The Eco Reserve and the Beaded Angel

A couple of requests have come through for the name and contact details of the Eco Reserve I mentioned in the last posting. Here we go: www.phantomforest.com A haven for rustic luxury with all the trimmings of hospitality magnificence and gourmet dining. I recommend Phantom Forest unreservedly.

Breakfast with Vervet Monkeys
On my last morning at the forest (for it is literally a natural forest into which delightful, green accommodation is nestled), I had an experience that scared the life out of me but at the same time reminded me of the sense of humour of The God that we serve.

I had savoured the whole experience of Knysna and although I am not really a breakfast person, and had eaten the seven-course gourment dinner the previous evening, I thought to eat breakfast on that last morning at Phantom. Food is served at Phantom Forest at the thatched Boma Hut. But I wanted to eat in the open area outside of the Boma Hut so that I could really take pleasure in the forest that morning. I wanted to hear the symphony of birdsong and see the fish eagle.

The waitress obliged and set up my breakfast table on the terrace of the Hut.

I drank fresh fruit juice, ate fresh home-made muesli mixed with natural bio yoghurt, and was just about to take a bite of my wholemeal, freshly baked muffin with a sip of fresh ground coffee when, as I looked up to put the coffee cup to my mouth, I saw a cream coloured monkey sat on the table top close by next to me. Bewildered, I sat up, looked around me to plan an immediate and quick escape, and then saw two other monkeys nearby. I yelled an almighty ‘help!” All the animal and wildlife in that forest must have thought it was Judgement Day.

As I ran back towards the Boma hut, a kind, kind, kind hotel guest came running out of the Hut to meet me, as did the waitress and another waiter. The hotel guest ran to me, hugged me, led me into the Boma Hut and reassured me that the animals are harmless. They don’t attack humans she reassured me and said all the cheeky monkeys wanted was my breakfast. A countless visitor to the Phantom Forest, she loved to come back again and again to enjoy the reserve and its unforgettable hospitality.

Vervet monkeys, I am told. They love to steal food. They are also apparently frightened predominantly by men, as I a sat alone, a female in their forest eating a gourmet breakfast, I really would not stand a chance of not sharing my breakfast. Then I remembered the notices around the Tree Suites asking residents not to leave food in the balcony area so as not to tempt the monkeys to descend down. I get it...

As we looked outside from the Boma Hut we saw one of the monkeys with my white muesli and yoghurt bowl in his hand, scooping out its content with his other hand. We saw another one moneky with my muffins! They were telling me, 'Thank you!"

My Beaded Angel
As I sat down and recuperated inside the Boma Hut to continue my breakfast, I engaged the other hotel guest in the restaurant in conversation. Retired but still looking strong, healthy and fit, she said she is a constant in-country traveller and writer. She shared her travel experiences with me and as she departed the restaurent to check-out to her next travel destination, the Eastern Cape, she handed me a gift of a beaded angel: “Now, you had quite a scare this morning,’’ she said. “Here is a little gift for you to remind you of your experience this morning and to know that angels are with you wherever you go.” I have carried that beaded angel with me everywhere I have gone since that day.

Reflections
As I reflected on what had happened that morning as we drove the six hour journey back to Cape Town, I marvelled at the divine lesson in it all. There I was, I had spent a memorable few days at this wonderful eco reserve and although I had heard the birdsong throughout, I hadn't however seen any of the animals. Not that I minded, mind you, for I am not really an animal lover. Sound strange? Well, the pull of the Phantom Forest to me as a search through the coffee-table book ‘South Africa Chic: hotel, lodges and spas’ a few months back was so strong that I did not care that I would be sharing my luxury environment with animals. I knew I would have a wonderful experience nonetheless.

To my mind this finale at Phantom was God reassuring me – reassuring me that in life you need to savour all of your experiences – the good, the bad and the ugly – for these are all learning milestones. I was also reassured that when experiencing the bad and the ugly, the same angels that engineered the good in your life with God would protect you from, or see you through, the ugly experiences.

Viva Phantom Forest!

Balance

Berated by friends world over for the general strike on my blog postings, it’s time to apologise for the absence of postings in 2010 and get back to work. It time to say welcome to 2011, and to say welcome to balance. Balance, the inspiration that stimulates me to write. For when I reflect on the year 2010 I remember relocation, and the concomitant busy-ness and exhilaration that comes together with it. Plenty of fun, plenty of activity but I am not certain that there was enough balance close at hand.

But I thank God that I am finding that balance that I so need to awaken my inspirations once again. Before I turned 40 last autumn, I could not even spell the word balance. We are often told that 40 represents a significant milestone, and as I approached my own significant milestone I began my stock take. Good God, what an exercise in self- abuse and maltreatment.

Like most people who ventured into such reflection, I couldn’t find enough evidence of significant accomplishment. Or rather I chose not to see the evidence of my many triumphs over the past four decades. So whilst I should have been thanking God, my parents, my siblings and dear friends world over for their tremendous love and kindness shared over the years, I rather selfishly looked inwards - and as I did that I found that there was much more that I had hoped to accomplish, could have accomplished and much more that I needed to crack on to accomplish in the coming years. But it was that focus on the imbalance that kept me off-balance, and threatened to keep me fearful.

It was during that season that I was invited to be a panellist at a women’s conference. I thanked the organisers for inviting and told them how I would have loved to be a part of the forum, but for my imbalance. I explained away my excuses by saying that only a whole person could give back and at the juncture that I found myself, I didn’t feel whole and therefore could not convey the inspiration that participants to the conference would surely be expecting from me. The conference organisers promptly found other more willing panellists.

A Sense of Urgency
But the God Who is able to keep us from falling ensured that I knew balance once again. 40 to me brought a sense of urgency; an urgency to do those things that you’ve always wanted to do, to be that person you’ve always wanted to become, to appreciate those relationships with friends and family, and an urgency to be less rigid and less judgemental in my approach and take on issues of life.

The day itself was spent in the company of very dear friends in appreciation of their love and kindness over the years, and the celebration of a few days after that was an intimate dinner party by the poolside with a dozen carefully chosen friends in Ghana and Nigeria. It was love and gratitude in motion. A day after the celebration I flew out to Dubai en route to South Africa. No, no shopping trip for me. I wanted to spend time with an old friend who I had not seen for at too many years and whose husband and children I had not yet met. It was to be a moment of cherishing and appreciating a childhood friendship. And what a time it was.

Then came South Africa. I arrived in Joburg and although my host offered to pick me up at the airport I declined on the offer because I wanted to take the Guatrain. How I revelled at the Gautrain! Africa is coming of age. Within a few minutes I was in Sandton. My dearest friend and life coach Thandie met me at the train station and within an hour of my arrival her friends had arrived at her home with flowers and champagne to welcome me. A few hours after that we were at dinner. Six 30 and 40 somethings sharing experiences, thanking God for our journey thus far and inspiring one another for the next milestone. If ever I had forgotten that I was blessed, I remembered again there and then.

The Wonderful Western Cape

A few days after that we flew to Cape Town. I had travelled to South Africa countless times but I had never experienced South Africa until this trip. I wanted to see Table Mountain, to experience the wine farms of the Western Cape, enjoy the extravagance of a luxury eco-reserve hotel, see the Cape of Good Hope and enjoy the best of Western Cape’s seafood and wine. Church and fellowship South Africa style was also part of the equation.

If ever God spoke to me loud and clear during 2010 it was during those days (and that long drive from Cape Town to Knysna and back to Cape Town) spent in South Africa. What did He say? Many things. But the long and short of it was to reassure me of His love and care, and to remind me that all those hard and fast rules religious rules I had harboured and imposed on myself, were nothing to do with Him.

I like the way Eugene Peterson put it in his introduction to the book of Hebrews in The Message translation of the Holy Scriptures. Mr Peterson says this: ‘it seems odd to have to say so, but too much religion is a bad thing. We can’t get too much of God, can’t get too much faith and obedience can’t get too much love and worship. But religion – the well intentioned efforts we make to ‘get it all together’ for God – can very well get in the way of what God is doing for us..... we become fussily religious, or anxiously religious. We get in the way’. Back to my balance then.

Balance. Finding your equilibrium. Consistently nurturing your inspirations. Consistently improving your character. Responding to your equilibrium. Meditation. Prayer. Sharing. Avoiding the temptations of busy-ness to ‘get it all together’ whilst ignoring those experiences and relationships that really matter.