Rain in Tses

...falls... rarely.

About 1-3 times per year (at least in the 10 or so months I’m actually IN Tses to witness it), it rains.

Okay, sometimes it sprinkles or drips, but in my experience, 1-3 times per year, it RAINS hard and for more than 30 minutes. When this happens, everyone celebrates! The dams will fill up again, plants will grow, animals can eat and drink. We’re much more in tune with the water cycle here than I’m used to in the U.S.

The funny thing about living here is that, although the ground is always parched and cracked, very little water is absorbed. The rest all runs off (taking all kinds of rubbish and small plants with it) into rivers and streams. Although it’s more frequent in the North where the rainy season is really serious, it’s not that uncommon for small villages to be cut off from the rest of the country by a river which has suddenly appeared.

The Tses River after the rain… compared to the Tses River the rest of the year

Although I don’t think it was more than waist-deep, this tiny river had a strong enough current that it was actually impossible to cross! (I know… I tried.)

The Tses River, among many others, flows into the nearby Fish River, which flows into the Orange River, which flows into the ocean. The Fish doesn’t flow the whole year…but after the rains, it flows and flows and flows!

We went to visit the waterfall which is about 20km away from Tses. It’s the first time in 3 years that I have made it to the Fish while the water was still falling!

Nobody told us… don’t swim in the water. It will make you sick for days. (Totally worth it though!)