Dumb Roper Nabbed
By jimheck in Big Game, Big Game Hunting, Hunting, Poaching, Uncategorized on May 21, 2013
Many Americans don’t care if something’s going extinct: it’s just “the way it is.” So it’s no surprise that big game poaching is as much an American problem as it is an African one. “Put bluntly,” writes Australian ecologist Euan Ritchie, current species extinction is an ecological “avalanche” with current rates 1000 to 10,000 times [...]
Weather Grounds Drones
Predictions about African security linked to global warming have proved frighteningly correct. Does weather trump drones? As the stubborn, not-too bright bully on the block, America has shifted to accepting global warming as human caused, but it took a few Katrinas and Sandys to tip the balance. And experts still spend inordinate amounts of time [...]
Terrifying Nairobi Commute
By jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Big Game, Nairobi on May 17, 2013
The picture of lions disrupting traffic on the Ngong side of Nairobi is all over the internet, and it’s one of the best examples to date of the terrible predicament big game has in modern Africa. I must have received the photo above a dozen times from my loyal readers, so thank you! You can [...]
little screen America, Big Screen Africa
By jimheck in "Modern" Africa, African Films, Culture, Economy on May 16, 2013
African films are exploding onto the Cannes Film Festival, opening Wednesday, as youthful African societies continue to develop this important art which is being so grossly neglected in America. The decline in the American film industry is today’s hot topic, but I think everyone’s got it wrong. The emphasis has been on America’s growing and [...]
At More Than Arm’s Length
By jimheck in Uncategorized on May 14, 2013
Yes I’m again guiding safaris in Kenya. There is peace and safety throughout the country, again, the best in five years. This does not mean I like the government. EWT will broker safaris in Kenya, again, for the same reason EWT sent tourists to China and Ethiopia in the 1980s and to South Africa throughout [...]
NPR Rhino Preview
NPR’s series this week on rhino poaching is probably worth paying attention to. Here’s some background before listening today to All Things Considered: Be cautious. John Burnett’s terrible reporting for NPR on elephant poaching not too long ago set me ablaze. He fouled up the numbers completely, came from the wrong perspectives and reduced a [...]
Mother’s Day in Africa
Anthropomorphization of African animals is one of my pet peeves, but it’s Mother’s Day for god’s sake! Here is my best attempt at doing exactly what I don’t think anyone should! The Mother of Mother’s has got to be the elephant, because from the moment of puberty to the moment of death this poor sop [...]
The Right Can Do No Wrong
By jimheck in Global Relations, Kenya, Politics on May 9, 2013
The tenacity of Rightists that so inhibits U.S. progress is becoming true worldwide, and no better example than the imminent diplomatic earthquake over Kenyan leaders’ indictment by the World Court. The phrase is not mine, but Richard Dowden’s, one of the world’s most respected African analysts, Director of Britain’s Royal African Society. Dowden’s brilliant summary [...]
Elephant in a Texas Circus
By jimheck in Arts and Culture, Big Game, Ecology, Poaching on May 7, 2013
It’s likely there is a greater percentage of Chinese who wish to end the ivory trade and save elephants than there are Texans who believe in evolution. Think about that, please. Yesterday, the Chinese actress Li Bingbing – who has 20 million followers and counting on her social media – made a highly public visit [...]
Outside Threats
Yesterday’s deadly grenade attack in Arusha isn’t simply an indication of escalating religious tensions in Tanzania, but of the same escalating individual malevolence evident in the Boston massacre. In neither incident do I believe there is any kind of organized group involvement, despite FOX News, Representative Stephen King or the other crazies on Meet the [...]
Obamacare Effects Travel Insurance
By jimheck in Planning Travel on May 3, 2013
Obamacare is about to have a profound effect on American tourists who purchase travel insurance. But first, the truth about travel insurance: (If you know everything you care to know about travel insurance, already, skip down to the little cartoon to get to the meat of this blog, how Obamacare will effect your travel costs.) [...]
Unusual Risks in Africa
By jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Economy, Terrorism on May 2, 2013
Investors in new shopping malls for Kenya and Nigeria are expecting a first-year return of 12% and a long-term return of 25%, led by savy South African banks. Business plans for Africa have always astounded Americans. I’m mostly familiar with the tourism sector, and ROIs (return-on-investments) of less than a third are not considered worth [...]
Justice Becalmed, Justice Bedeviled
By jimheck in Corruption, Kenya, Politics on April 30, 2013
Today’s final detailed explanation by Kenya’s Supreme Court of its decision to affirm the March presidential election makes me doubly angry with Bush vs. Gore. The clear consensus by much more scholarly analysts who have rushed out their initial impressions is pretty negative, that the detailed decision is “disappointing.” But quite to the contrary, it [...]
Serengeti Playground
What do the President of Botswana and I have in common? We have both sustained cheetah injuries this year! His to his face. Mine to my car. The Botswana government confirmed today that President Ian Khama had been scratched by a cheetah and had received several stitches in his face. Not a wild cheetah, but [...]
Man vs Beast … Again
Invisible fences for pet dogs are common in the U.S., but they’re used with opposite purpose in Africa: to keep the unwanted out. Africa’s big game parks are mostly huge tracts of uninhabited wilderness but increasingly sophisticated agriculture and ranching impinges on many of the borders. There is the obvious social/political human/animal paradigm to work [...]