Oh you splendid Okavango....

Yes, as you can see, I am back from Moremi! The last month is something that I will never forget...I did a very large amount of work with the exploration team. We changed four camps in north Botswana, we made more than a dozen trips in the floodplains and the swamps and we browsed through an extensive area in pursuit of the elusive populace of the lappet-faced vulture. I encountered a big variety of wildlife and many interesting people and I saw sights and places that will forever remain in my memory. The mission of course is very far from over because this was only the first stage...mapping and charting the current territorial distribution of this bird and its populations across the floodplains of Okavango delta. This pinnacle of its particular branch of the food pyramid will hopefully open our eyes about the intricate structure of a considerably larger segment of the more complex ecosystem that is Okavango.

Now the river has subsided to its minimum in November but the first torrential rains started to arrive toward the end of my stay...and with them the mosquittos are coming back and later, hopefully, the floodwaters from the north. The life of the delta is really like a pulsating heart...and it is in many ways unique... Because while it is winter everywhere else around and the desert is making its inroads, full of dust and dry hot air, the floods from Angola are still fueling the delta...but in summer when it is very hot, the rain comes in thundering showers, and soaks the earth with invigorating splendour. It is really a very complicated ecosystem, and the most fascinating part is to watch the various populations of animals, both predatory and herbivorous, come and leave in groups or prides or in singles depending on their social structure... The place is entering the most nervous part of its annual cycle now, when there is very little water and most of the lakes are turning into dying puddles, where piles of stinking catfish are slowly suffering an agonysing death, while excited birds are flocking in to enjoy this bountiful feast...and springboks, wildebeest and buffalos are struggling to find pasture, and are eventually forced to leave the region in vast migrations of epic, even biblical proportions...meanwhile being chased by prides of big cats with big claws and teeth, and perfectly organised groups of spotted hyenas and wild dogs. The hippos are lying dormant, buried into the puddles of mud, praying for the first drops of rain to come as soon as possible, while the crocodiles are hiding in the reed, not moving and not eating for months, but always vigilant for a chance passing by. It is a time of anguish and death, extreme battles for survival and a temporary breakdown of the social structures of many species, and hiding the potential threat of a collapse of entire branches of the food pyramid. A real test to everyone, a moment when the fittest are to be seen and the weaker are to vanish into oblivion. But the rain is sure to come soon, and then the river will float again back into the vast plain, to bring back life to everything. And this has been for countless millennia.

This is the moment where I left the place, hoping to return some day soon, and find how it is going...hopefully to find it unchanged, but ever so fascinating and vibrant like it has always been. Seeing it with my own eyes and staying there long enough to sort of understand how it all works is what has really taught me what a fragile world we live in. And though it fills me with anxiety and worries for its future because of the coming rapid changes, the hope remains that we will find the inner strength in ourselves to make an effort and preserve it for its own sake. Because it deserves it.