Botswana, 2007

Okavango Delta – This is serenity; this is bliss. Lying in the shade of a copse of African trees, a gentle breeze blowing, birds calling. I’m still cool from a dip in the river, still spent from a three hour walking safari this morning, still satisfied from an egg-bread brunch, still savouring my success with the wooden dug-out mokoro canoe. Here, somewhere on the African plains, I am content. I am at peace.

Beside the campfire is the mighty skull of an elephant, with other bones scattered around, bleached and eroded. Surely this is my soul place, the home of my spirit. Not 10 feet away is a tawny-coloured squirrel perched on the tree trunk, a hornbill hopping from branch to branch and a bright yellow bird scouring the sand for insects. Yesterday, a monkey watched from the trees.

We are surrounded by wildlife – elephant, giraffe, impala, baboon, hippo – all these we have seen in the bush and water surrounding the camp. There has been spoor of leopard, bushbuck, porcupine and zebra, as well as burrows of aardvark and hare. Last night, we heard the grunting of lion across the river. This is true wilderness. Even the local people with their mokoros (carved from the sausage tree) seem to fit with the landscape.

Here, you meet nature and its creatures on their own terms, in their own habitat, at their own pace. Here, for a few precious days, the world slows down and life gets simple again. Rushing is not an option; complication is not required. And yet, wherever we are, we take our thoughts with us – our hopes and anxieties, our affections and scars.