by Michael Lorentz Drylands

When I yearn for inner stillness, my mind drifts to the empty space of deserts and drylands; the soul-peace of monochromatic views, silence and nothingness. Yet, the nothingness is an illusion for the drylands are filled with life, adapted perfectly to the precarious landscapes they thrive in. From the meerkats of the Makgadigadi to the elephants of the Skeleton Coast and the highlands of Ethiopia, a journey through the drylands of Africa evokes wonder at nature’s extraordinary ability to flourish.

Beyond Africa lies perhaps the greatest desert of all, Antartica. For those to whom empty spaces speak, this is Shangri-La, a vastness and silence that defies description. The bewitching and transient beauty of an iceberg; the grin of a leopard seal; the heart-stopping thrill of a humpback whale gliding under your kayak; the self-important silliness of penguins and the deadly purpose of a pod of orcas. Antartica seems not of this world, and it is in this sense of “other” that true magic resides.

The longer we remain locked down, the more I dream of escape to the drylands . . . one day soon, I hope.