It’s early in the morning at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in the northeastern Free State, and Paddy Gordon is on the run.

At this time of day, with the sunlight streaming on the sandstone cliffs that give the park its name, he is almost alone.

Almost, because a few meters back, he passed a herd of red hartebeest, copper-coloured in the glow; then a herd of zebra grazing on the plains; then a blur of black wildebeest thundering into a gallop. He never grows tired of the sight of life in the wild.

He feels recharged and uplifted, picking up his pace on the trail. And he never forgets, not for a moment, that this is more than a place where people come from near and afar to experience the wonders of nature. This is his heart-and-soul land. This is his home.

Paddy is the park manager at Golden Gate, charged with overseeing its everyday upkeep and helping to maintain and conserve its biodiversity for future generations. In this way, he is paying forward the legacy that nurtured his own love of South Africa’s great wide open spaces.

His father, Peter, was a school teacher and principal in Somerset West. During the holidays, he would take his classes into the mountains to open their hearts and minds to nature.

“That’s where the kick and the link began for me,” says Paddy. He joined SANParks after graduating from university (a BSc, followed by an Honours in Botany) and went on to manage the Richtersveld, Mountain Zebra, Table Mountain and Garden Route national parks, before moving to Golden Gate just before the start of the COVID lockdown.

Even today, encircled by the splendour of the mountains, the wild is his classroom. He walks in the shadow and light of history, from the antediluvian strata that harbour the fossils of dinosaurs, to the Khoisan rock paintings on the walls of the caves, to the wagon trails of the Voortrekkers, to the fire-blackened earth of the Boer War, to the homesteads of the Basotho, to the vision of J N R Van Reenen, the farmer who saw the sun setting over the sandstone outcrops and exclaimed “goue hek”.

Peter first crossed that golden threshold 25 years ago, when he was still managing the Richtersveld National Park. He had come to attend a national youth symposium on behalf of SANParks.

He watched the scholars share their ideas, plans, and programmes for preserving the natural environment, and it was as if the surrounding mountains were watching, too.

“Those kids spoke as if they were going to be future presidents of countries,” he recalls. “It was a really mind-blowing experience. And ever since, I’ve associated Golden Gate with that potential, as well as its role in conservation.”

Today, Paddy walks that talk, as a rambler, an ambler, an explorer of the hidden nooks and crannies, from the valley to the mountaintop, from the flora to the fauna, in the colours and moods of the shifting seasons.

When the sky darkens and the thunder rolls over the crags, he thinks of the Kgodumodumo, the shapeless, gluttonous monster of Basotho lore, and how its prowling presence leads directly to the footprints of the dinosaurs that once roamed the valley.

Everywhere he wanders in the Golden Gate, he feels the connection between those who were here before, those who are here now, and those who are yet to come.

Sometimes, when he’s out on a hike, he’ll wander into a cave and he’ll feel a presence, a spirit that compels him to quieten his voice in the sudden shuttering of the light.

“You find yourself talking softer and softer because the spirit is so strong,” he says. “But you find that it’s not a spirit that pushes you out, it’s one that welcomes you in. And one that makes you feel very safe and at peace.”

And just as the caves offered protection and shelter for people over thousands of years, so too, believes Paddy, should the Golden Gate Highlands National Park offer shelter, protection and hope for the future, for generations to come.

Vrystaatbewoners, produced by BrightRock, can be viewed on DStv Streaming.