'The Hoanib runs with water very infrequently and only between December and May. When it does flow it is as a flash flood that passes through a few hours after a thunder storm in the interior of Namibia. Then it slowly dries up leaving delicate meandering channels in the sand and piles of wood and vegetation piled up again the huge acacia trees that populate the Hoanib riverbed. In the 1990s Clarissa and I spent several weeks camped up and down the full length of the Hoanib and one had to be quite careful where we made camp as I had heard too many stories about people and vehicles being swept away in the night by an unexpected flash flood in exactly these kinds of riverbeds.
On one occasion we traveled to the Hoanib just after one of these flash floods had swept through. Seeing this spectacular desert valley with a tiny stream of crystal clear water flowing down its course was bizarre. On the first night of that visit I was especially careful to find high ground to camp on as the evidence of a flash flood were everywhere you looked and impossible to ignore. This painting depicts that exact location.'

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