21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
What about tomorrow?

WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW?--Botswana's Okavango Delta experienced a particularly dry, hot summer this year (2023). By mid- August, many of the water holes that the animals' relied upon, had all but dried up. While on safari in the northern Bushman territory, we came upon this beautiful leopard sitting on a small,dried-up lake bed, slurping the very last of the water that it held. When our guide advised that the Delta's rainy season does not begin until late October, all I could think as I watched the leopard was how thirsty he would be in the coming days. I wondered if I was witnessing another result of man's overuse of our mother earth.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2023
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Bushman Plains, Botswana
Camera: Canon EOS R5
Copyright: © Carla DeDominicis