Who gets to leave a solo-midwifery practice and go away from home for an 8-week vacation? I am that fortunate being… When my husband decided that he wanted to spend a small retirement windfall on a trip back to our motherland (for his brother’s 70th birthday and to connect with our respective family members and old friends), in some of Africa’s beautiful and pristine wilderness areas. I had my doubts… ‘Could my practice be covered for that long? Could we afford the cost of vacation and covering a business?’. ‘This is important to me…’ he responded. Visiting Botswana’s Okavango has been a life-long desire of his and an experience that I agreed could easily be added to my bucket list. The African bush and wild life is a love in my life too. I also recognized that we needed time together and that we shared a desire to connect with our roots.
Planning started about a year before we left. He focused on the details of the trip and I planned how I could take leave. This entailed long conversations with women, my office assistant and colleagues that could possibly work in my absence. Potential work agreements initially went wayward due to limitations on midwifery hospital privileges. Finally, a colleague, Andreia Situm that has her own practice in the area agreed to spend time meeting my clients, learning my electronic record and took over my practice with the help of my office assistant, Jazzmin Nagy.
We left on the 16 March 2016 and returned the 13 May, 2016. In this time, we went on 7 flights and drove over 3000 kms. While uncomfortable with our carbon footprint, we had special occasions everywhere we went and were impressed by the people and fabulous places we sojourned. In South Africa, our time in Gauteng was spent in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Meyersdale. There we visited the Rhino and Lion rehabilitation park, the Cradle of Civilization (a world renowned archeology site showing human origins and ancestry) and Kruger National Park. In Cape Town, we stayed in Claremont, Fishhoek, Greenpoint. We bicycled around Seapoint, a childhood holiday neighborhood and climbed around 100 odd stairs at Cape Point to appreciate the view and see where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. In the Western Cape, we spent time in Pringle Bay and Hermanus, where we enjoyed the beach life, picking muscles and celebrating my brother’s birthday with an extra special prawn meal. At Betty’s Bay Sanctuary close by, the African Penguins wowed us. We also travelled to Robertson and visited an over 100 year old wine farm, Fraai Uitzicht, our favourite peaceful retreat, as well as a number of larger vineyards, where we hiked and went for a lazy, romantic boat ride down the Brede River. In this area, my husband enjoyed an experience of blending, bottling and labeling his own type of wine. Besides the indigenous fynbos, part of the Cape’s heritage flora, we were amazed by giant cacti and cycads grown in Robertson.
Both in the Cape and Gauteng, a highlight of our trip was connecting and making new memories with family and old friends, including getting to know the 7 little people that were born since we last visited in 2009; 3 great nieces and 4 great nephews. Friends and family spoilt us with many wonderful home-cooked meals. I was impressed and surprised by all my brothers’ culinary skills.
Another highlight was the experience of the African bush and wildlife. Every conservation place we visited, awed us and gave us fantastic memories that we shared with family and close friends who travelled with us. Kruger Park, Swaziland, Kube Yini and Hluhiuwe in KwaZulu and Goa Concession in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. In these places, where there is minimal development 360 degrees around and everywhere a stunning panoramic view, it’s hard to tell where the green, brown earth and the blue sky meet. It is clear to see that the earth is round. From dawn to dusk, the sun mostly shines bright and the water (rivers, lakes, waterholes, puddles) reflects the vegetation and the clouds. Heat rises visibly from the earth. Time feels slower. It’s easier for the mind to be still and the heart to beat with the earth’s pulse and delight in an orchestra of bird, insect and animal sounds. At night a zillion brilliant stars, or the moon that casts a silver light dazzles one. Witnessing a storm coming, thunder crashing, lightening sparking, rain falling and then experiencing the cool and sweet fresh smell that follows the storm and then not too long after, seeing little green shoots sprout and the birds and animals delighting in puddles is soul refreshing. Especially since many areas are drought stricken. We loved discovering Africa’s flora, as much as the fauna big and small.
Our holiday would be incomplete without books. We both had an opportunity to be avid readers in the evenings, on planes, at beaches or in an afternoon siesta. In these quiet moments and when we drove distances in the car, I also had opportunity to teach myself crochet. This of course meant that my husband and family had to humor my quest to find wool and perseverance to complete making a frog and baby elephant. These I gave to my husband for his birthday that fell on the last day of my vacation. In this time of change – a long vacation and retirement, we were amused to discover that a frog is symbolic of conscious transition and transformation and an elephant strength and patience. Useful attributes as we get back to normal life and a wonderful summation and remembrance of a priceless time away.