In most parts of Africa there is a dry season and a wet season and the colours of the land echo the time of the year. Dry is brown, turning to a uniform colour of dry as the season progresses - and wet is all shades of green. And so it is in Botswana - for the most part.
But in the Okavango the dry season is a contrast of greens and browns, a contrast of wet and dry!
At the peak of the flood in the Okavango the dry season is at its harshest - and the clash between the extremes is enigmatic. Lush green floodplains front dusted islands and animals are seen to be kicking up dust and water in one stride.
In some years the local rainfall will flood the delta and the lush marsh greens add to the colours of green of the rainy season. Animals are swallowed in this landscape of plenty.
Colours Told in the Sky
The Okavango sky tells of the seasons of the delta and what colours shade the landscape at any particular time. The scape where dust and smoke smudge the sky indicates the dry season where the colours of the Okavango are an infusion of greens and brown. Where the ominous looking dark grey and black clouds of the rainy season smudge the sky is a signal a new era of colours of green.The End of a Season
Towards the end of the dry season the floodplains have dried out and the colours of brown mingle with the black of desiccated clay and the white of powdered dusty earth. It is a time of re-alignment before the greening of the rains. And the animals move with the colours and the seasons.
Visiting the Okavango Delta at any time during the year will provide visitors with a feast of splendid colour, be it in the normally drab African dry season or the uniform green of the rainy season.
