The Okavango Delta, Botswana

Suspended between sky and water, the mokoro rocks from side to side as it poles between the banks of the Okavango Delta. There are crocs and hippos here, elephant and lion, and the piercing cry of the fish-eagle sends a sudden shiver down your spine.

You are in the presence of something basic and elemental, and so you have a sense of great calm, of inner expansiveness – yet there is a cold edge of danger, too, behind the postcard-pretty picture. You know you are a privileged witness, but you are also vulnerable.

In all sorts of ways, you see your life before you – hope, disappointment, work, family, love, loss, joy, laughter – and you know that the mokoro, propelling you forward, just a few wavering inches above the  treacherous water, is here to deliver you.