Botswana Sunset Magic
The story of the amazing evening… I know words cannot adequately describe it.. but maybe combined with some images….
The story:
I believe it was the 5th day of the trip. We had a great morning, and were back at the boat by mid day. We later heard that there was a leopard siting in the bush near a big open shore area of the river so we motored down there, cameras in our gimbals and pads on our knees. From the boat we watched the bush for the leopard to emerge.. but as the minutes turned into an hour there was no movement from the bush. Some elephants came and went. They bathed, sloshed and spouted water over their backs and just as quickly as they appeared, sauntered off toward the west. Guinea Fowl hustled back and forth and finally 2 found themselves looking at the leopard lair as if sensing there was danger but not sure whether to go by or not. A beautiful Kudu walked to the waters edge, drank and rambled away. From across the shore a bull elephant came and crashed by the leopard bush, flushed her and just like that, she was gone…a little nudge of disappointment ran through me, having really hoped she would come to the water line to drink but.. The miraculous moment was just about to unfold. Another lesson that being open to possibilities is what you need to see so much of what life has to offer.
A seemingly endless flow of elephants, moms and calves, tiny infants and big bulls all headed straight to the waters edge with the anticipation of their thirst quenched. Dipping their great trunks in the water and siphoning the elixir into their mouths created creeks of water spilling from their triangular, wrinkled mouths.. The littlest babies trying to gain control over this “trunk thing”, waving them sloppily through the water.
There were easily 40 elephants bathing within yards of us as the the intense heat of the African sun was waning. As they moved from the wet coolness they headed straight to the red dry dust. Dozens of elephants were throwing dust clouds in the air over their heads, all in line with the sun as it was setting.
The scene transformed into pure magic, orange-gold dust diffusing the light from the setting sun. Unlike the group we watched earlier, this herd lingered there for more than an hour directly in line with the sunset. The kudu appeared in the background of orange dust with his elegant helical horns.
Baboons scampered on the shore in front of the elephants. They then converged on the left bank of the cove, all in a baboon version of the lotus position. .
The sky turned from orange to pink and blue and the elephants basked in the scene as did we…Raising their trunks to see what we were doing, just as we were curious about them, watching each other..
The sense of awe and connectedness with all of us photographing and absorbing the scene was palpable. An awakening of that deeply connected thread with all life.
The elements of water, the sun, the beauty…. Life.
Every day is a gift, especially in the wild.