'The Okavango in Botswana is a wilderness that has vast areas of very shallow floodplains. Dugouts which are known locally as mekoro are a ubiquitous form of transport and they can easily cross a floodplain that is only inches deep as well as traverse deeper water. The only limitation is that the depth of the water can not be greater than the length of the pole used to propel the dugout. They are the best way to get about in the really wild parts of the Okavango. What I love about mekoro is that they are all shaped differently having been created without plans. Some are huge some small. There isn't a straight line anywhere. They are all beautiful organic works of art that have functional lives carrying passengers and cargo through the Okavango. One of my first painting sales in 1979 was to an American who had just bought a complete mekoro which he intended to take back to New York and hang it from the roof of his apartment living room. However the era of the wooden mekoro is now over because it's considered environmentally incorrect by lodges and camps to use them for tourist purposes because each mekoro is made from giant hardwood tree. If you are a tourist in Botswana - all you will see are fiberglass analogs of the old wood mekoros. This painting is of the floodplains in the vicinity of Dubis near the Panhandle.'

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