This is the dry Marrick Pan which covers in excess of 400 hectares  and very seldom fills with water but when it does it transforms into a green paradise for a few months.

Even the reptiles like this Cape Cobra were struggling with the harsh drought , hence attracting them to venture into the Marrick farmyard looking for water.

Almost every evening there would be stunning sunsets with cumulonimbus clouds on the horizon but bringing no rain.

It happened mid afternoon on 1 January 2009. The skies got darker and darker and the rain started to fall.

Within minutes of the first drops of rain we realised that this was not just going to be a few drops of rain.

A celebration of rain.

An hour later it was all over except for the flooding. In excess of 100 millimetres of rain fell in less than an hour and the parched earth could not absorb the water quickly enough.

As far as one could see everything was covered by muddy water.

In places the water was higher than the fences.

The Marrick Pan rapidly started to fill with water, the first time in many years.

The parched dry earth could not absorb the water quick enough.

In places the water was been absorbed so quickly it was creating small whirl pools and a distinct rumbling noise.

Insects and spiders where all looking for higher ground to escape the water.

This puff adder was one of the many creatures that managed to survive the flood waters, however the next day we found many that did not, like ground squirrels and even a young warthog.

It was not long before the Abdim’s storks, (Ciconia abdimii) also known as white-bellied storks arrived for easy pickings.

By the next morning various species of aquatic birds started to arrive. Marrick Game Farm attracts approximately 258 species of birds, becoming a birders paradise. This bird list has been compiled by Mark Anderson the CEO of BirdLife South Africa. If interested in this bird list you can email me on shawn@arkimages.com

Flamingo arriving.

Within 24 hours of the rain storm bull frogs appeared from their long hibernation in the dry earth, which can run into multiple years.

One of the many thousands of Juvenile bullfrogs that will eat anything that moves that they can get into their large mouths and in turn they are preyed on by many of the bird species.

Driving around the pan was not a good idea. Two Land Rover Defenders literally sunk to the chassis after driving on the wet saturated ground.

Once the ground had sufficiently dried tractor power had to be used to to extract the Land Rover Defenders.

Trevor the owner of Marrick Game Farm riding through the shallow water in the pan with his dogs.

A spectacular transformation.

The black wildebeest on the green fringes of the pan.

A ground squirrel making the best of all the plentiful green food.

Gemsbuck running through the green savannah veld.

Fortunately there were good followup rains that ensured the regrowth of the flora species on Marrick Game Farm

The dark cumulonimbus clouds creating an amazing landscape of the green savannah veld on Marrick

Trevor taking his Australian Cattle dogs for a run on a jeep track on the circumference of the pan where the lush green grass has changed colour on the approach of winter.

As the water dries up on the pan the mountain bike trails make excellent game viewing for mountain bikers. There are in excess of 75km of mountain bike trails on Marrick.

The elusive Aardvark in the dry grass on the Marrick pan. Sightings at Marrick are almost guaranteed.

At the start of the next summer the earth is once again dry and barren waiting for the next rains to start the cycle again