A few days ago I decided to empty a round wooden container to temporarily use as a display for a few ladder stitch bracelets. The container held little treasures collected over many years from our safaris in Africa: hand-written notes from some of the lodges we stayed at, a porcupine needle, feathers from guinea fowl and other birds, dried wild sage and other leaves.
While reading the notes and touching the items, I was instantly transported to my favorite place on earth - Southern Africa. The Mombo lodge left us a good night message in the form of a poem "The Call of Africa" written by C. Emily-Dibb. She beautifully summarizes my sentiments about this region of the Mother Continent.
While reading the notes and touching the items, I was instantly transported to my favorite place on earth - Southern Africa. The Mombo lodge left us a good night message in the form of a poem "The Call of Africa" written by C. Emily-Dibb. She beautifully summarizes my sentiments about this region of the Mother Continent.
The Call of Africa
When you’ve acquired a taste for dust,
The scent of our first rain,
You’re hooked for life on Africa
And you’ll not be right again
Till you can watch the setting moon
And hear the jackals bark
And know that they’re around you
Waiting in the dark.
When you long to see the elephants,
Or to hear the coucal’s song,
When the moonrise sets your blood on fire,
You’ve been away too long.
It’s time to cut the traces loose
And let your heart go free
Beyond that far horizon,
Where your spirit yearns to be.
Africa is waiting… come!
Since you’ve touched the open sky
And learned to love the rustling grass,
The wild fish eagle’s cry,
You’ll always hunger for the bush,
For the lion’s rasping roar,
To camp at last beneath the stars
And to be at peace once more.
When you’ve acquired a taste for dust,
The scent of our first rain,
You’re hooked for life on Africa
And you’ll not be right again
Till you can watch the setting moon
And hear the jackals bark
And know that they’re around you
Waiting in the dark.
When you long to see the elephants,
Or to hear the coucal’s song,
When the moonrise sets your blood on fire,
You’ve been away too long.
It’s time to cut the traces loose
And let your heart go free
Beyond that far horizon,
Where your spirit yearns to be.
Africa is waiting… come!
Since you’ve touched the open sky
And learned to love the rustling grass,
The wild fish eagle’s cry,
You’ll always hunger for the bush,
For the lion’s rasping roar,
To camp at last beneath the stars
And to be at peace once more.
Travels in Southern Africa inspired me to write several travel feature articles published in the Santa Barbara News-Press newspaper and Travel Africa magazine, yet my love for writing was surpassed by my passion for creating jewelry. I grew up in a family with the tradition of jewelry. Collecting pieces became a mini hobby of mine long before learning to string, knot, crimp, wire-wrap, and metalsmith.
While emptying the wooden container, to my surprise, a red silk jewelry pouch was amongst the African mementos. I opened it to discover jewelry that I had assumed were long lost: Byzantine replicas of gold earrings and matching gold pendant (purchased during a weekend in Santorini and that originally came on a black silk cord, which I replaced with a chain that had belonged to my mother) and an H. Stern 34" necklace (purchased in Tel Aviv and which can be worn long or looped around the neck like a lariat and which also matches larger feather earrings my husband gifted me last year in Iguazu Falls) and matching earrings (purchased in New York, and I love their asymmetry).
While emptying the wooden container, to my surprise, a red silk jewelry pouch was amongst the African mementos. I opened it to discover jewelry that I had assumed were long lost: Byzantine replicas of gold earrings and matching gold pendant (purchased during a weekend in Santorini and that originally came on a black silk cord, which I replaced with a chain that had belonged to my mother) and an H. Stern 34" necklace (purchased in Tel Aviv and which can be worn long or looped around the neck like a lariat and which also matches larger feather earrings my husband gifted me last year in Iguazu Falls) and matching earrings (purchased in New York, and I love their asymmetry).
At the time these pieces went missing in California, they had been my favorite to wear. How they ended up in the wooden container, I have no idea. However the container was home to a treasure trove only to be discovered while living in Brazil. What a trip to travel back in time and across space to where each was acquired...Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America, while sitting here at home in Latin America!!