South Africa in Winter. By Charlie
Dimech.
I was abandoned by the new government on a foreign, deserted shore, treading the wet sand,
never to see another human being.
I looked into the schlerophyll forest encircling the beach reflecting that this was now my home, that is
if I survived.
Was this meant to be?
Despite banishment, was this not liberty over enslavement?
That I was now strangely free, to be myself, to choose my own destiny, within the limits of this place,
chance, and my own efforts; surely that at least, was an upgrade on the condition of my former
existence, under total state tyranical control.
I felt a certainty inside that I would tame this wild place.
I would be tried, I knew, but I knew also I would survive.
I wouldn't be the first, I knew that as well, but I had some pride and despite the precariousness
of the situation, I aimed not just to survive, but to thrive.
I stumbled from exhaustion, rising on my feet again as another wave rolled over me. I felt a sense of
constancy from the incessant waves. Strangely this gave me, deep down likewise a sense of security as I knew
that although I could not change things, at the same time I sensed 'things' themselves would not change.
Therefore I determined to adapt. The saying went, 'If you can't beat 'em join 'em.'
I was certainly about to do that, as I was in no position to argue with nature..
Channels cut in the sand by the tide on either side of me seemed like a good place to start a search for food.
I made my way over to one, looking for anything I could find, as long as I had something to put
in my mouth that evening.
The various molluscs and crabs were quite numerous!
Relieved that at least for now I would not starve I had a raw treat, breaking open the shells with my knife, which
together with a dozen boxes of matches in a watertight bag were all that I posessed, apart from the clothes that
I was wearing. I treasured them now, my sole posessions, my sole perceived source of distinction between civilization
and raw nature.
All in all it did make a difference and I saw there was that difference. I was after all a human being,
which raised me to a higher plane and I did not have to descend to a purely natural plane to survive.
Indeed my survival depended on my maintaining my fully human mental and spiritual functioning and not just
the physical.
This I set out to do ordaining it as the sole basis of my interaction with nature.... I determined from the start -
that I would not be an apeman.
The night was approaching, my first night on this deserted shore. It was preceded by a crimson sky which intensified
towards the western horizon as the sun set.
The brightness of sunset keeping aglow the fire of my soul, like red hot embers long
after the flames have died down.
I placed my care in the hands of fate and tired from the days and months of ordeal and uncertainty culminating
in my complete abandonment and loss of 'civilization', I slept.
The weather was warm, the sea breeze gentle. I had a comfortable night and slept peacefully.
I was to need that sleep.
The next day I awoke to the sound of branches crashing as they broke and a shudder of earth.
It came from somewhere far off to my left and within a moment I was running, fast, to the farthest point of
right my legs would carry me.
I ran for about fifteen minutes before stopping from exhaustion and listened. All was quiet. I sat down under
the protection of what looked like a large oak tree, covered in a densley foliated vine. It was like a room, or temple
even, inside and I was comforted, after the immediately preceeding ordeal, by the silence and the seclusion.
I was alone, all alone. An inexpressible, sad, sad conciousness of this fact dawned on me, as I sat there. There
was nothing to be done, but I knew that for the moment at least, I was safe.
I had to eat. I had to stay alive no matter what.
The time had come for a reckoning, and inwardly I knew I could withstand this lonliness, and would withstand
it for a long time to come.
... I had to eat.
There were natives, I believed, a long way from here, fifty, maybe a hundred miles inland, without any tracks that
I knew of.
Did I prefer what I thought, their foreign culture to my own company? It was a decision I would make in time, I
guessed.
I decided this tree enclosure would make a good temporary home. I might not find another like it. It was superb in a
sense, and I gave thanks for it.
I believed I was dependant on the mercy of God, not only for sustenance, shelter, and freedom from harm in this frightening,
unknown land, but also for keeping me from despair, from panic and from barbarism. To this end, no day was to pass without
a prayer escaping my lips.
I remained there for from a half to an hour unable to move from either caution or fear.
Then I summoned up courage and left the enclosure.
I made up my mind to face whatever it was out there.
I was in a thick wood and found my bearings only by the shafts of light which penetrated various sparser places, visible
through the woods. My first priority remained to eat. .
I found my way back, partly by instinct and also by the disturbance I had made to the surrounding bush and on the
ground, during my initial flight. Before I left on my way back I marked several trees with an arrow so that I could find my
way back again to the 'oak tree'.
I needed water. My plan was to get to the shore and walk along the coast about a hundred yards inland looking for
fresh water. I made my way quickly. The sound of the waves took me eventually in a different direction to my initial
flight and from the disturbances I had made. I marked the larger trunks with arrows pointing back from
where I had come. I reached the shore quickly and began walking southward just inland of the shoreline.
There was a mountain range off to the left. I headed for it in ernest. I arrived at the base after about an
hour and after a further half an hour I came across a stream. I gulped down about a whole litre of water as a few small
fish scattered. Then I saw a large crab which had stood motionless on the bottom. I grabbed it quickly and
dashed it against a rock. As I walked upstream I managed to catch two more and dispensed with them in the same manner.
I cut away the shell and ate the flesh raw.
I saw numerous fish and soon I had begun searching out vines, in the hope of intertwining them so as
to prevent the larger fish from escaping the makeshift trap.
This took up two days and at the end, sleeping once again in the open, I had two nets which could be fastened across
the stream in two places about 200 yards apart to prevent fish escaping.
This took up a third day, adding to the twine when it was necessitated by the depth of the water or the shape of
the river. It was fixed in place by sticks driven into the bottom of the stream and sides.
The sides of the net were strengthened with thicker twine I had found in the jungle and double strands when this was
insufficient. I then made a net about two feet square and three feet deep and attached to a stick about four feet in length.
Together with a third barricade midway between the two I managed to catch sufficient fish, and gained in confidence
that I would not starve.
This panic behind me, I also lit a fire of dry twigs and leaves and cooked my catches.
I was now too far from my 'temporary home' , the 'oak tree' to warrant going back there each night, and I
slept in the warm, gentle breeze.
However instead of snakes which I feared, I was attacked by insects. Some, such as spiders instilled in me such
a fear that I could not enjoy my surroundings once night fell, and it was without comfort of covering of any kind
that I had to bare up each night between snatches of sleep on the nights of that first week.
After which I built myself a makeshift platform in a sprawling tree out of branches tied together and covered
over with twine and I slept in relative peace of mind, without the insects that appeared to infest the ground, but of
course not entirely. There were still mosquitoes and other flying insects up here, but thankfully no spiders and other creeping
insects which were larger but they resembled the beatles, bugs and other creatures which were measured in millimetres where
I had come from.
After another week it rained and I was forced to seek shelter greater than that afforded me by the
tree I was sleeping in. I found it in a tree covered so thickly in vines, not unlike the "oak" I had previously discovered,
that little water penetrated through.
There was nothing to stop me getting wet once I ventured out and there was no way I could get dry easily.
This made life a little more difficult.
It was some time before I ventured far enough, and found edible fruit and berry bearing trees.
Some almost cost me my life.
