Tired as I was after spending 6 hours cooped up in a stuffy, dark, muddy and insect-infested jungle yesterday evening, I could not help but enjoy the beauty of the scene in front of me as I sat at the grandstand in front of the massive, grand parade square at SAFTI MI.

As the evening turned to dusk and twilight fell, the sky slowly turned from its gloomy ashen grey to a brilliant blue; the SAFTI tower went ablaze in the creeping twilight as the floodlights at its base were turned on, the red warning beacons glowing brightly atop the top of the tower, the national flag fluttering cheerfully from it.

As dusk fell, the blue of the sky deepened to a brilliant purple, darker blue clouds silhouetted against the light blue of the clear sky, giant cumulonimbus clouds hanging on the horizon glowing in a light shade of magenta. The giant magenta clouds were all the more grand and august in the clear sky, unfettered by any obstructions and buildings whatsoever atop the plateau that the parade square sat on, as a cool, chilly evening breeze swept over the calm and serenityof the whole scene.

It was quite, quite near to paradise, beauty epitomised.