photo by @randyolson | words by @neilshea13 — Rain fell in the afternoon, turning the earth into slime and the water into oxblood. We took the boat upriver and later, returning, came upon this puzzle: on the steep shore ahead a woman shouted to a naked man who stood in the river gripping the horn of a terrified cow. Only the cow’s head broke water. Its eyes rolled, nostrils flared, it moaned and moaned. The river did this—you were always sliding from one story into the next, swift through the country’s unfinished business. Rarely did you know why something started or how it turned out. The man was trying to haul the white beast ashore. As it happened, he was just a good Samaritan. He’d been strolling past on his way to a party, his hair richly shaped with butter and clay. He heard the woman shouting, and so came over to look. Now he was soaked, and the cow was mad. Every time he caught the dumb beast it lunged away and swam out toward deep water where crocodiles waited. Anyone might have been angry, but river people are also cattle people, and later the man said this: Imagine how it looked to the cow. No earth beneath your hooves, no answer from your herd, the sky a mean gray gash. Every breath drowns you a little more and you have no words for the terror down below. Well. Eventually he caught the cow and we jumped down and together dragged it out. I thought the animal would die right then but it didn’t. The woman shook our hands in thanks and then went over to the shuddering creature. She laid her palm on its head, pulled its damp hair through her fingers. You idiot, she said. We are so far from home. For the last six years, Randy Olson and I have been documenting culture, change, and conflict in the watershed that connects southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. In the August issue of @natgeo magazine we’ll publish the latest in our series, #NGwatershedstories. Join us at @randyolson and @neilshea13 as we follow water through the desert. #2009 #africa #ethiopia #omoriver #kara #hamar #rivers #cow #water #animals @geneticislands #documentary #everydayafrica #everydayeverywhere #journalism #instaessay #natgeo @thephotosociety by natgeo http://ift.tt/1fsbBUo – Gatlinburg Garden Castle Rainbow Tower Library Imagination Station Temple Water Spirit Guardian Labyrinth Treasury Magic Healing