through the eyes of the gods

"We carry within us the wonders we seek without us: There is all Africa and her prodigies in us" -Sir Thomas Browne, O Altitudo!

Today I purchased the book, Through the Eyes of the Gods.  Not a day goes by without a small thought for, or more commonly, a deep longing for Africa.  I am particularly excited for this book because it shows the Africa I grew to love in 2008 during my time in Zambia. "It is Africa the mother, the healer, the compassionate, the kind, the hospitable, the patient.  Africa the generous, the spiritual, the proud, the untamed, the noble, the wild, and the immensely beautiful. It is not the Africa that always needs to take, but the Africa that has a lot to give, that still has the wisdom the rest of the planet needs" (excerpt from the introduction).

I dedicate this post to the many friends I made in Africa and for those friends here who share a similar sentiment.  While the book is a collection of ariel photographs of breathtaking landscapes and urban places of Africa, it is the opening text that has moved me most.  So with no intention of plagiarizing I feel I can only share word for word a little more of the introduction that brings me back to my year in Zambia.

"So much of Africa is still unvisited, pristine and all of it is grand and close to the creation. On takeoff the landscape opens up with grand vistas: hills and trees and savannas and fields and herds.  Below, rare people dressed in bright cloth, a giraffe looking up from a thorn shrub, an elephant drinking at a riverbank. From the perspective of the sky, even the urban villages, mostly theatres of squalor and poverty, take on a picturesque, busy beauty.  Whatever is seen from above, however tragic or sordid or undistinguished, is distilled to another quality almost with the transparency of air and is lifted high...There is something so unique in the inherent beauty of Africa, and so fragile. Something ancient and grand in the open spaces and limitless horizons that unfold untarnished by the human presence...I believe that the great scales are revolving, and that soon now it is going to be Africa's turn. It is the rest of the world that at last needs her wisdom, needs to understand and look upon the continent that encompasses all continents - Africa the beautiful. Africa the Mother." -Kuki Gallmann, Ol Ari Nyiro, Kenya