Mail and Guardian - Okavango Gods, Review. Nov 3, 1998
Shirley Kossick reviews Okavango Gods by Anthony Fleischer (David Philip)

In Okavango Gods, Anthony Fleischer tells the story of Pula Barotse, a Hambukushu youth who straddles the divide between Western modernity and the ancient beliefs and myths of his own “people of the swamp”. Drawing him to the former is his close friend Julia Pinto, daughter of the Portuguese doctor in Shakawe, which is situated at the head of the Okavango delta. Pula’s father, on the other hand, reminds him of his special status as the child of a mugrodi or rain-mother who, uniquely, has been saved from sacrifice. This is Fleischer’s seventh novel and, as in the earlier works - most notably Children of Adamastor - he draws on his profound knowledge of and feeling for the African continent in all its complexity. Sometimes gentle and at other times savage, the spirit of Africa informs the narrative throughout. Fleischer also draws on the Babylonian legend of Gilgamesh with its account of warlike adventures, friendship and, above all, the great flood. Yet Okavango Gods is not simply a meditation on varying myths and traditions, but an exciting and immediate adventure story. Pula and Julia contend first with the vicious enmity of Potlako Lereng, whose thin sword made from a bicycle spoke is “an evil cattle-killing weapon, in evil hands”. The human dangers encountered by the couple are as nothing compared with the enormity of the flood that overtakes the Okavango region. Fleischer’s powers of description are particularly evident here as the archetypal cataclysm sweeps up Pula and Julia, dragging them “to the centre line of the current where they tumbled along with the debris from the land, like bits of damp rag”.

Julia’s terror in the face of this primaeval threat takes on an atavistic colouring as she imagines devils who “would cut her body into little pieces ... They would use her for their own dark purposes. She would be disposed of in ugly pieces, fuel for their power, food for them.” In contrast to the impassioned prose of this section is the much more measured and objective tone of the pilot who flies a mercy plane over the area. This versatility of style is a further indication of Fleischer’s mastery of his material in what is a fast-moving and highly readable novel.

Adventure Story Fascinating to the End 

OKAVANGO GODS is rooted in the violent cycles of nature in the Okavango between Namibia and Botswana. It is stimulating and interesting adventure/lovestory which plays itself out against the background of disastrous floods and the clashing of the two main characters.

They are Pula, son of John Barotse - the fisherman and official rainmaker of the proud Hamukushu-tribe with his antique and mysterioustraditions and rituals, and Julia - the daughter of the Portuguese doctor Pinto at the Shakawe clinic.

With its references to the centuries old story of the floods in the epic of Gilgamesh, through which a whole civilisation was destroyed some 5000 years ago, OKAVANGO GODS attains an apocalyptic tone. Therefrom comes a warning that the culture and ecosystem, in which the Hambukushu have lived for several ages in practically unchanged way, are on the verge of irreversable change and decline. This will happen not only as a result of natural disaster, but also through modernisation and the influence of Western technology.

Although Pula and Pulia are soul mates in Romeo and Juliet mode, their backgrounds, education, and cultural points of reference differ dramatically. Pula believes in primordial gods, the hottentotgod, the crocodile, and he places his faith in the apparently eveil witchdoctor, Bubi, who practices her dark ritual in her cave, offering human flesh to the gods. In contrast Julia believes in the one almighty God of Christendom.

There is a conflict in Pula's heart. He is a gifted artist who carves wooden images of the gods who is also bewitched by the new technology. He wishes to fly like a pilot, the one who tries to rescue as many people as possible when the floodwaters rise so dangerously. When the aircraft crashes and the pilot dies, one of Pula's dreams is destroyed.

After a final clash between evil and good comes peace, synthesis and hope. In relating the story of the Hambukushu to the ancient flood of Glgamesh, Fleischer's book achieves a universality and timelessness. Only through his technology is modern man delivered from the power of nature, just as it was millennia ago. 

Fleischer has a keen sense of structure and counterpoint. He weaves the past and the present, the primitive and the current, history and fiction into a fascinating text.

Barrie Hough, Rapport

In Okavango Gods, Anthony Fleischer tells the story of Pula Barotse, a Hambukushu youth who straddles the divide between Western modernity and the ancient beliefs and myths of his own "people of the swamp". Drawing him to the former is his close friend Julia Pinto, daughter of the Portuguese doctor in Shakawe, which is situated at the head of the Okavango delta. Pula's father, on the other hand, reminds him of his special status as the child of a mugrodi or rain-mother who, uniquely, has been saved from sacrifice.

This is Fleischer's seventh novel and, as in the earlier works - most notably Children of Adamastor - he draws on his profound knowledge of and feeling for the African continent in all its complexity. Sometimes gentle and at other times savage, the spirit of Africa informs the narrative throughout. Fleischer also draws on the Babylonian legend of Gilgamesh with its account of warlike adventures, friendship and, above all, the great flood. Yet Okavango Gods is not simply a meditation on varying myths and traditions, but an exciting and immediate adventure story. Pula and Julia contend first with the vicious enmity of Potlako Lereng, whose this sword made from a bicycle spoke is "an evil cattle-killing weapon, in evil hands".

The human dangers encountered by the couple are as nothing compared with the enormity of the flood that overtakes the Okavango region. Flesicher's powers of desccription are particularly evident here as the archetypal cataclysm sweeps up Pula and Julia, dragging them "to the centre line of the current wherethey tumbled along with the debris from the land, like bits of damp rag. Julia's terror in the face of this primaeval threat takes on an atavistic colouring as she imagines devils who "would cut her body into little pieces . . . They would use her for their own dark purposes. She would be disposed of in ugly pieces, fuel for their power, food for them."

In contrast to the impassioned prose of this section is the much more measured and objective tone of the pilot who flies a mercy plane over the area. This versatility of style is a further indication of Fleischer's mastery of his material in what is a fast-moving and highly readable novel.

     
Transworld Publishing Limited, London

At one level this book is a story about two people struggling to survive the biggest flood ever to hit the Okavango delta. At another it is an adventure 'at the mouth of rivers', a story about a young Hambukushu man who rides in a makoro on the river but who hopes to fly above the swamp. At another level it is an African allegory, a symbolic story of today, expressing deep concern for the future of the people of Ngamiland and the Okavango river which sustains them. A modern Hercules C130 aircraft, flown by an American pilot, trapped by the flood, is stuck in the mud with its human cargo. A microlight sails in the thermals, with fish-eagles above the swamp, suggest a propensity for Africa to fly.