Circles in the Forest - Kringe in 'n Bos
We've visited a number of natural areas, markets, restaurants and coffee shops, but none of these places were quite as profoundly haunting as this one - the Dalene Matthee Memorial Site.
Her memorial is next to an 800+ year old Podocarpus tree (Outenique Yellowwood) which is visible behind Lory in the photo above.
Dalene Matthee was a South African writer. She didn't write many books but two of her books brought her to fame - Fiela's se Kind (Fiela's child) and Kringe in 'n bos (circles in a forest). She became renowned mostly locally, however her books have since been translated into 14 different languages.
It's kind of strange how syncronicities happen in life. Kringe in 'n bos was an Afrikaan setwork book of mine in school. I was horrific at Afrikaans and resented having to read the book and answer questions on it and so on, mostly because my Afrikaan is was atrocious. The book is about one of the locals, the Knysna forest, the woodcutters of the area and the Knysna elephants. The two main characters of the book are Saul Barnard and Oupoot (Old foot) the elephant and the relationship that develops between them. The book is written in such a way that you loop through various circles in time between Saul's childhood growing up there and his adulthood and the challenges he faces with the various threats to the forest, the elephants and the woodcutters.
Looking back at my own childhood and having to read this setwork book, I was so resentful, arrogant and stroppy. I had no care for what Dalene was trying to convey with this book or the emotion that she must have felt while writing it, her love for the forest or the fact that later on in my life I would feel a profound kinship with her - through my history in nature conservation and appreciation of what nature does for my body, mind and soul.
While standing in front of this memorial, Lory and I were met by some other locals who also came and stood in reverence. While taking these photos I said to the one lady "What a beautiful place to sleep - I wouldn't mind being "laid to rest" in a forest like this" ... to which the lady agreed and almost started crying.
Dalene was a phenomenal individual who had a very strong bond to the Knysna forest as well as conservation as a whole. In 1986 and 2004 she received the award for exceptional dedication to the forestry industry in South Africa.
This seems to be my circling back round in the forest. I've decided that I need to read this book again, this time I'll not only understand it better, but I'm not that same stroppy, arrogant teenager anymore...I'm going to read it as a very different person now.
All photos are my own unless otherwise stated.
This was manually added to PinMapple here
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