Pula, as you may know, is not merely the currency of Botswana; it is also a celebratory greeting, symbolising the hope for rain in this often arid country, as ‘pula’ translates to rain. Botswana has suffered from severe drought for many years now.
However, there’s more. This week, a plethora of events aligned to warm our hearts, and 2025 got off to an amazing start.
The heavens opened in glorious style, drenching the land and nation with hundreds of millimetres of rain. For us personally, Beverly and I stepped off a plane onto Botswana soil for the first time in six years.
But now everything is positively different.
The first thing I did was bend and touch the soil, that Kalahari sand, which Beverly and I both love so much. I smelt it slowly as its fragrances of elephants and sage flooded back into and filled my DNA.
As hundreds of our Great Plains family greeted us, dancing and singing, crying and laughing, we were overwhelmed emotionally. Lions, elephants, buffalo, leopards, and other endangered species paraded out, and the rain poured down harder, soaking the thirsty land, renewing the green shoots of grass, and sprinkling its magic back into our thirsty souls. Pula.
The attached message is as ‘live’ as possible from a remote location. As we transition from camp to camp, I am continually impressed by our camps and our people.
Most of all, I want to thank the leadership team for holding these precious places and our precious family in their hands with such care.
Warmest wishes
Dereck & Beverly Joubert
