CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
DESTINATIONS
DESTINATIONS
The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, portrays the Aboriginal beliefs in spiritual existence. According to the tribes that first settled down in the continent, the Dreaming's roots date all the way back to the very begging of the creation of the world. The meaning and ideology of the term is generally not so well-understood by non-indigenous people as it is referred to as part of the culture of one of the early nations, which differs from modern perceptions.
The Spirits were the creators of everything. They made the land and the seas, the rocks and the plants, the sky and the earth. They were the higher power and the Australian Aborigines spent their lifetimes honoring this power, which guided their path and shaped their way of thinking. Not only creators of everything, which could be seen as well as felt, the Spirits also gave the Aborigines the Dreaming.
The time when everything started existing according to the initial Australians, was called the Dreaming. This is the foundation of the continent's culture. The origin of the Dreaming goes way back - 65 000 years back in time to be exact. The Ancestors of the nation shaped the land, forming some parts of it as sacred. The Aborigines were very careful and overprotective of those places, strongly believing in their significance.
The Australian Aborigines are known to have believed that the world didn't have any shape and was therefore empty. Darkness dominated, and life was simply asleep, but this changed when the creation began happening. After the Dreaming and the influence of the Spirits, objects began taking shapes and came to be. They created the four elements: water, earth, air and fire, as well as all the planets, the Sun and the Moon. The Dreaming therefore is a continuous process, which never ended. It is a small cosmos on its own, unifying the past, present and the future into one.
The Australian Aborigines' home riches so many vivid areas of the continent, including Fraser Island, Tasmania, Palm Island, Groote Eylandt and Mornington Island. The Aborigines had very strong believes in relation to the powers of the land, claiming that they never owned it - it rather owned them. The only reason they were able to call it their home is because they were looking after it and the land was taking care of the people in return.
Equally important to the Dreaming was the tribes' understandings of the disappearance of the Spirits. There came a time, when the creators of everything vanished from sight. Some of them were thought to have started living in sacred places, which is why the Aborigines perceived their homeland to be so sacred. The ancestors of today's Australians used to believe that the creators started living in rocks, in water holes and some went up to the sky to guide the people from above and keep them safe. Others transformed completely, taking the forms of the rain, the lightnings and the thunderstorms so they could be part of peoples' life.
Among the hundred's different Aboriginal languages, there isn't a word to describe 'time', because to them this simply doesn't exist. Dreaming and Dreamtime are used to replace it and summarize the ideologies of the Aborigines about everything they knew, everything they could see, feel and experience. This is why the Dreaming has such a vivid, and overwhelming meaning and has survived the obstacles of time. For the past couple thousand years, the Dreaming has built a rich cultural heritage that can identify a whole nation.
Read more about the Land, its connection to people and the way it has been perceived from different generations in the very first print issue of ORIGIN. The Land Issue covers varied topics, most of which remain related to cultural aspects of the land and its importance.
A lot of people travel to explore places and learn about them which is the message that ORIGIN wants to spread. With traveling, however, comes certain responsibilities that we should all be aware of. Elephants riding has become a popular way to explore locations by land. People have been doing this as part of their trips, mostly to places such as Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and other parts of Asia. It is a common thing to see in certain places in Africa as well. We investigated the activity to explain why it is wrong and riding elephants should be banned everywhere.
Our first print issue studies culture and traveling represented through the land. We explored various location around the globe and learned what makes the land so valuable, which nations cherish it and how it helps us establish an identity. Traveling is important to us but traveling responsibly and making an impact is what we feel proud to stand behind. This is why riding elephants as a way of amusement should be reconsidered.
Let’s talk about the details. Elephants are very caring and extremely intelligent animals. It is a well-known fact that they never forget anything. When kept in captivity instead of spending their life in the wild, elephants die younger. Unlike in other species, this is common for the gentle giants and is often a result for stress.
Many African cultures respect elephants, believing they symbolize strength, loyalty and power. However, power can be a very tender concept. Elephant used as a tourism tool suffer from great pain daily. Elephants can be hurt very severely from the weight of carrying people and a trainer on their backs. The reason for this is the design of their spines. They have sharp protrusions, extending upwards from their spine instead of having round spinal disks. The protrusions and the tissue that serves to protect them can be harmed easily from weight pressure. Once a damage to their spine has been made, there is no going back and sometimes the harm can be irreversible. While this can’t be physically seen, the harm that the chairs can do to the elephants’ skin is. It is often the case that the chairs and the weight on their back can damage the animal’s skin and cause pain to their body. The chair, called Howdah, that gets attached to their backs, rubs on their skin and can cause blisters, which can sometimes get infected.
The training that elephants are required to go through when in captivity sometimes adopts a traditional Thai ‘phajaan’ or ‘crush’ technique. Explaining the technique would compare it to the animals’ spirits constantly and continuously being broken by the means of torture and social isolation. This is done in order to tame them. Elephants are wild animals, this is their nature as they are born in such conditions. Making them safe and obedient around people requires them to go through such training. As horrible as it sounds, in some places young elephants are taken away from their mothers to be abused with nails, bull hooks and bamboo sticks to make them obey rules, given by people. The animals often lack sleep and are starved to become submissive.
Actions from such nature are cruel and harmful as the technique is used to crash the animals’ spirit. Once wild and free, elephants become a source of tourism and entertainment. Nobody, who cared about sustainable tourism should ever ride an elephant.
In a sense, elephants have a human soul. They socialise and feel everything – pain, happiness, grief, sadness etc. They spend their life building families and finding friends. The largest land animals are a gift from nature and it is our responsibility to take special care of them and make sure they live according to their nature. Many animals, who are kept in captivity, are forced to live in isolation and carry heavy loads all day long, which is a wrong way to treat them. Their strength and power shouldn’t be abused but treated gently and celebrated by people. Elephants require minimal care to stay happy and healthy, which comes from giving them freedom to behave naturally and socialise. It is our responsibility to be culturally aware while traveling and make sure to spread awareness about the problem.
You can read the rest of the article as published in the LAND issue.
AN AFRICAN IDYLL
Get an authentic 'feel' of Kenyan wildness through slow-travelling in our guide. Once the dust settles in, so will the realisation that you're walking on Sub-Saharan soil and you'll never see the world in the same way again
Words: Emily Georgieva
Photography: Roya Ann Miller
09 May 2020
Visiting Kenya is quite a surreal experience. This African dreamland seemed out of reach due to lack of tourist interest in the area for many years. However, things are starting to change. Kenya is beginning to get more popularity because of the unique out-of-the-way location of this country. It has been vaguely represented in little detail as a travel destination, which is part of the reason some well-travelled nomads are curious to head towards this African spot. Nowadays, it is easier than ever to connect to the country's rural charm through attractions such as safari trips and camping experiences. The fully functioning railway system has been undergoing some major developments in order to make transportation across the country easier and more accessible. Foreigners head to this African paradise mainly to indulge into the experience of getting to know a place that belongs to the wild. Gradually, Kenya has grown out of being a far-away land and turned into a must-see place. Today there are plenty of reasons to experience it for yourself.
The African country is fascinating because it is pure in its authenticity. The country doesn't have an artificial appearance. It is not a reflection of countless multicultural travellers' perceptions and Hollywood movie adaptations, which many other places seem to have. It is different to the typical places advertised on travel guides and it won't give you that tourist feel where you can just merge with the crowds. Here there is no exploring every road and building alongside people who are visiting with the sole purpose of ticking every sightseeing spot off their list. Kenya isn't famous for any canals where you can take a gondola ride with your lover like you can do in Venice. It doesn't have the ancient charm of a city of ruins which seems to be frozen in time such as Italy. It does not posses the peaceful idyll of a desert oasis of timelessness that Egypt is. This isn't a place on the map most people are instantly drawn to. Instead, the country is known for being misrepresented. This is what adds sweetness to an opportunity to visit.
Perhaps only very few travellers who have not seen much of the world besides the essential family holidays, will decide to hit the road for the first time by starting their journey from Africa - let alone the Sub-Saharan African region! As much as it is appealing, African travels can be quite challenging and demanding. It is true that like many other African places, Kenya is also dealing with political problems and economic instability, but this shouldn't be seen as an obstacle. Visiting this part of the world provides a different kind of travelling style, allowing you to experience getting around in a slower, more lose-track-of-time kind of way. This in itself is a great representation of Kenya. In order to truly connect to the country, you need to forget everything you know about travelling in a 'sophisticated' way around European destinations, Asian paradises and well-researched Central American places. Africa is different, it has its own rhythm. Countries like Kenya are a proof of this. The thing you need to know when you're headed to visit is to try and find that specific open state of mind if you want to understand the country through its multi-diversity. If you happen to be a traveller from a far-away land, you'll truly benefit from understanding this side of Africa in such sense.
The best way to approach travelling in Kenya is to adapt to its style. Make sure you do the best you can to make your travelling reflective of the places you're exploring. This is a country that is naturally wild in its essence. Appreciating its wild side will bring you closer to the Kenyan experience. Tours are a great way to get familiar with a place you don't know much about and are not comfortable discovering on your own. Consider booking a tour that will allow you to camp. If you do so, you'll add some excitement to your trip. As tours are already planned out for you in advance, you'll have enough time to pay attention to your surroundings without the stress of arranging accommodations and mapping out travel routes. Kenya has a mesmerising wildlife so camping and staying outdoors for as long as possible to let the experience sink in is the most authentic way to 'feel' this Sub-Saharan African place. There are several tours you can choose from: if you are in Zambia, you can head to Nairobi from Victoria Falls and continue to Kenya, book a combined safari trip from Tanzania to Kenya or choose another path to get there depending on where you depart from.
Once the dry heat sets in, the experience will get real and you'll quickly get used to the fact that you are walking on Kenyan soil. Adapting to the slow-travelling approach will feel like a portal to your childhood. Talks around the campfires, exploring parts of the world you've never seen before and stargazing are a combination you will remember fondly for years afterwards. The food will most likely be simplistic, yet tasty, the accommodation will consist of soggy tents and starry skies and driving will take you through dusty paths and endless roads. Your company will be strangers from all around the world, some of whom would never have set foot in the wild, and others who are there yet again because they can't get enough of the wonders that Africa treasures. At night, you could spot zebras, lions and interloper sneaking around in their natural habitat. In the morning, if you get up early enough, catching the sunrise will set reality of the wildness into perspective. During the day, the vegetables in your meals and the freshly cut fruits will give you a taste of the country and even the speed bumps along the road will make you happy and grateful to be able to be on this journey.
It takes experiencing Kenya once and it is guaranteed that you'll see the world differently afterwards. Travel mindfully, appreciate every detail, every step, every glimpse of the wildness. It is a true privilege to be able to experience a country through slow travel, yet it is the only way to connect to Kenya. Despise the endless stream of information in pictures, articles and tales of places, even tucked-way ones, the wild regions of the world cannot be described, they need to be experienced. No matter how much you learn in advance about a place like Kenya, you'll never be prepared for what to expect once you find yourself exploring it for yourself.
This article is part of NOMADSofORIGIN Magazine's upcoming third print issue.
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NOMADSofORIGIN is an independent annual publication with a focus on sustainable travelling and global cultural values. Each issue features interviews, engaging articles and photo guides, which take our nomadic readers through different destinations and introduce them to local people's perspectives.
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