A Run for the Sun

Did you ever have that place? You know, that one spot, where you could go and just be? where you could think, rest, write, paint, and nothing could bother you? That place where worries and anxieties float away with each passing second, and more and more you see the beauty in everything and everyone? Your own personal sanctuary…In Florence it was the boboli gardens and at santa clara it was the mission gardens, but now I have found mine here in Tanzania.

About a 25 minute run away from my house, through fields and rice paddies, forests of cocoa trees and bamboo, and the front yards of villagers, runs a path along the kiwira river which seems to stretch into the endless western wilderness of southern Tanzania. But before losing yourself in the jungles, the path emerges from the bush and canopy to reveal a series of small hills, plateaus really, that jut up above the surrounding river valley. One in particular stands above the rest, and because it vaguely resembles a similar animated structure and because I’m not all that creative, I named it pride rock.

The first time I rounded the bend in the path that allowed me to see pride rock, I was determined to reach the top of it, for it looked flat and like it would have one hell of a view. It required a couple scouting trips which led me up a smaller nearby plateau, and halfway up the side of pride rock (though I didn’t know it at the time), but I finally made it to the top of the mlima mdogo (small mountain) on the third attempt (I’ve since and what I saw astounded me.

After walking the spine of the ridge that gradually rises to meet the larger rock, across mini meadows and small brush, you arrive at the steeper more imposing face (not really a face, don’t worry!). Grabbing hold of some roots to support you, you hoist yourself up to a narrow grassy ledge (perfectly walkable mind you!) that leads to the top of pride rock. The top widens out into a table top landing, so to say, blanketed by a small grassy meadow that falls off suddenly to the right (north), left (south), and back (east), and to the front winds a super steep path off pride rock and back down into the shrubs and trees to the west. And on top of this mini mountain, you are afforded the most incredible views of the landscape and entire valley below you.

All around you the river quietly flows and rumbles through corn fields and banana groves irrigating and feeding a present yet invisible population of subsistence farmers and their families. Off to one side you can see kasumulu and the hills of Malawi just beyond it, turning slightly you’ll see lake nyasa way in the distance at the base of the livingstone mountains, from another side, the highway winds north from the border into the highlands of mbeya, and from the last side, mountains rise and cover the horizon making sun sets (when you can get them--rare during the rainy season) incredible. So though normally it can take a lot to get me off my ass to go for a run, I have a little extra motivation around 6 in the evening to muster up the energy and take a run for the sun.

And once on top, you can’t help but let the natural beauty fill and overcome you. Frustrations, anxieties, and troubles disappear, I get a chance to center myself and realize how blessed I am to be here and to be doing what I am. And if those damn roosters and cows prevented a good night’s sleep, hamna shida (no problem), because you can’t even hear them way up there. As the sun sets, it’s impossible not to feel better, refreshed, and ready to take on another day, another challenge, another blessing…

i've posted pictures of pride rock, and some more site pictures...check 'em out!