Fire and away
Friday, September 29th, 2006“We’ve had a bushfire burning here for five days,” she said. “Right now, I’m wiping ash off the phone. We couldn’t see anything at all yesterday - the sun was blacked out. It’s causing really bizarre weather. It could come into Opuwo any time, and we don’t have an evacuation plan. It’s a bit worrying.”
“Gosh,” I said, hoping it will have burned out by Monday. I’m kind of dreading Monday. I have to drive all the way up to Opuwo, and it takes 8 hours if you don’t stop on the way to rest. The organisation’s car is a clapped out Toyota with a tendency towards moodiness and rattling. I have company, but not someone who can share the driving.
The air right now is hot and heavy, and it seems to cling to my skin like oil. Somewhere nearby something dry is burning, and every day the atmosphere smells more thickly of ozone, smoke and jasmine - a heady combination that settles you into a soft warm pillow of blissful non-concentration. Not ideal driving conditions when you don’t have to turn a corner for almost 600km.
It’s going to be a slog. All I need is to arrive into a smoke storm of soon-to-be-legendary proportions, or to have to drive the car through rivers of fire. I mean, how many rivers of fire am I expected to take? I’m not wonderwoman, for god’s sake.
Anyway, I shall be away for ten days, doing worky stuff up north. I will try and check in to provide tales of the unexpected - probably more about heat, cows and dust, and hopefully not about rivers of fire.
Back soon!
