DISCOVER
With their elegance and power, waterfalls have a charm that can lure even the most stubborn sofa spud, and when you get up close, they provide an utterly thrilling outdoor encounter.
I ONCE SAW THE Mona Lisa. Not on TV or a Google search – the actual painting. The prospect of seeing it had been rather exciting – being face-to-face with an international treasure – something so familiar and so significant. And it’s no exaggeration to say that, after all the hype and anticipation, the experience was indeed… a total disappointment.
The crowds in Le Louvre – the Parisian museum where the Mona Lisa lives – had been pleasantly scattered around the gallery. But as I approached da Vinci’s priceless portrait I saw a six-deep throng of snap-happy visitors all casually elbowing each other out of the way to get a view of it. In order to see it close-up for myself, I would need to join the mosh pit and discreetly carve my way to the front.
There was little to enjoy here. I couldn’t admire the brush strokes; I couldn’t determine whether or not she had eyebrows. In fact, I hardly noticed any detail at all because the painting was so tiny it was like we were all gathered around a postage stamp. There was nothing to ‘sense’. The experience was no more immersive than if I’d spotted the painting on the side of a passing bus.
When I visit a well-known landmark – one I might have seen a hundred times before – I feel a certain internal pressure to bring back an extra… something. An observation perhaps, a rousing of the senses that can only occur when seeing it in person. Something that makes the effort worthwhile.
And one of the great draws of nature is that it is immersive. It doesn’t just sit there with a half-smile on its face – it allows you in; you become part of it. And thanks to a myriad of factors such as seasons, rainfall and sunlight, it’s always changing.
Nothing epitomises this more than a waterfall. You don’t have to dip your head under it for the full sensory experience – just being close allows you to feel the tremors of its force in the rocks and the moist breeze it throws up, creating a rainforest- like microclimate for the ferns, mosses and lichens that invariably surround it.
