We had had a draught over a number of years in the southern region of Zimbabwe, where I lived. This particular incident happened in the 1990s -- I'm not sure exactly which year it was except to say because of the lack of annual rains and a dried up bore hole, our once beautiful lush garden looked like a desert.
During this time at the beginning of the rainy season we received the first rains of the season one evening, which lasted possibly an hour. The following morning being Sunday, I awoke very early at approximately 5:30 a.m. and made my way on a concrete slabbed pathway into the garden, almost hoping to see an overnight transformation of lush green lawns and trees covered in lush green leaves.
The sun hadn't quite risen above the horizon, although it was daylight and there was a fresh cool feel about the air. I sat on a concrete bench under an evergreen tree in the garden and was surveying the garden when I became aware of a strange high-pitched tweeting sound of excitement all around me to a point that my bodily hair stood on end.
The sound was one of millions of tiny particles or entities communicating excitedly among themselves. I looked around me to ascertain what was causing this vibrational delightful sound... and then realized the sound came from the trees, the leaves, the branches and other plants in the garden.
I was taken aback when I realized this and wondered how on earth I was able to hear and feel this. At one point I wanted to run indoors and awake my husband to experience this, but decided to remain where I was lest on my return, the sounds had disappeared. I sat amidst all of this, very intrigued. As the sun appeared over the horizon and the atmosphere became warmer, I was aware the sounds slowly subsided until they had disappeared altogether.
Months later, I was seated in our sitting room with the TV on but reading a book, when I became aware of a familiar sound coming from the TV. I looked up and listened to what was being said in the documentary. The commentator said they had used very sensitive equipment in an attempt to pick up sounds made by plants -- and that familiar sound on the TV was the sound that I had heard that morning in my garden, except what I experienced was more intense.
