Living Easy, Living Wild

For the long Easter weekend I went to Botswana on holiday. This is an account of one of the most real, relaxed, lively, and grounding experiences I have had.

A Botswana game reserve. Golden dusk. Imagine it.
We entered the gates and drove into the wild. Drove down the long brown/orange dirt roads, if you could call them roads. Endless trees and long dry grass surrounded us. It looked like the savanna. I felt like I was in the Lion King. There was a warthog, monkeys, and ostriches chillen in their homes of this wild place. This place was wild. There were picnic sites spread out throughout the reserve. Each filled with young people having a good time. At each site there were cars, emitting blasting beats. It awoke the still nature that surrounded. Jamming. It was the most perfect time of the day—when the sun sinks deep into the sky and the day says goodbye. The mango colored sky was vibrant against the darkening trees in the skyline. The trees were turning as black as the flesh of the crowd. The sky was still bright, and so were the outfits of the youth. The people popped out against the earth tones that surrounded in this savanna. But in a way, we blended. This was such a chill atmosphere. No worries, just enjoying the good company, food, drinks, music, dancing, and nature. I could tell people were enjoying the nature; an earthy fragrance emitted from the huddled circles of people that were spread out throughout the whole picnic site. There was something so calm and relaxed in the atmosphere as people melded into the nature, yet there was radiating life. The beats of the music were in sync with the pulse of the crowd. People were happy, excited, peaceful, and loving. Barbeques in the States, chohasca in Brasil, or braai in Southern Africa—wherever you are and whatever you call it, there is something about this brilliant combination of heat, fire, music, outdoors, abundance of food and drinks, that brings the people together, and leaves worries behind. Everything about this experience was wild, and I loved it.

I will leave you with a Marley song quote that filled my mind while I was at the game reserve,

“I like it like this, SATISFY MY SOUL”

Peace, Love, and Life,
Lily