Waiting for Kalahari rain

Two Gemsbok antelope stand among the dry grasses of the Kalahari plains while in the distance a sudden down pour takes place.
Rain here in Botswana is special,  even our currency here is called Pula ,which is the Tswana word for rain.Our rainy season starts in November and ends around April .The rain normally comes at the end of a hot day released  during a heavy downpour.Within minutes the storm is over leaving everything dripping with water and breathing new life into all that is living.

This oil painting was inspired by a trip that I took with a friend into the Kalahari.The trip coincided with the start of the rainy season .So during the end of some days, we experienced a couple of sudden down pours.We then had the privileged to see tortoises, bat-eared foxes, jackals, and birds drinking the precious water that had gathered in the few dirt tracks that meandered through the Kalahari.It was probably the first water they had drank since the last rains many months before.