WHEN IT RAINS ON VERNEUKPAN

In December 2016, we were on our way to Verneukpan, a pancake-flat salt pan in the Northern Cape. Knee-high scrub stretched from horizon to horizon. As we got closer to our destination, the vegetation started to peter out into sand. The landscape was parched. To one side, I saw a whirlwind rise from the plains. Something changed in the atmosphere and the horizon began to darken. A thunderstorm was brewing… I took a few photos with my Nikon D7000 and 18 – 140 mm lens 1 . It doesn’t rain in that part of the world very often. I had never seen so many whirlwinds before and after a while I stopped counting. It was as if they were running from the storm. Lightning strikes the tallest object and on these barren plains, a whirlwind just might be the target! We reached the pan late in the afternoon, arriving at the final farm gate just as the storm rolled in. The whirlwinds were soon swallowed up and the landscape turned a dusty white 2 . We stood on the dry pan and watched the first raindrops hit the ground. I wanted to feel what the pan felt, so I lay down. Heavy, cool drops fell onto my hot, dry skin. Beneath me the ground turned to mud. The rain started to barrel down and moved over the pan like a stage curtain, revealing a wonderland of sound, colour and smell. The kids danced in the rain to the rhythm of the storm 3 . Eventually the storm moved away and we watched it across the open expanse. The sun set in a blaze of colour and I got the feeling that I was witnessing this beautiful place at the most beautiful moment. On one side, the sky was painted orange, purple, pink and red; on the other side it was still bruised and overcast. In front, in the golden light, rainbows arched over the landscape 4 . Behind us, night snuck up in a bit of clear sky, where the stars began to sparkle…