berg the vegetation is called Montane. A variety of different types of grass proliferate, whilst in the secluded valleys, unique plants and trees flourish, especially proteas, cycads, tree ferns, cabbage trees and the giant yellowwood. Common flowers include lilies, lion’s tail, agapanthus, watsonia, helicrysum, erica and the distinctive scarlet spears of the red hot poker.

In its remoteness and height, the Berg offers a magical window open to the fascination of the skies. The sun blazes as an oasis of light, warmth and life. The eager star-gazer is rewarded by a Milky Way that arcs across the night skies in a marvelous mass of stars. The various planets shine forth brightly, unimpaired by buildings or the interference of city lights. The well-known celestial constellations, Orion and Scorpio, are clearly visible and the Southern Cross marks the way with its two pointers. A rising moon in the East, large and glowing, and the setting sun over the Drakensberg peaks, is a wondrous daily experience.” … Excerpted courtesy of DrakensburgMountains

Incredible 360degree panorama of The Drakensberg Mountain Range 
courtesy of photographer/traveller: Dmitri Moiseenko

The Drakensberg – Dragon Mountains, South Africa • 360° Aerial Panorama

The Drakensberg - Dragon Mountains, South Africa - AirPano.com • 360° Aerial Panorama • 3D Virtual Tours Around the World

Stories: Passports without borders

Ink Slaying, Inspiration, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Research, Travel&Adventure, WIP, Writing

Stories are passports without borders. Stories are passports without visas. Stories are passports to adventure. Stories are passports into the exotic and the extraordinary. Stories are portal doors into worlds unknown. Stories are magic carpets.

One of the first reasons that made me fall in love with stories is the ability to travel to exotic places, experience exotic cultures all without leaving my chair. I love traveling and often call myself a Gypsy at heart. New places usually mean new people to meet and new adventures to experience. In an unknown place the average and ordinary can suddenly become extraordinary. Having a coffee in my local cafe is very been there, done that. But having a coffee in some little plaza in an Italian village on the Amalfi coast would immediately be extraordinary for me. In the same way, that Italian local may find having coffee in my local cafe an extraordinary event.

For this reason I have always read books that are based in foreign countries and even foreign cultures. I come from South Africa, now live in New Zealand – to me neither of these two places is exotic. They are what I know. They are familiar. But when I have told American friends that I come from South Africa and now live in New Zealand – they are always fascinated. They want to know if I have seen lions in the wild. When I tell them that we had a family of leopard living on one of the farms my father managed, they go: “WOW!”. They want to know all about New Zealand especially since the Lord of the Rings Trilogy that really put NZ on the map. But for me exotic places are in Europe or in Central Africa/Northern Africa or the Amazon in South America. But I doubt those same locals who live in these areas think that they live in an exotic locale.

That is the joy of reading stories and in my case going one step further and creating your own stories. I love writing about places I have not been because I find often what may be fairly ordinary to the locals there becomes extraordinary and special in my fresh eyes. One of my favourite pastimes is searching for fresh inspiration for not just story ideas but setting ideas. Pinterest (new addiction) comes in as a very useful tool in these moments. I also love reading/studying/researching the history of each setting and often finds it seeds an idea in my imagination that I let lie and germinate to see what it could potentially blossom into. Nowadays with the ease of the internet and software like Google Earth/Google Maps your research into a place can become acutely accurate down to the street names and the name of that cafe on the corner in that Italian village on the Italian Amalfi Coast.

But at the end of the day the best research you can do when checking out a setting in an exotic locale (if traveling there is absolutely ruled out) is to talk to the locals on the internet. In this day and age there is an internet group for just about everything and there are blogs for just about every type of subject. So I trawl the blogosphere and see if there are any local-specialised blogs devoted to the locale I want to set my story in. Setting is so much more than just a geographic location or street names. Setting is also about the quirks that make that place unique. Is there a particular smell? Smell is a big one. For instance when I smell oranges and lemons I immediately think of Athens, Greece. One of the strongest memories of my time spent there 12 years ago was the tree-lined streets with trees heavy with oranges and lemons. So the smell of oranges and lemons now sums up Athens for me. Location bloggers will give away a lot of these type of tidbits in their blog posts. And most people are always flattered when you tell them you want to learn more about their home because you find it fascinating.

So while I have begun writing on my next project I have been trawling the internet for setting ideas. So I will leave you with some images from my Pinterest board. Some of them are definite settings in my story and some of just teasing seeds of inspiration right now…Mum’s the word (for now) on which settings I am actually going to be using in both the current WIP and upcoming ones. Perhaps you can guess which settings I have chosen.

Perhaps you have been to these places or live there. I would love to know at least 2 quirks that I could not find out from the internet that is unique to each place. Leave me a comment in the comments.

Tell me>> What exotic places would you like a story to be set in? What places grab your imagination?

Source: weburbanist.com via Kim on Pinterest (Abandoned mountain town in Sardinia, Italy)

Source: worldtopjourneys.com via Kim on Pinterest (Manarolo, Cinque Terre, Italy)

Source: toptenz.net via Kim on Pinterest (The City of the Caesars, Patagonia, South America)

Source: underthesunexperience.blogspot.co.nz via Kim on Pinterest (Carcassonne, Languedoc Roussillon, France)

Source: earmchairtraveler.blogspot.com via Kim on Pinterest (Meteora, Greece)

Source: accommodation-bol.com via Kim on Pinterest (Dubrovnik, Croatia)

Source: une-deuxsenses.blogspot.com via Kim on Pinterest (Swallow’s Nest, Crimea)

Source: toptenz.net via Kim on Pinterest (Angkor-Wat, Cambodia)

Source: weburbanist.com via Kim on Pinterest (Gunkanjima, Japan – “Ghost Island”)

Source: roman-empire.net via Kim on Pinterest (Herculaneum, Italy)

All imaged embedded via My Pinterest boards – Feel free to follow me there…

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Dancing in the rain and laughing with joy….

Blogging, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse
Dancing in the rain
Image by 6U5 via Flickr

The 15th of October is Blog Action Day. This year’s Blog Action is all about WATER.

Water is the one universal element that all forms of life on earth need. Whether you are a Human Being, an animal, a bird, a fish, a reptile, plant or soil; Water is the one element that nothing can survive without. Water is the one element that unites all creatures.

I have lived in two countries. My birth country is South Africa and my current country is New Zealand. Although these countries have elements that bond them in similarity, the greatest difference between these two countries is Water. South Africa is a land that can go from flooding to drought at a rapid rate. Although as a country of Africa, South Africa is elemently well off when it comes to water. Many countries in Africa have very little water and if they do have water the water is unsanitary. This has been one of the reasons that Africa has always struggled in its survival. But this is also the reason that water is so precious to the people of Africa.

In New Zealand, on the other hand, water is plentiful. Water is also exceptionally clean, pure and sanitary in this green land. Often times it is easier to take the presence of clean water for granted when you live in a country like New Zealand. There are even times when one gets tired of “another rainy day”. I am always deeply aware when people complain about too much rain that some places, indeed many places, in this world never have “enough” rain let alone “too much” rain.

Water is a life-giving force that powers this planet. But Water can also be destructive. One only need look back at the past decade to see the destructive forces of Water.

Water also has a spiritual element in many cultures across the globe. Water is depicted as a cleansing element both physically and spiritually.

For myself, water has always been precious. I find inspiration through water: being by the sea, watching a waterfall, listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof, watching the magnificence of a rain thunder-storm. Water fuels creativity and philosophy. It brings out a soulful element.

I traveled to Dubai last year and was struck by how precious water really is. I was relieved to be travelling to a country where there would not be a constant downpour of rain. I thought I needed some sunshine and dry weather. On my third day there, there was a thunderstorm. Coming from New Zealand, this did not seem unusual for me. But that day I was struck by the attitude of gratitude and wonder from the people all around me. Children were dancing in the streets with their heads lifted up to the sky in adoration and adulation. People were laughing and happy. It seemed that all of the city of Dubai ran out to sing and dance in the rain. It brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. The joy all around me was infectious. The rain lasted for three days. There were even some parts of the UAE which experienced flooding. But the people were happy. In a place of desert sands of 7 different colours, there was a joyous gratitude for this rare sustenance falling from the heavens. In that place, I realised more than ever, what a blessing water and rain truly is. It was a sobering moment for me. I will never forget the dancing people of all ages just being happy to be able to dance in the rain.

So next time it rains…take a moment to truly cherish it. Toss aside your umbrella and your rain coat. Go outside and dance in the rain. There is nothing more liberating than dancing in the rain. The next time you pour yourself a glass of water, take a moment before you drink it. Give thanks that you live in a place that takes it for granted that if you are thirsty, or you want to cook, or you want to clean; it is as easy to make this happen as turning on a tap. Take a moment to remember that there are many more places in the world where people have to walk for many miles to get to water. Even then that water may be unsanitary. The next time it rains, stop before you complain about “another” rainy day and remember that in some places a rainy day only happens once a year.

Cherish water. Give thanks for rain. Be grateful if you are within walking distance of a beach, a river, a lake or a dam.

Let us all take a moment to dance in the rain and laugh with joy. Rain is a blessing. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t complain. Just think, you could be living in a place where rain is so rare that it is cause for celebration and wonder.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…

it’s learning to dance in the rain.”

© All rights reserved Kim Koning

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