Monday 9 August 2010

Back to Botswana


I was very lucky to return to Botswana for a safari this July/August. Wow! What an amazing trip. For the first time I travelled in to the vast Makgadikgadi Salt Pans to sleep under the stars and meet a family of wild Meerkats. It is hard to describe how empty but how beautiful this place is. The silence and simple palette of colours is mesmerising and so inspiring. In comparison, the lush greens and golds of the Okavango Delta was a total contrast. Experiencing some of the highest water levels in 40 years, parts of the Delta and neighbouring Savuti Marsh are now under water and carpetted in water lillies. I was so lucky to be able to visit African Horseback in the heart of the Okavango Delta and ride with some of the most experienced riding escorts I have ever met. Both horses and riders were superb and it was the most wonderful way to watch wildlife. Elephants and buffalo, warthogs and antelope largely ignored the horses and the peace of riding through Mopane forests and vast savannah was overwhelming. I loved being there. Such an inspiring place in which to paint.

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