Scents of the Seasons in the Okavango Panhandle
Safari Guide Experiences
© Okavango in the wet-season
Each season in the Okavango Pan-handle has a distinctive scent, with each moment of each season caressing the senses and lacing the air in touches of soul-soothing inspiration.Many will attest to the sensual embrace of the spilling of the first rains of the season. The scent that permeates the air is invigorating and uplifting. It is the scent of a consummation, the scent of the fulfilment of a promise - and it spikes the senses into wild celebration with its sensuous caress.
Dramatic as the first rain scent is, it is only one of the inspiring scents that signify each season. When you live the seasons you appreciate them all, from the all-encompassing heat to the fat-green excesses of the rainy season.
You do yearn for change at times, but the realisation that what you are going through at the time must run its course makes you appreciate what the wilderness means to the soul of humanity.
At the peak of the dry season, when most yearn for a change, there is a comforting touch in the musky dust-tainted scent of dawn. It is the calm before the ferocity of the heat of the day.
But even in the heat there is peace in the scent of the time, be it in the breeze-borne dust harvest or the throat-caking dryness. When you live the seasons and understand them you will revel in each moment.
By Leigh Kemp