'This painting is of an incident I saw in 1979 in the thick bush just back from the Simiti Pool on the very Eastern edge of the Okavango in Botswana. This pool is the furthest point that the Gomoti River reaches in Eastern Ngamiland Province. I camped here for a few days while on the way to Savuti purely on the basis of information given to me in Croc Camp bar in Maun. He had broken down at Simiti on the way back to Maun. The floods of that year had been good and so Simiti was a big lagoon set deep into the arid hinterland to the north of Shorobe. He told me that during his forced stay waiting for a spare part to be dropped off from Maun he had seen vast amounts of wildlife. This included several lions which would come down to drink in the very early mornings and late evenings after the traffic from Moremi had ceased. I decided to take him at his word and camp at Simiti and see for myself what was going on there. The next day I drove North. This painting illustrates the reward that I got a few days later at Simiti when some kudu tried to creep down along a tree line and drink at the pool! Simiti is a good illustration of the fickle nature of the Okavango floods because that was the only year I saw Simiti with water in it. '

Please note that the text accompanying this painting in my 2006 show catalogue at the Tryon in London differs from the above because of a layout mistake in my rush to ready the catalog for printing.