Michele lives up in the Valley of Thousand Hills, as we call them, here in The Kingdom of KwaZulu Natal. She has a view from her garden that a lot of people would faint over. She never tires of pointing it out to you. And you do, stand and gape. King Fishers in a row on the branch of a tree.
Paradise flycatchers appear and blend instantly into their surroundings.
The calls of other little feathered fiends, which you cannot see, no matter how hard you look. In summer, the heat dances in waves on the tarred surface of the winding road to Michele s home. Silver heads on the sugar cane sway gently to some unseen African rhythm - hawks hang lazily in the air above, watching. Cicadas scream in the foliage on the roadside. Winters are bitterly cold in Waterfall.