By Sarah Tucker

The heartbeat of life echoes in the darkness as primal dancers taste the air
Their rainbow of raw passion fails to move
Still white men colourblind to the nature of the beast
Who have no sense
And no sense of what they see
Holding their breath and closing their heart
To the seduction and wisdom of the moment
In case they might feel the tightening chains of their own making.

Africa is a place more evolving and deep and immense
Than they bear to believe exists outside their boxed little world
And expired imagination
They click impatiently through a tiny camera lens
Seeing nothing
but a tick on the dinner party 'have done's before the port and wine
Are wasted.
Destroying everything they approach by admiring too closely
below and above the ground.

The lions sleep and cheetahs yawn unable to camouflage how
Weary and bored and disinterested they are at our ignorant curiosity
These pussy cats always one eye open, waiting for us to make the fatal mistake that they are our friends
Hoping one day they will get the chance to eat us alive as we are now devouring them
but less humanely.

I see monkeys born to kill and be killed
Now sick inside, not wanting pity but getting it, waiting to die, damaged by jelly beans and TV
As we all are.
Over loaded by the burden and emptiness of being arm candy
To stupid men who want to control and tame them as obedient pets as they do their wives.

I absorb and breathe in the pain and anger and wonder
As I skim through by train and car and foot this place
And cry and laugh inside by turn
At the violent magnificent contrast of mountain and plain
And rumbling discontent
Of a land that screams out to deaf ears to be left alone
And I sense again that primal rhythm I heard on my first day
As I watched the dancers
And I start to move to a beat I find infectious
And overwhelmingly humbling
Of a proud people far smarter than our own
Still treated despite the Lighthouse Man
Like cute animals allowed to live like organ grinders
To perform for greedy men
who don't tolerate any rhythm that isn't their own
Not realising it's not theirs at all.

Every single living thing in this vital and raw and important land
Dances to the rhythm of Original Life
A rhythm I know, until I came here, I had almost forgotten
And only to it's echo my Game Boy son may one day learn to dance to again.

Sarah Tucker is an award winning travel journalist, broadcaster and best selling novelist (THE PLAYGROUND MAFIA Arrow). She specialises in adventure and family travel and is currently filming THE YOUNG EXPLORERS for the Discovery Channel. Her latest novel SCHOOL'S OUT (July publication £6.99 Arrow Books) is a funny fictional novel about three families who decide to holiday together and realise they have little in common. For more information about Sarah and her work check out www.sarahtucker.info.

You can also read Sarah Tucker's article on her trip to South Africa with her son, Tom ('Life's an adventure, mummy'), is published on p38 of the current Horizons magazine. Call 0845 013 1538 for you free copy

Sarah travelled on our Discover South Africa Family Adventure Tour