I had a farm

"I had a farm in Africa".
And so it began that almost mystical tale "Out of Africa" made into a beautiful movie with Meryl Streep.
Reading the opening passage is like reading that memorable opening sentence from "Cry the Beloved Country"by Alan Paton.  "There is a loverly road that runs from Ixopo into the hills".
Each some how symbolises and draws you in to the story especially and perhaps only if you have spent time in Africa. They say that like no other place, Africa becomes a part of you with its deep sense of life and death its beauty and its vast space. 
The tribal outposts where Paton contrasts the debauchery of Johannesburg with the simplicity and customs which can make a people dignified and respectful but which are soon destroyed by city life.
In Karen von Blixen's portrayal of her farm and the African people who worked for her on the farm, she has an almost hypnotic connection to the land, its animals and the people. But it's her loneliness in living in an almost parallel existence with the native people she grew to love which was palpable. The sights, sounds and smell of the Serengeti are evoked in our minds as being like some living system, a being, of which she was on the periphery, an observer without much control.

Of course she was a romantic like Paton. She saw what was in her heart and like him paid the price for unearthing sentiments that were out of place in such a vast tapestry.

Never the less, in his sentiment, and by setting the books opening stanza. 

"Towards the grass covered hills, that are lovely beyond any singing of, the road climbs to Carisbrooke. You might hear the forlorn cry of the titihoya, whilst, below in the valley of the Umzimkulu".

For me both books set the scene for an enchanted journey into a land of inscrutable promise and damming failure. A land of beauty and hardship of pragmatism and inspiration, a land of misunderstanding but also of deep forgiveness.