Finding Leopards in the Unknown
Why the best discoveries happen when we least expect them.
All I do is never really apparent; it is more of a feeling. A direction that leads me always a bit deeper into the unknown, entering a "maze" where I just know I'll make sense of it along the way.
In Moremi, Botswana, after four months traversing Southern Africa without glimpsing a single leopard through South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, I found myself in a near-empty safari vehicle with Jacqueline from Switzerland. As we spoke about purpose and I finally surrendered to not seeing the elusive cat on what would be my last safari of the year, something extraordinary happened.
The moment I voiced acceptance of the unknown path ahead, a leopard materialised beside our vehicle. Jacqueline whispered that in Buddhist tradition, such an encounter signifies walking the "light's path" toward enlightenment.
Then something almost inexplicable began unfolding. Two more leopards revealed themselves over the following days. The strangest encounter came on our final morning as I planned my departure to Namibia. There, hanging in a tree just meters from the back of our tented camp, was a third leopard. As if the universe had been waiting for that moment of surrender to open a door I'd been unknowingly blocking.
This is what I mean about the maze. The more comfortable I become with not knowing, with letting things unfold rather than forcing outcomes, the more life reveals itself. Those leopards appeared not because I searched harder, but because I finally stopped searching altogether.
What direction are you heading for?
Have a great day,
Antoine