Sothaba Nature

07/09/2026

Fire

07/09/2026

SA National Parks Week: Take the Young Ones Outdoors

There is a kind of knowing that only comes from being there — the smell of rain on dry earth, the sudden lift of a hornbill from a marula tree, the quiet that settles over you beside a river. No lesson, no video, no photograph can give a child that. Only Creation itself can.

This week, South Africa is handing us the chance to give it to them.

From 7–13 September 2026, SANParks is opening most of its participating national parks free of charge to South African day visitors, as part of National Parks Week. Kruger, West Coast and Augrabies Falls run their free access from 7–11 September.

The participating parks include:

- Gauteng/Limpopo/Mpumalanga: Kruger, Marakele, Mapungubwe
- Free State: Golden Gate Highlands
- Northern Cape: /Richtersveld, Kgalagadi, Mokala, Augrabies Falls
- Western Cape: Agulhas, Bontebok, Table Mountain, Tankwa Karoo, West Coast
- Eastern Cape: Addo Elephant, Camdeboo, Karoo, Mountain Zebra
- Garden Route: Garden Route National Park

But this is not really a story about free entry gates. It is an invitation to reconnect — us to Creation, and our children to a world they are inheriting whether we prepare them for it or not.

During this Season of Creation, families, schools, churches and youth groups have a rare and simple opportunity: take the children outside. Let them walk without a destination. Let them listen for birdsong instead of notifications. Let them touch soil, wade into a stream, sit still long enough to watch an animal decide they are no threat. Let them be quiet in the presence of something far older and larger than themselves.

We so often speak to young people about protecting the environment before they have ever truly met it. We ask them to love an abstraction. But we cannot expect the next generation to fight for something they have never held, smelled, or been humbled by. Love for Creation is not taught from a textbook — it is caught, in moments like these.

A single day in a national park can become a living classroom — for biodiversity, for water, for climate, for wonder, for spirituality, for stewardship. It might be the seed of a relationship with the natural world that lasts a lifetime. It might be the moment a child first understands, without anyone telling them, that they belong to something worth protecting.

So this week, let's get the young ones outdoors. Let them encounter Creation face to face. Let them fall in love with it. And let that love — simple, embodied, unforgettable — become the foundation on which everything else we teach them about stewardship can stand. 🌿💧🦋

Note: Free access applies to day visitors only — accommodation, game drives and other paid activities are excluded. South African visitors should carry valid identification, and families are encouraged to confirm specific access arrangements at their chosen park before travelling.*

[Check SANParks National Parks Week 2026 details](https://www.sanparks.org/events/sa-national-parks-week-2026)

Written by Sifiso Ndwandwe, Laudato Si' Movement South Africa Chapter | Shared Futures NPC*

SA National Parks Week offers free access to most of the 21 national parks for day visitors. This initiative aims to encourage South Africans to explore their natural heritage and foster a sense of ownership.

12/08/2026

Today, 12 August 2026, a few hours ago, the sky leaned close to Earth.

The Moon slided between Earth and Sun—quiet, precise, ancient.

Three worlds aligned: Sun. Moon. Earth. Light bows to shadow. A solar eclipse.

In totality, day turns to dusk and the Sun’s corona appears, like a hidden truth.

Across Africa, ancestors watched such moments with reverence, listening to a sky they saw as kin.

The Sun is about 400 times wider than the Moon and 400 times farther away, so they appear equal. The smaller can veil the greater—not by power, but by relation. Geometry becomes poetry.

For millennia, we have measured the heavens, yet wonder remains. Knowledge does not end mystery; it deepens it.

The Moon follows its path, Earth turns, the Sun burns, gravity holds all in balance. In rare alignment, the sky gathers into a shared breath.

We call it eclipse. Our ancestors called it a reminder.

We look down at screens and urgency, yet above us the sky continues its ancient conversation: Sun rising, Moon returning, stars burning, life answering life.

A child still asks: why does the Sun hide, why does the Moon pass? The question itself is sacred.

Science answers with orbit and light; spirit answers with awe and belonging. In African understanding, to know the sky is to belong to it.

The eclipse holds both: order and mystery, precision and wonder. Earth turns, Moon journeys, Sun endures—and we stand within this rhythm.

Earth also calls: forests breathe, rivers remember rain, soil holds life, birds cross unseen maps, flowers open like flame. We are connected—Ubuntu: I am because we are.

The eclipse becomes remembering. We belong to Earth, to each other, yet we forget.

Forests fall, waters are poisoned, species vanish, the atmosphere warms. The deeper darkness is disconnection.

So it asks: if you can marvel at the sky, can you honour the Earth? If you can be moved by distant fire, can you protect the ground beneath you?

The Sun will return, the Moon will continue, Earth will keep turning. What we do within this turning matters.

For a moment, light disappears, then returns. Nothing exists alone.

We are woven into a living whole.

We pause. We look up. We breathe. We remember.

The sky is speaking.

And we are part of its song.

We give thanks—for Sun, Moon, Earth, life, mystery, and the breath that holds us here.

09/08/2026

Today is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Today we recognize and celebrate their knowledge, traditions and the important leadership roles they play in protecting nature, supporting communities and building resilience, and the vital role they play in caring for our landscapes.

12/07/2026

With over 8 billion people and 8 million species calling Earth home, let's unite to preserve the delicate balance that sustains us - from the food on our tables to the air we breathe and the water we drink, for the health of our planet and the prosperity of future generations.