This mysterious, masked person - who could she possibly be? Haha! Seeing out the old year in some kind of style ... in a more upmarket version of the middle of nowhere (where else?!).
The staff at Selinda Camp, where we stayed, handmade these cool masks to get the small group of guests in the festive mood! We all partied together - South Africans, Spaniards, Welsh, Germans and the Batswana staff! Much dancing, the usual mad session of hugs for virtual strangers at New Year, but also loads of laughs and new friendships made! I fear a bit too much vino was consumed by yours truly, but the New Year spirit was extremely infectious! All my absent friends and loved ones, as some of course already know - rest assured that I had a drink for you and thought of and missed you all..
To backtrack a few days...we were delighted and so lucky to be invited by management to enjoy 4 nights in the exquisite and romantic Selinda Reserve in northern Botswana. On Monday we jumped onto a small charter plane, armed with chocolates (gifts from civillisation for our friends working out at the camps) and of course the usual bits and pieces for their computers!
Only about a 50 minute flight away from Kasane, and close to the border with Namibia, this place inspires me to fling all sorts of biblical brochure-type words onto this page regarding eden, paradise, heaven, sublimity.. and since they've landed here, I'll just leave them right where they are!
A typical view: water, floodplain, palm treeline and hippo amongst the waterlilies!
Dinner table being prepared at Selinda Camp.
I'm now compelled to try and describe the sunsets over the Selinda spillway: the water glinting in the last moments of daylight; random rhythms of surfacing/submerging hippos creating ripples and bubbles, which break up the reflections and gently jostle the fields of water lilies...
The treeline of palms and delicate leafy silhouettes picked out in jet black against the coloured backgrounds. Backgrounds plural, as the colours shift and change constantly. Pastels, sepias, oranges, golds and purples, all with their corresponding mirror images in the water below.
Selinda Reserve is a pristine wilderness, lush and green at this time of year, where you come across so many different species of animals and birds - despite it being the wet season where the animals don't need to travel so far to find water. Elephants, hippos, warthogs, impala, zebra, kudu, tsessebe, giraffes, wild dog, leopard, lechwe, waterbuck... eagles, rollers, bee-eaters, francolin, guinea fowl and countless water birds.
Let's not forget all the smaller creatures such as the dung beetles, lizards, fireflies, frogs in full nocturnal chorus... and, to top it all, an entire thicket of Flame Lily buds hiding in the undergrowth near our beautiful tented accommodation - ready to burst into flame for the next future occupant!
This is me in my absolute element: reclining on an anthill, enjoying a sundowner and absorbing that magical late afternoon golden light...
After New Year we moved across the Reserve, to the fabulous and luxurious Zarafa Camp which almost appears to float above the floodplain, on the edge of the Zibadianja lagoon. Here we luxuriated, dipping in our private plunge pool, experiencing the indescribable views over the lagoon, and enjoyed (as usual) the great company of the management staff! The entire camp is designed in the most imaginative and eco-friendly safari style, with the gorgeous decking in the main area seeming to flow right into the lagoon itself! 
It really was a sad occasion, leaving the beautiful place and people, but yes.. back to reality with us, and all ready for a most wonderful 2009! I know it will be a fantastic year, all the better for having started off with such an awesome Safari getaway!
So, back home to the Chobe River... here's an aerial view of our part of the world, taken during one of our flights. Also not such a bad place to live, come to think of it... :-) 
