Water, Water Not Everywhere

The weather of late has been oppressively hot and clammy.  So much so that it takes a huge effort to go out and do anything during the day when the preference is to either sit in the shade with a cool drink or relax in the comfort of the air-conditioned house. 

The heat and dry weather is further compounding the drought problem too.  The house where I'm staying relies on a borehole for its water supply but the ground water levels have dropped so far that this is now struggling to fill the header tanks on the roof.  As a consequence the pool is no longer topped up and the water level is falling, thereby stopping the pool filter from working.  It's now an attractive green colour with a huge array of pond life living in it.  Just when you need the pool most.

Pea Soup or the Swimming Pool

Running out of ideas of what to do and where to go I had a look on the internet for inspiration and found a place not too far from here that has a waterfall, so a visit was planned.  Driving out towards the place it soon became obvious that visiting a water fall during a drought might not be the best idea.  The landscape that was previously one of a vibrant green is now a mixed hue of browns.  The rice paddies are mostly covered in the straw of dead crops or have that crazy paved looked from the dried mud.  Cattle and water buffalo look forlorn and dejected in fields of brown grass and the locals in the farming districts seem to be listlessly moping around waiting for it to rain.

Hoping that the mountains would have some remnants of water we persevered in visiting the waterfall but each and every river we crossed was bone dry.  When we arrived at the point where we needed to hike a couple of miles to see the waterfall, we all agreed it was going to be pointless task.  As my driver said, a waterfall without water is just a fall.  Or a rock face.  And there'd be no cooling dip in the plunge pool at the base of the waterfall, which was likely to be either empty or full of stagnant, fetid water.  And I already have that at the pool at the house.