Over the horizon

Last night I watched a classic war movie, Zulu. Zulu came out in the 1960's and is often quoted as being the "Saving Private Ryan" of the 60s. It a relatively unknown story (for Americans anyway) of the Battle of Rorkes Drift during the Anglo-Zulu wars fought in the 1870s between the British Empire and the Zululand nations. I won't get into the details of the story but it's basically a custards last stand where 100 British soldiers fought back 5,000 Zulu "Impis" warriors.

 It's a pretty amazing story. Being the nerdy history person I am I immediately went on to wikipedia to read up on the wars, the battle, the people involved, ect. I know very little history about the the formation of the South African Union so a lot of things were new to me. As usual I got a little carried away and an hour later I had 40 chrome tabs on different subjects. One of them was an area on the eastern cape not far from Durban called the Drakensberg (in Afrikaans: "Dragon Mountains"; in Zulu: "Barrier of Spears").

It's an incredible mountain range that looks more like the Scottish Highlands or Snowdownia in Wales. One of the few places in Africa that snows regularly.

What amazed me more was that I'd never even heard of it in my entire life. I don't know every little mountain range in the world but I do know of the more magnificent areas: mountains of New Zealand, the Himalayas, the Alps, Pyrenees between Spain/France, Rockies, Pantagonia in Chili. How could I not have even even heard of this place!?

Another mountain range in Africa, similar in grander, is the Semien Mountains in Ethopia:

Seeing these places makes me more determined to travel to them and others. It makes me really wonder what other parts of the world I haven't even discovered via wikipedia let alone in person. I was almost mad that nobody ever told me they exist! But I suppose thats a silly way of looking at it. It's also not my style to have my hand held while I discover new things. Of course, there's nothing wrong with being guided, having expert support, or using others to suggest where you should explore. For me, however, finding something off the beaten path or through my own volition is far more enjoyable than scheduling a forced, catered, 5 day preplanned romp around a country or region. It's just doesn't have that same sense air of adventure, urgency and accomplishment. Humans have an innate need to seek the unknown and explore what's over the horizon. I think some of that has been lost on us in todays society of instant gratitude and overly connected world. 

I hope I never lose the fire to see whats just over the horizon.