Awesome pictures

Get your hands on this coffee table book entitled Mpumalanga, Our Beautiful Province

WHEN a photographer colleague saw me holding this book he simply grabbed without as much as a by your leave...

Normally he is not that rude.

I guess that he just couldn't resist the beautiful pictures. He refused to give the book back for what seemed like an eternity.

I fully understood his behaviour.

The pictures are truly beautiful. The book takes you straight into the heart of Mpumalanga with its amazingly beautiful scenery that makes you realise that God has gifted the province with exceptional beauty.

And the photography in this book captures God's creation magnificently.

Interspersed with carefully chosen verses from the Big Book, the Holy Bible itself, with intellectually and spiritually intense reflections from the author, Sabelo Mahlalela, this coffee table book is called Mpumalanga Our Beautiful Province.

It has fine quotations opposite breathtakingly beautiful photographs of landmark sites and scenes.

It is bound in hard cover with a detachable sleeve. It's a collector's item indeed.

It is also very useful to both domestic and foreign tourists.

With 300 pages of text and pictures, the price tag of R350 is not bad at all.

This pictorial journey through South Africa's scenic province of showcases the strong thread between humanity and nature. It demonstrates how, since time immemorial, these two creations of God were in sync.

From the birds flying majestically against the background of clouded skies, to the fierce and confident pose of a leopard scanning the terrain, to the bewildered squirrel staring into its world, to the self-satisfied snake devouring its prey, the book displays the beauty of Mpumalanga in spectacular fashion.

By contrast, there is the brown earth with the green leaves bejewelled with morning dew, the harsh mountain rock face with a field of flowers in full bloom and the undulating hills with the open plains.

Interspersed with inspirational verses from the Bible as well the author's own reflections on life, the book is a thoughtful appreciation of the beauty of Mpumalanga - Africa's most under-celebrated treasure.

One of Mpumalanga's most iconic natural features is God's Window, that vantage point from which you can witness the splendour of the province.

"This book illustrates why Mpumalanga itself is God's own window into the world," writes Mondli Makhanya, editor in chief of Avusa Media, in a foreword to the book.

Mahlalela will be at Darkie Café on the corner of Anderson and Ferreira streets, Johannesburg, on May 26 from 5.30 until 6.30pm in conversation with Makhanya, to discuss the motivation and scenic photography in the book.

The book will be on sale at the event.

• Mpumalanga, Our Beautiful Province is now also available online from http://www.redpepperbooks.co.za