In about two weeks, I leave for Botswana. Everyone I know who's been there tells me it's fantastic. The internet seems to second that opinion. A PhD student in the museum I work in used to live there. She calls it paradise on Earth. That's a high accolade but right now, as I write this in Cerrillos, NM, where the weather has recently scuttled above freezing, any sub-Saharan country seems like paradise on Earth. Except for maybe the Sudan...or Somalia. Don't get me wrong, I love the snow on the mountains and the crisp winter air filtered through frosty juniper trees. I was born in Miami, though, and the prospect of warmer climes makes me hum "Boat Drinks" by Jimmy Buffet. Ironically, though, Botswana is land-locked.
That doesn't mean there's no water. We'll be catching the tail end of the rainy season on the Okavango. I'm sure the erratic showers will wear on us after a while, but those first few storms will be awesome! And, when the fun of being in a storm after so long in the desert disappears, there will still be the view. The rains are highly regional. Often it will be raining in one area but completely dry only ten kilometers away. I think I'll watch the animals graze in the delta in front of a backdrop of pouring storm clouds doing the same.
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