Okavango Gods

Pula is the son of the rainmaker and he fishes with his father from a mokoro on the Okavango River. Above him he sees aircraft rising into the clouds and he too wants to fly. He and his dear friend Julia are caught in the biggest flood ever to hit the Okavango Delta. They are rescued from Shakawe by an American pilot flying a C130 Hercules. A huge wave of global change now swamps the world old cultures and long-honoured beliefs are questioned small languages and small communities are being destroyed some people are endangered - not only birds and beasts. The cycles of flood and drought have been around since Gilgameshs time so have unstable metaphysical explanations for them the eternal role of fickle gods. Even Okavango Gods. Current change in the Okavango Delta and ancient change in the Euphrates are perhaps not so far apart after all. Man will bring about the change the ancient gods are no longer reliable the future lies in mans volition. Fleischer has a keen sense of structure and counterpoint. He weaves the past and the present the primitive and the current history and fiction into a fascinating text. From a review of OKAVANGO GODS by Barrie Hough RAPPORT Johannesburg.