August issue Ed’s letter: Your number’s up

Posted on 6 August 2021

Celebrate the coming of spring, no matter your age

Early one morning in June, my wife, Sarah, and I woke to a strange sound. Crack! Crack! Crack! As we stumbled out of bed, the room was briefly lit by flashes from the window. Peering out I realised the electric fence was arcing on a giant number two. That’s not a toilet euphemism, you understand; a metallic-looking party balloon in the shape of a ‘2’ was tangled in our tree and was bouncing against the wire. It wasn’t only our sleep that was disturbed… there was a miserable child somewhere lamenting the loss of their inflated second year. Pop!

A couple of days later we were on the Franschhoek Pass photographing the valley and mountains for a magazine feature. Sarah looked up and exclaimed: ‘Verreaux’s eagle!’ Sure enough, a black wraith rode a thermal above, coursing along the rock face. The eagle was close enough to see its bright yellow beak, and as we marvelled at the sight, another figure appeared in the sky not far behind: a golden number six, riding the same current. The party balloon had a string of smaller balloons trailing it. We watched helplessly as it cruised up the cliffside and disappeared over the summit, perhaps destined to snag in an eagle’s nest on a remote crag, or in the ocean, tangled around the neck of a seabird.

Driving down the pass we pulled over again to train our binoculars on another dot in the sky. Hoping to spot the Verreaux’s eagle’s mate; instead we found the balloon’s mate – a golden number three.

There were clearly a lot of birthdays being celebrated in June. We counted back and realised the birthday boys and girls would have been conceived in spring. Like the blossoming of flowers and the sprouting of new leaves, the warmth of spring is also known to fan the flames of love. That glorious season isn’t far away now and we hope you’ll enjoy some of the ways we like to celebrate it in the magazine: exploring the colourful blooms of the Cape, diving the warm waters of the KwaZulu-Natal coast, rafting the Orange River and adventuring in northern Namibia, when the nights aren’t too cold and the days aren’t yet sweltering.

We salute the season online with the opening of Postberg in West Coast National Park, arguably the best place to view the spring flowers, welcome the first whale count of 2021, celebrate Woman’s Day with seven great value getaways for women, and bring you our pick of Romantic Breaks all around our beautiful land.

Whatever your fancy, we hope you enjoy the season by getting outside and soaking up the wonder of the wilderness. And like our Namibia magazine feature writer did, be sure to take your little ones along to experience it. You might inspire in them a love for the environment that’s truly grounded, and not loosely tethered to the earth.

 






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