It just is

waterlilies at sunrise

The last few days have been grey, overcast with soft drizzle and rain - and its been cold.  This is unusual weather for here and we have had logs burning in the fireplace non stop to chase away the winter chill. Thank goodness for the fireplace.  The weather somehow has matched my mood - or my mood had come into line with the weather.  Perhaps it was the global consciousness of so many riotous and tragic occurrences spread about our beautiful world.  Or perhaps it was because of those mighty planets whirling about unseen over our heads pulling on our tides and exerting their influences on our microscopic lives. Or maybe its something else altogether.

 Definitely it had to do, in part, with the rhino poaching war reaching our doorstep. Its is heartbreaking to see one of these massive yet vulnerable and shy creatures that has been caught in a snare on its back foot for days. The bush all around the anchor tree has been flattened in attempts to escape. Finally falling into a donga (ditch) headfirst to die slowly of thirst and fear - all for the sake of two tiny growths on its young head.

  Rhinos are dropping like flies these days. They are so easy to catch and find and kill. But it's not only rhinos - suddenly the whole war on wildlife for human greed just became too big for my brain. I am better now but sometimes it just gets too much.   Getting sad doesn't help however - we have to keep thinking.

So anyway, We have been experiencing late rains here - which is really a happy event as it fills the waterholes just before the dry season.  There have been huge rains in the Angolan highlands apparently and the Okavango River in Botswana is in flood already. We went to have a look and to try and reach the island where our boat lives. We were hoping to hire a river taxi from Sepupa to get there, but the jump off point was unreachable.  The river itself was a huge swirling eddying surge of water pushing into riverine forests and ancient water courses.  It was so huge and mighty it looked as if it had a meniscus like a glass of water filled to ultimate capacity - a sort of bulge barely contained within its floodplain and papyrus bed banks.

Botswana is filling up with water again these days. After a few excellent rainy seasons the floodwaters of the inland delta have been reaching into forgotten corners bringing them back to  life. Massive flocks of birds follow the headwaters, and fields of water lilies adorn newly drenched flood plains. It makes our primate hearts happy and calm to see sparkling water coasting by.

Today the sun came out. The monkeys are here again visiting, eating the corn we put out for the birds, playing around the windows and thundering on the tin roof again.

It's continuity. It's 'this too shall pass'.  It just is.

white rhino group