Motswari - First rains, the green season, and the taste of summer

Throughout the late dry season it’s as if the bush is waiting to exhale. And then the first rains quench the earth, and for us on the ground it feels like coming up for air after the longest breath, where the landscape transforms from dry and brown to vibrant green, creating a stunning backdrop for wildlife viewing and photography. 

The green season is when the wild is most alive. Here at Motswari we have witnessed paintbrush lilies suddenly appearing overnight, and blasts of new colours in the sky as migration birds such as European rollers fill the air with the chop of wings. 

All senses are awakened. Petrichor, the smell of earth after the rains, is an intoxicating aroma we breathe in deeply after a brief, but spectacular thunderstorm.

Towering clouds are pulled back like a curtain to reveal dreamlike sunsets of candy floss pink. 

The green season after the rains is also referred to as the calving season. Newborn zebras wobbling on shaky legs, baby warthogs trotting behind their mothers, and wildebeest calves sticking close to the herd - all creating encounters guaranteed to tug on the heart strings. 

The heat is on. The cats are thirsty, the elephants are swimming, and the sundowners never tasted so good.