First Rain!!

sky blackened, thunder rumbled, lightening flashed and the wind blew - had our first 12 inch rain of the season - that smell of the first rain of spring in the kalahari, if you've never smelt it you're missing something, difficult to describe but fresh, new rebirth might give you an idea.
our rhinos are up to something, ben's resident harem stompie and friend have left him and gone walkabout we're hoping this a prelude to stompie calving which willem says is imminent, we are looking for them every day but with the windy days we've been having quite difficult to see their spoor. we're trying to give them some lucerne a bit of green in their endless diet of dry dry grass - help with the milk we hope.
went to lake ngami on sunday with britt toby tj and vicks, the water has been piling down from the okavango through tonota for weeks now and is a sight to behold, a rushing river of blue crystal clear water gurgling and swishing under the road in a sea of yellow dry waving stalks of grass - the resident donkeys, goats and cows must think they're living a dream. getting to the lake is interesting to say the least - travelling east take any turn to the right after sehitwa and follow your nose, vehicles raise plumes of fine dust which gets everwhere - i mean everywhere ! the ground is tinder dry, not a blade of grass or a leaf on a tree, then suddenly the change a few wisps of green and then the lake opens up in front - it's a huge lake must be 30 kms long by 5 kms wide but not a sea of blue rather a sea of green it's so shallow, the grass and reeds are all you can see but careful the mud waits to suck even the best 4 x 4 down. birds birds birds for africa waders, storks, eagles and more what a sight. the ubiquitous cattle donkeys and goats wading around and are they fat. the amazing thing is that this is in the middle of a desert at the height of the dry season, one of the wonders of africa.
just got a quad for kanana, a necessary step to save fuel - big notices all over it NO PASSENGERS, UNLEADED FUEL ONLY - what happened? first thing our merry men fill up with leaded fuel then with groovy driving and !kgara passenger are off oblivious to mr yamaha's admonishments they had fun and japanese technology seems to take the punishment in it's stride must be designed for africa.
(editors note: 12 inch rain refers to drops being 12 inches apart)

spring in the west

Been suffering from writers block since returning to Africa from the so called First World, need to slow down.
We’re now in the suicide months on Kanana, very hot, waiting for that elusive first rain which probably won’t arrive until late November.
Grass is tinder dry, yellow and waiting for a spark and gust of wind to start an inferno. Amazes me that animals still thrive on this brittle forage they’re drinking plenty of water though, guess to wash it down.
The camel thorns showing signs of life and have come into leaf, the browsers – giraffe, eland kudu - must be chuffed.
Had Luke and Jess here for last few weeks, they’re doing a dry run for the permanent move in February. Jess’s baby now very obvious and she’s brilliant, so cheerful and excited, even though she’s given up the weed and limited herself to one glass of red per day. Difficult in this heat to carry that extra weight, glad I’m a man! I empathise with Jess though and carrying a bit of extra weight myself in solidarity!
We’ve finally bought a new TV, a 50 inch plasma job, I can now see the footie and I’m ready to witness Sunderland’s renaissance.
Lara’s back at school, final term for her - study study study then exams and release. Her five years at DSG has flown, where does all the time go? She’s still not sure what to do next year, maybe a yachting skipper’s course in Cape Town!