Exploring the Unique Lotheni Valley

Before I speak more about my experience exploring the unique Lotheni Valley in August of 2021, allow me to reflect a bit on the recent happenings of the last two years. I feel like we’re living in a rhythm where every year that passes appears to be more significant than the one that preceded it. We have all been forced out of our comfort spheres into very uncomfortable spheres. We struggled to grapple with the new normal (gah), got tired of clicking that Zoom icon, and screamed more than once at Telkom — we hoped for a better 2021.

2021 has been important, for many other reasons apart from the current Pandemic and the recent Civil Unrest. The nations are restless, and the cracks in the fragile global order are beginning to show in many different ways. Who knows what 2022 will present?

Getting Away from the Chaos

Amid the chaos and joy we are experiencing week after week, I had some personally transformative moments this year. They didn’t necessarily give me a big moment change in my life but rather helped me to accept the long obedience in the same direction with a renewed attitude. 

Along this 2021 journey, I took a long weekend getaway to the Lotheni area of the Drakensberg. The trip was planned a month before. What was not planned, at least on my part, was the volume of snow that would be falling the day after I arrived. Not really knowing what to expect, I borrowed a generous friend’s 4×4 and headed into the mountains well-stocked and ready for anything. 

The experience was quite something, given I had never experienced a blizzard-like snowfall in my life. One thing I was looking forward to was taking photographs the morning after the storm. Last year, I purchased a Yashica MAT-LM medium-format film camera. The camera takes photos in 6×6 square format, which requires a whole different skill of composition I was not used to. Since the purchase, the camera has helped me appreciate the process of photography once again and has me excited every time I compose a frame and click that shutter. The photographs I captured the morning after the snow are truly special. 

Capturing the Story of the Land

I spent four nights in the mountains, and apart from the photography, the time got me reflecting on several points. One is out of an essay by Wendell Berry, titled “Christianity and the Survival of Creation.” The line that stood out to me was this: “The significance — and ultimately the quality — of the work we do is determined by our understanding of the story in which we are taking part.”

The reason why this point and this essay were so striking in the moment of being in the snow in the mountains, was that the very work I was doing, taking photographs, began connecting me to our land in an obvious way. With every frame I composed, I was presenting the land onto a 6x6cm sliver of silver-halide film. The moment of snow and grass, water, land, mountains, rocks, rivers and trees — permanently exposed to history through the click of a button, connected me (and now us!) to a story that was unfolding before me. 

The further significance of this process was viewing the exposure afterwards. To view the photograph is to be transported back in time to that moment. The moment is more than just aesthetically pleasing. When I was walking up and down the mountains and following the rivers looking for an appropriate frame, I was looking for more than just a good-looking photograph. My thoughts at the time were focused on the snow and where it would go. I was amazed at just how much water was being gathered into the catchment I was staying in; how much of that snow (water) would end up melting away into the ground, only to reach the water table at some point and be gathered into the river.

The river, a gathering of all water particles, flowing downstream, through farms and communities, into larger rivers and then on to the ocean — There’s just so much affected in the present and the future by one geographical area, and here I am witnessing this process…. click. 

What the Collection Means to Me

The Lotheni Collection for me is the expression of this moment of thought and experience. Whenever I look at the photographs, I’m connected to this area of land that provides for so many, humans and animals, without any help from anybody. It lives a story that I’m only a witness and recipient of. I’m reminded that the land goes about its role in a way of mechanics far beyond my comprehension. I’ve learnt in this process that if I’m not connected to this land and the story it has lived and written through, and have no regard for its present and future effect on the communities I most value and love, my range for abuse of it has no end.

With this in mind, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a new non-profit organisation at the beginning of this year that is practically involved in conserving the major river catchments of the Drakensberg and KwaZulu-Natal. Upland River Conservation’s mission is simple; to remove very thirsty alien invasive vegetation, re-grass eroded and overgrazed river banks, and educate communities on how to better care for the rivers they share access to. Connecting these photographs to a cause like this is a privilege. Ten percent of the profit generated from the sale of these prints will be given to Upland River Conservation. Check them out!

I hope to produce more photographs like this. Landscape photography, I believe, cannot be solely isolated to the sector of tourism and promotion. Sure, it has an important role there, but my passion is more toward connecting people through photography not just to the beauty of the land, but to the invisible relationship we have to it, the story that the land has endured and written, and the importance for us to maintain a proper understanding and stewardship of it.