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GOAL ACCOMPLISHED |
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Sunday, 19 October 2008 |
 It was the 8th of October 2008 and the last day of the challenge. Running across the Mozambique border along the sand tracks to Ponta Do Ouro was an emotional time. As I ran up my last hill before heading past the market to the beach, I felt light on my feet. Natural and free. I heard the cheers of people in the market place as I ran past but it was as though I was dreaming. Running onto the beach with my countries flag flying high, my heart was flying even higher. Feeling the ocean around my legs, splashing the sea water onto my face to clear the tears, I tasted the salt and knew it was over. My run was complete.
 I had decided to stay in Ponta Do Oura for a few days. This was important for me. I wanted to be still, reflect on the past long days and float in the ocean with the dolphins.
I had stayed at Dolphin Encounters before and looked forward to experiencing the dolphin’s special gift again. The rest of the team, except John, left for home the next day. We chose to slowly drive down the coast and experience some of the places I had run through in a more peaceful way. My son, Benjamin, was with me and celebrated his 20th birthday the day I finished the run. We dived with the dolphins together and shared special moments that will be in our hearts forever.
In Durban I was privileged to meet with Dr Ian Player, the visionary and founder of the Wilderness Leadership School. Dr Player was the man who established the first protected wilderness area in Africa. He also afforded me the opportunity to attend a wilderness trail in 1974. That experience changed my life forever and provided me with the insights and obligations I have in protecting this incredible planet. The TV program, 50/50 will be featuring Dr Player and me in an episode during the next few weeks.
I thought I could come home to rest but I already have a talk booked in Durban next week, Cape Town the week after, a motor show in Johannesburg, TV programs scheduled, a children’s camp in November and a very important book to complete! I will be at my cabin in the mountains from late November with only the sounds of the river and the Night Jar’s call in the evening. It is always the simple, natural things that charge the batteries.
My sincere thanks to everyone who has supported me through this journey.
Warm regards,
Wild Child
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MY CALLING |
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Tuesday, 07 October 2008 |
 I believe that every one of us is connected. In fact, I believe everything is connected. I also believe that we are all unique, with exceptional gifts and abilities. That sounds like a contradiction – all connected yet uniquely different? What I mean by this is that we all share certain common goals. We all want to be happy. We all want to be loved and we all have the natural ability – and even desire – to love. The difference is that no two people are ever the same in terms of our abilities. Each one of us has something distinctly unique that is our individual blue print. To discover that thing – that identity – is ones true calling.
It is often sad that we have been blurred and numbed to our fullest potential because – I believe – of our alienation from nature. We have been made to believe that being out doors in nature is dangerous and that being indoors in a sterile artificial environment is safe. We have been taught that it is okay to take without giving. I call it “the great forgetting”. No matter how much money we have, no matter how popular we are or how fit and healthy we may be we all feel like something is missing from time to time. What is missing is ‘you’ completing the natural cycle of give and take. When we choose to give, without expecting something in return, we find our calling. It may not happen in a week or a month. Even a year may pass but eventually an identity emerges that feels so complete and real. This is ‘you’. This is when we begin to understand our true potential.
 I knew the world was in trouble long before television was available in South Africa. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew. I also knew I was different. Now, at a young age that is not cool. I wanted to be the same. To fit in. To be accepted. That is also natural. But as I grew older I saw ‘difference’ as an asset rather than a liability. I discovered great power there. This power was never destructive but rather a warm and deep understanding that I was never alone but rather more connected than most people. Connected to nature, to what was real, to my maker.
My calling is simple. I am a warrior and a protector of this beautiful earth – my home. What I am doing with my life is showing, by example, that we are obligated to protecting our natural environment – and that it starts by accepting that we each have something unique in ourselves that needs acknowledgement. When we act on this knowledge we begin to understand that we are limitless beings, that dreams can become real. That nothing is impossible.
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As I run along the shore line of Lake Sibayi I look out at the hippos. Then, after the days running, I put on my dive mask and see the stunning tropical fish in the crystal clear warm ocean. Then to sleep with the heaving sigh of the small waves rolling up and down the beach.
I complete this journey on Wednesday the 8th in Mozambique. It has not been easy yet I feel strong both physically and mentally. My heart is full of joy and exhilaration at the changes I have made in the lives of others as well as in my own life. I feel so privileged to be alive, to be able to feel and be able to grow and evolve through this experience.
Warm wishes,
Wild Child
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DETERMINATION |
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
 With less than 10 days and around 300kms of running left, I sometimes feel as though it’s all a dream. I have run over 3000kms yet every day is still a hard 45kms, both mentally and physically. With only a few toe nails left and new blisters after the Transkei river crossings I still tackle the goal only one day at a time. Pain is real now and it isn’t an easy thing to keep moving when my feet hurt with every step. But I do. I know that if I stop the physical pain will also stop but a different pain will replace it. That pain will be the knowledge that I never reached my dream. And that will hurt way more and for a lot longer. Reaching my dream means many more children benefit. Not only the kids who receive new faces, but also the many children I will inspire to reach their dreams after I return home. So tomorrow I will get up and make a difference.
Thank you so much for all your wishes and support. It helps me feel not so alone.
Warm wishes,
Wild Child
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MY GIFT |
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Tuesday, 23 September 2008 |
 I woke at 6am to a dark, grey sky and a light, monotonous rain. It was my 51st birthday and I wasn’t looking forward to the wet, slippery mud on the hills that lay ahead.
As I headed off towards a bleak horizon, my shoes were already wet through. I had cut holes in the sides of both of them to relieve the pressure on my nail-less small toes. On the map, the day looked shorter than usual – only about 30kms to the extraction point where John would find us. Little did I know.
We moved slightly inland, following tracks which linked the kraals scattered on the Transkei hills. The going was undulating but runnable. Then it all went pear-shaped. The hill stopped abruptly and I found myself looking straight down into a deep gorge that appeared unsurpassable. We were at least 4kms inland and decided to find a way down. I went ahead, using my trekking poles as breaks on the extremely steep terrain. I moved about 100m into the gorge in 20 minutes. I guided David down to a ledge then traversed inland looking for a gap down the cliff. Then the heavens opened. Powerful rain and strong wind reduced visibility to perhaps 10meters. The water flowed down the black clay between the slippery rocks making movement almost impossible. We had to get out. Going back up was the only way.
 I stabbed my trekking pole into the mud, placed my foot on it and then my entire body weight. Then the next leg, one step at a time, checking the pole was solid, I walked up my make-shift ladder into the pelting rain. David followed equally slowly. Then I slipped. I fell between two sections of cliff and thought it was game-over. Fortunately, my pole hooked a gully and broke my fall. I just lay in the mud, facing downhill and said ‘thank you, thank you’ over and over. It took over two hours to go a 100m up an 80 degree cliff.
We walked in total silence for a long time. The rain calmed to its old repetitive drizzle. A swallow kept flying in front of me. It was no more than knee height and less than 10m in front of me. It’s back shone deep blue as it streaked past. This went on for at least a kilometer. I suddenly realized what was happening. I was moving through long grasses and must have been disturbing small insects as I moved. The swallow was taking advantage and feeding on the wing. What a show. Sometimes coming so close I thought it would hit me. Here was a stunning example of a symbiotic relationship. I was getting a beautiful gift watching the dance and the bird was having a feast.
My life is incredible. After nearly losing it I was blessed with the most beautiful gift. I am so grateful to be alive, to taste life so vibrantly and be a small asset to this beautiful planet.
Warm wishes,
Wild Child
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