Desert Lives

I finally got back out into the field this week, al Humdulilah!

Desert Postcards

Another day another desert... 

Well.. not really. But I have grown an appreciation for deserts these past two years in Africa. This is Sossusvlei in Namibia. "Vlei" is the afrikaans word for "marsh", while "sossus" is nama for "no return" or "dead end".  A really special place. To me you really feel the longevity of deserts in Namibia. This place has remained unchanged for thousands of years. But, perhaps in an almost contradictory sense, it is teeming with life. Only the smart survive the desert though. And perhaps thats what makes the inhabitants so fascinating. While there we saw desert Elephants, Oryx (Gemsbok), Zebra, Kudu, Warthog Eland, Springbok, Wildebeest, Black Rhino, Black-backed Jackals, raptors, birds, birds, birds and insects in abundance and even some wild desert horses. 

Australia is a tiny strip of rain-fed land wrapped around a vast, dry landmass. The people cluster in tight huddles, clinging to the coastline and the rains that blow in from the ocean. Her heart is left neglected and void of life and water. And yet, she is beautiful and ancient. I want to travel to her centre and touch her soul and understand her. Try to understand her like her people once did. 

Hosani (Arabic for 'my horse')

I have been on the phone quite a bit in recent days. It's called horse management. When you live on the other side of the country to your horse. I am starting the process of re-homing my horse as his care-takers are leaving Sudan. Tough decisions await me...

Riding back from The Nile at sunset

I bought my horse 'Nullarbor' when I was living in Khartoum in 2009-2010. And he gave me so much joy, riding every night after work and down to the River Nile on the weekends. He also gave me a 'way-in' to a community in a country full of people who are extremely friendly to foreigners, but not always easily accessible. After only a month of riding I had a ready-made group of local friends, an equine community, full of advice and fun and cups of shai. Friday afternoons were spent watching the races and once a month the whole club would ride to the banks of the Nile for a BBQ. I even sat with friends as their horses took their last breaths in this life. The horses allowed us to transcend the nationality and gender boundaries because we all spoke the same language, the language of horses. And Sudan is a country with a long and fascinating relationship with the horse. The desert horses bred in this country are among some of the strongest in the world. If it were not for the disease, African Horse Sickness, they would be exported around the world as champion Endurance and Cross-Country competitive horses. They are sturdy, hardy and endure the dry heat of the desert well, often walking for days at a time without water. They are a bit of the 'camel' of the horse family I always like to think. 

But sadly for me, I then had to choose between the joy of this companionship and the work that I came to this country for in the first place. So after one year of horsey life in Khartoum, I ended up relocating to Darfur in the far west of Sudan. (Ironically my horse was born and bred in Darfur, as are the best horses in the country, and then walked across the desert in large herds to be sold at the horse markets of Khartoum). In Darfur I cannot ride horses unfortunately (I went once but then a foreign aid-worker got kidnapped near-by and I was warned not to try it again..). And so I found some friends to ride and care for my four-legged friend back in the city and had to remain content with a visit every 6 weeks on my way out of Sudan for the much needed R&R. 

So now those great friends are leaving and things are changing. I am not even sure how long I will have a job in this country. I always knew this day would come.. And so I am 'contingency planning' for the final farewell to my beloved friend Nulla. I have ridden horses all my life and had relationships with these precious creatures before but this one was perhaps the most special. He saved me from a deep, uninvited sadness. When I first came to this country, he came along at time when I was not only incredibly lonely but had also just lost my dog, Willoughby. This relationship between horse and rider gave me hope and a new life here. And for him? Well, I suppose I came along at the right time for him too. He had just arrived at the horse market in Khartoum, was bought and then resold the next day and would probably have continued on that path and ended up who knows where... 
A gentle touch and a bag of carrots can go a very long way. 

Chill'n in da Nile...

FYI....  From one desert to another...

The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. The word Nullarbor is derived from the Latin nullus, "no", and arbor, "tree". It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi)

(thanks Wikipedia!)

Water

woops, am a bit late for World Water Week.. But I have been thinking about it all week, reading it all through the media sources I follow, here for example. I think about it a lot actually. I suppose living in a desert does that to you. 

Village hand-pump, Juba, S.Sudan

The rains will come here in a couple of months.. and I Love that time in the desert. Seeing kids playing in the river, seeing women not have to walk nearly as far each day to collect the daily supply for the family. Seeing the food literally growing before my eyes, knowing that families will soon be getting just that little bit more to eat each day. One thing I always take such pleasure in when I go home to Australia is walking over to the kitchen sink, turning on the tap, filling a big glass, and taking that first sip. Amazing. We are so lucky. 4,000 kids a day die of unclean water complications. How can we let this happen? It makes no sense...

P.S. CCM just sent through this really interesting look at how much water it takes to produce average, every day things...  wow.

Back from Bali

That last ocean breeze that came in with the distant storm, bejewelled with tropical lightening, farewelled me on that last night on the beach, just hours before my plane was to take-off. It could not have felt any more precious. That would be the last one for a while, that I knew.. The last moments of freshness before I returned to my desert of sorrow. 

The Manta's are out there, dancing and flying off Nusa Penida, in all their grace. They knew how I called for them. They came. They knew the love I felt for them in that moment. Of that I am sure. For it was there, in their eyes, as they watched me. As I them.  And there they will await me, I hope and pray, until next time. 

My skin is quenched with the sweet, humid air and the pure blessing that is salt water. I now see that is where I belong. My water sign has finally come into its' own and realised its place in this world. Realised what is true and beauty and home. 

Japan

 My heart is with Yumi and her search for Hope over in Japan...  Mother Teresa said;  "To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it".  When you run out Yumi, your friends and family around you, around the world, will be the oil.

illustration by natascha rosenberg and print by Adam