Firstly, New Year for us traditionally involves searching for Flame Lilies in the forest reserve, just behind our home...once again, nature did not disappoint, and provided abundant specimens of perfect wild lilies!
The rainy season has been in full swing during the past few months, but this does not stop us from escaping onto the river every Sunday for our dose of Nature's sanity. Rain and thunderstorms are not a problem for us, as the riverine trees provide natural umbrellas along the riverbank - here we shelter, and enjoy the effects of sheets of warm rain on the surface of the water.
The river level has been rising, as the annual floods have arrived. The current has increased in power and pace, as you can perhaps see in this photo, where I tried to capture the mood.
The first quarter of this year has just been a general tumble of rough waters caused by people, politics, bureacracy, business, vehicles, and the general economic climate. A series of ill-timed simultaneous blows and events, I suppose. I really tried to sit down and figure out what's been going on in my life lately, and could only come up with a long string of words: overwhelmed, shocked, suprised, f-u-r-i-o-u-s, upset, mad, disbelieving, frustrated, outraged, insomniac, resigned, understanding, accepting, undaunted, crazy, financially challenged, stressed, but - yes, happy, too!
I'm not trying to be mysterious, but, seriously, if I had to go into all the boring details, this blog post would run to hundreds of pages!! Apart from various other happenings, we have had fears for our business(livelihood!) which have suddenly been reprieved, maybe temporarily, or maybe we are on an upward trend again? These really are uncertain times, everywhere, I think. Having also taken on extra work, things are now very very hectic indeed..Life is rather strange, but nothing that can't be handled!
Luckily there is always this - the incredible Chobe river, and our special part where hardly anybody else goes. We launch our boat literally a few minutes away from home, and we are in another world. Stunning cloud formations at this time of year are very photogenic...
I'm remembering, thanks to my camera, another notable event this year: Botswana got caught up in extreme soccer fever! Our national team, the Zebras, proudly participated in the Africa Cup of Nations, and in our town, the streets were transformed into a riotous zone of noisy, zebra-striped, blue-Botswana-flagged vehicles for the duration of the tournament!
We've also been on the road, as usual, doing mileage for work and family business. The open road can still be a place of peace and solitude as the kilometres pass by... The seasons are definitely turning, and I just love the glorious roadside grasses at this time of year.
A joyous surprise to find a field of water lilies floating in the excess rainwater along the verges of the road!
Visiting Elephant Sands again, for work, we found the waterhole very full of water, although not experiencing so many visits from the usual elephants due to abundant water for them elsewhere in the bush.
The kittens are growing up rapidly, and are a source of constant entertainment and delight! Here Naledi poses next to her laptop and obligatory apple, to show off her new size.
Here is a photo update of the warthogs around our office. The piglets are all weaned now, and are beautiful and well fed looking.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2012... I captured this moment on our boat, recently- heading smoothly downstream. Stormclouds still loom ahead, but the surface of the water, while moving rapidly and strongly, is calm and peaceful. I feel as if the extreme turbulence is over, and I finally feel up to the rest of the journey!
