Kenya’s insistence on closing the Dadaab refugee camp will increase terrorism. Tourists and business investors should remain vigilant.

Dadaab is now the largest single refugee camp in the world. There are nearly a half million people in a “camp” operated and maintained by the United Nations.

Imagine if Grand Rapids, New Haven, McAllen or Toledo – each an American city with about a half million population – were a “camp.”

Here’s an equally frightening way to look at it: compared to America’s and Kenya’s total populations, a refugee camp of similar size in America would be 3½ million, the size of Seattle, Minneapolis or San Diego.

The cost of maintaining Dadaab is paid by the United Nations, which in turn gets its funds for this specific project mostly from the U.S. and Britain. It isn’t just putting up tents. There are schools, churches, entertainment centers, telecommunication and power (electricity) facilities, security vehicles and buildings, waste treatment facilities, and potable water facilities in what is essentially a desert.

The cost is staggering, but Kenya insists the cost to its own security is even greater. It wants the UN to close Dadaab and repatriate the half million people – almost exclusively Somalis – to Somalia.

Somalia is doing better than ever. There are fewer violent attacks in Somalia than in Iraq or Afghanistan. Kenya’s argument is that the situation in Somalia is now peaceful enough to close the camp.

Needless to say, there are many who disagree, including probably all of the refugees in the camp. The fact is that life in a UN operated refugee camp is considerably safer, usually healthier, and often with better education opportunities than in many of the towns and villages in northeast Kenya where the camp is located.

It would be one thing if Kenya were making this decision separate from its overall policy towards Somalis in the country. There are more than 4,000,000 ethnic Somalis in Kenya who are legitimate Kenyans, many who have resided here for several generations or more.

Since the Somali invasion by Kenya in October, 2011, Somalis in Kenya have been terribly mistreated. In fact, according to a Kenyan government report four years Somalis have always been discriminated against! The invasion made it worse.

Consider this: a refugee from anywhere, a Libyan fleeing to Italy, or a Guatemalan fleeing to the U.S. or a Somali fleeing to Kenya, these are people who don’t want to fight. They are escaping conflict. They give up whatever and however little they have … for peace and security.

Closing Dadaab will infuriate and radicalize the youth currently living in the camp. Many Somalis in Kenya already have been. The “mastermind” of the Garissa bombing is a youth who grew up in Kenya and graduated from a Kenyan law school with honors.

The rationale Kenya gives to closing Dadaab is that terrorists are bred in the camp who regularly harm Kenya, yet there is to date no evidence of this, and it is simply counter-intuitive to the nature of a refugee.

The truth is that one of the greatest causes of the terrorism Kenya is its treatment of ethnic Somalis living in the country.

The handful of infiltrators that manage to infect every refugee camp in the world is real but so small it’s ludicrous to suppose they wouldn’t infect small towns and villages in Kenya the same way if Dadaab didn’t exist.

In other words, closing Dadaab will not impede this dynamic an iota.

What it will do is increase hostility, mistrust and fire the conflict even further. It’s one of the worst decisions Kenya has ever made.

Jim’s award winning novel, Chasm Gorge, set in Kenya, tells the story of a kidnapping by terrorists of the son of the man who wants to become the President of the United States. The book is available online in e-editions, soft and hard cover, from Amazon, B&N and bookstores around the world.

The rains returned! There’s no way of predicting for how long, of course, or if the serious deficit in moisture will be significantly reduced, but the two days of thunderstorms in my opinion was the reason our game viewing ended so well.

We ended our Botswana safari with three days in Moremi, our third ecosystem after the Kalahari and the Delta.

Moremi is Botswana richest game viewing area. Much of it spills into the Delta, and it includes the large Chief’s Island in the middle of the Delta. We were near the Xaxanaka gate, pretty much in the middle.

Two game drives daily netted us 9 lion, a leopard on a kill, a giant family of buffalo and about two dozen elephant.

The circuit that brought us to the lion went through thick mopane forests and shorter thick bushlands so typical of central Botswana. This makes game viewing difficult, but when we emerged onto the edges of several ponds we found good game.

Kudu, sassaby, impala, giraffe zebra and wildebeest were also seen on this single game drive. The giraffe here, by the way, seem to be bulkier and have a boxier face than those I know so well in East Africa. Their coloration was radically different from individual to individual, from near powdery white to nearly black.

What was also interesting was that the coloration of the giraffe did not completely follow the rule of thumb that the older males are darker. There were old white males and dark females.

When coming upon one pond, we watched a massive hippo jump out into the adjacent forests, scattering three good-size crocs.

Earlier we saw a marvelous family of buffalo, probably numbering close to 50, with quite a few youngsters and several very young babies. They were on and around a ridge of stunted bushes surrounded by a sea of high oat grass. The afternoon light provided an absolutely beautiful canvas.

It’s been hot. My thermometer registered 103F for each of three days at between 1 and 2 p.m. Everyone would be sleeping, relaxing or swimming then, and by sundowners it had cooled down considerably, especially because (fortunately) the rains seem to be returning. By dinner we were in the upper 80s.

We saw so much damage in Moremi from the radical climate swings of the last few years : from horrible flooding to near droughts. Large stands of old trees had been killed. When the delta raised to unnaturally high levels in heavily forested areas that hadn’t seen water for decades, it created a thick alkaline froth.

On our last evening together there was much celebration of the trip’s success. Many of the non-veterans said the game viewing exceeded their expectations. From my perspective, the game viewing was a bit slow until the last day, when the game drives really delivered.

Also in my opinion, the real prize of the trip was the Pell’s Fishing Owl. I’ve only seen it once before – in the Delta – and not as close as we got this time. Although I didn’t see one, others in the group did get a fleeting glimpse of a sitatunga, the extremely unique water antelope with webbed feet.

So in spite of a serious lack of rain that preceded our arrival, and fires that besieged much of our actual trip, I think it’s fair to say Botswana performed well for us. Of course much in the wild is simple chance but that’s part of the exhilaration!

For some on the trip, now, it’s on to VicFalls. To others, they’re returning home. And for me … to East Africa!

The one-of-the-kind Okavango Delta in far off Botswana, like every other part of the world, is threatened by climate change caused by factories in China and soccer moms’ SUVs in Minneapolis. It makes our time here now even more treasured.

Numerous studies as early as 2007, from a variety of high-tech government organizations around the world, have established that the Okavango is in for a mighty wallop

I experienced it myself two years ago when the flow from Angola was so severe we were flooded out of our first camp.

Last year was “unusually normal.”

This year is a near-drought. With about a quarter of the normal rainfall and record high temperatures, about a quarter of the Delta has been lost to fire.

When natural and moderate, fire is a good and necessary part of any wilderness, but this year was excessive. Fewer birds, fewer animals, more hoof and mouth disease, and many dislocated animals are the result of this massive inferno.In our camp in Xugana a poor vervet monkey leaped from tree to tree screaming. There had never been vervets on Xugana Island. He was running from the smoke and flames.

Few places in the wild world are studied as intensely as The Delta. This is because it’s so unique. No one is happy with what is happening or what is expected to come soon. If all this fire is followed by flood, it will be terrible for the natural regeneration of plants. Too much water alone will significantly change the Delta.

But what does this mean for animals and plants, for the system as a whole? I’ve often written that the ecology of Africa is marvelously adaptable. The problem is what will that adaptation be? Retreat from man? A part of the downwards spiral of increased carbon emissions?

For my clients the last two days have been magnificent.

With sufficient time to experience multiple Botswana ecosystems, we were able to dedicate two entire days to an exclusively water-based camp, located on Xugana Island.

At the edge of the Delta from Camp Moremi we saw the rarest owl in the world! The Pell’s Fishing Owl, the only owl that fishes. It was a beautiful, large, red sand colored bird. We saw hippo, of course, and hippo with newborns.

On the poled mokoros many saw the unique painted frog. We saw croc and monitor lizard and many of the spectacular resident birds like the blue-cheeked bee-eater… which in fact we watched snatch a bee out of the air!

On a walk on nearby Sausage Island, clients saw red lechwe, elephant, water buck and impala. Several of us fished, successfully, for the tasty red-breasted bream.

And everyone enjoyed the spectacular sunsets and sunrises, the unique colors of the fall papyrus and late blooming water lilies picking out the deep resonance of the afternoon sun.

And we all watched the fires. From the air when we flew from camp to camp, and even from our camps. At night when the breeze stilled, the smell of smoke was everywhere. Ash was on our table cloths.

This time it was truly magnificent.

But, for how long?

Zimbabwe has rejected an U.S./European entreaty not to sell 60 baby elephants to unnamed, likely disreputable buyers abroad.

Just before Christmas the Zimbabwean Tourist & Natural Resource Minister said the country would sell the baby elephants, and he named China, U.A.E. and France as the destination countries.

The actual buyers, though, were not named. The outcry was immediate and resulted in a joint petition by the U.S. and the European Union to Zimbabwe to rescind the sale.

Separately, a worldwide petition drive continues to stop the sale. Click here to sign that petition.

There is nothing illegal in the sale, as the CITES convention which governs international commerce in elephants allows countries to relocate endangered animals to other places in the world provided due diligence is undertaken.

That “due diligence” is supposed to carefully assess the need for reducing the animal in the habitat from which it’s being taken, and equally with the capability of the buyer to humanely safeguard the animal.

All the above is in serious dispute in Zimbabwe, but there are no mechanisms within the CITES convention to monitor individual government determinations.

“We are sure there are 25,000 elephants in the Hwange elephant Park,” Colin Gillies, of the Zimbabwe Wildlife and Environment Association, told South African reporters, whereas the Zim government has claimed from 50 to 75,000 elephant exist in the park.

There is nothing within CITES to mediate this dispute. 25,000 could suggest far less than capacity in Zimbabwe’s largest national park, whereas 75,000 would indeed be too many.

Zim’s action is brutal. The country is the most corrupt in sub-Saharan Africa, its national parks are a mere shadow of the greatness that existed before the current regime began 35 years ago, and I have little doubt there may, indeed, be too many elephants.

In poorly managed wildernesses, some animals literally take over. In war zones, for example like the DRC, you can find literally tens of thousands of hippo.

Moreover, southern African wildernesses require considerably more management than East African wildernesses, and one of the tools that has been used for decades are bore holes, wells.

Most of Hwange National Park’s elephants get their water from manmade and sustained water wells. The cost of drilling and maintaining is high and the current Zim regime has allowed a number of these wells to die.

In that regards, without working wells, there may indeed be too many elephant regardless that the figure might be as low as 25,000.

Elephant census are unreliable to begin with, virtually impossible in ravaged Zimbabwe. In other parts of sub-Saharan Africa I’ve argued there are too many elephants, and not scientifically but socially and politically.

It may seem odd from a conservation point of view to argue something from other than a scientific point of view, but the situation in Zimbabwe is a perfect if ironic validation of my reasoning.

Until the people in control of a society feel a need to conserve their natural resources, it simply won’t happen. In most other places in sub-Saharan Africa other than Zimbabwe, there are legitimate debates over the cost-benefit of elephants to local populations, and many of these are sophisticated conversations that include global responsibilities to preserving our biospheres.

But in Zimbabwe it’s been reduced to the roughly $35,000 per baby elephant that someone in the Zimbabwe government is going to pocket. That’s because Zim society has allowed this dictatorial corruption.

In Tanzania it’s more subtle corruption. In Kenya it’s a public movement to protect, against corruption.

Ultimately among those three countries, the elephant will survive and prosper in Kenya, its future is questionable in Tanzania, and elephant in Zimbabwe are on the skids right now.

Yet in all three countries a legitimate tension exists between man and elephant, a dynamic often overlooked by outside conservationists who become obsessed with the end-game.

There’s more to do, and the first move is the local citizen’s. Outsiders with noble concerns must nonetheless engage and respect these local concerns as paramount or nothing good will happen.

Today is America’s Independence Day Holiday! Enjoy!

Thanks below to a great client, John Kohnstamm!

The common Toyorangabeast (Toyus rangus touristanus) is an invasive species to East Africa first observed in the mid 1900’s.

Migrating from Northern Europe and East Asia, it was first believed to be one species. On closer examination and exhaustive genetic testing performed by scientist from the Toyus Rangus society of the Invasive species center at the University of Scotland in Edinborough, it was proven that in fact they are two distinct species: Rangus arrogantus, the first to evolve and the much more common Toyus copicatus that didn’t occur until later in the century.

The two are easily identifiable. The Rangus occur in brighter colors, usually white or yellow. They tend to be much more finicky and only present themselves during bright daylight hours. Never at dawn and certainly not at dusk.

The more common Toyus occur in drab colors, usually brown or dull green. They are a more robust creature and are known to have great endurance. Usually present early in the morning and late into dusk they have been observed at great speeds racing from the Ngorongoro crater at sunset.

These beasts tend to migrate with the great migrating herds of East Africa. They occur most densely where predatory animals are present. They nosily come together at these sites where they immediately become quiet and docile.

To the practiced observer, it is easy to hear their calming clicks and oos and ahs that scientist believe is caused by the symbiotic relationship between Toyorangabeast and the predatory animals. The effect is, however only temporary and the Toyorangabeasts become restless and disperse most likely never to come together in the same group again.

Musicians have long waved the banners of the oppressed, and I’m worried that they have abandoned Nairobi’s Eastleigh because of Kenya’s increasing war on terror.

Nothing is ever all one way or the other. Despite Texas Congressional candidates’ assertions, not all Muslims are jihadists.

Many Somalis abhor war, are vehemently anti-terrorist, and many who I know are among the most placid individuals in the world. Many hundreds, even thousands, left Somalia for Kenya fleeing the conflict.

They ended up in Eastleigh, a northeast part of the city now known as “Little Mogadischu.”

When terrorist attacks increased in Kenya, jihadists’ retribution for Kenya invading Somalia and displacing al-Shabaab, almost all the attacks in and around Nairobi were in Eastleigh.

Somalis attacking Somalis. Jihadists attacking pacifists.

The pacifists fought back … with music. There were some incredibly courageous individuals and bands in Eastleigh who defied terrible and real threats after denouncing al-Shabaab and terrorism.

It began in 2008 with an artists’ collective in Eastleigh called Waayahu Cusub, “New Era.” The young artists wanted to structure a Somali existence in Kenya based on no war. Since 1993 Somalia has been a land of war.

In the beginning they focused on things music normally does, like love and romance. Alla Weyn (Big Dude) was an immediate worldwide success.

But as terrorism increased in Kenya they got pushed into the political front. A 2012 Rolling Stones article said “Somalia’s hip-hop renegades are claiming their war-torn country’s culture back from militant extremists.”

In some regards they had no choice. Radical jihadists normally ban all music. So last year in July Waayahu Cusub’s musicians successfully produced a giant concert for Somali relief.

And there were no more lyrics laced in roses and kisses. The singers challenged al Shabaab in particular to defy their music and painted a red line at Eastleigh.

Then there was the devastating destruction of the Westgate Mall and more recently the terrible massacre at a clothing market.

Waayahu Cusub has gone silent. Their website, once attracting thousands of hits daily, is dead.

The reasons for this are as much in the response to the War on Terror as the war itself, and more of this on Monday.

Meanwhile, enjoy the music.

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. (Canada celebrates it earlier.) Thanksgiving is one of Canada and the U.S.’ major holiday celebrations, characterized by copious amounts of food featuring seasonal recipes and lots of sweets. The traditional meat served at the feast is turkey.

The two-day holiday originates with the first permanent settlers to the New World, people who called themselves pilgrims fleeing England’s restrictive laws on religion and who arrived the northeast coast of America in between 1620 and 1621.

They faired poorly in the beginning until two local native Americans, Wampanoags of the Algonkian-speaking clans, both of whom spoke English (because one of them had previously traveled to England in 1605) befriended the settlers. The “Indians” taught the pilgrims how to farm and build homesteads, and the summer planting season was so successful that the pilgrims invited the Indians to a “Thanksgiving” harvest dinner in November, 1621.

Click here for much more information about the history and meaning of Thanksgiving by a native American school teacher, who dispels not only the myths about the “primitiveness” of native Americans, but also about the pilgrims’ history and beliefs.

At a private party last night in my remote woody knoll in the Upper Midwest, I listened with fascination to an entrepreneurial engineer describe several devices that could create cheaper, quicker fertilizer for farmers, then totally separately, medical devices of the R2D2 kind.

Recently, the South African government strongly affirmed a controversial decision made last year that seriously impacts the potential for my friend’s successes.

Fracking must go on, the South African government declared, despite increasing opposition by environmental groups.

My friend’s inventions like thousands of others worldwide attracts investors motivated almost entirely by their presumptions of future energy costs.

There are scores of new inventions presuming much higher energy costs, like my friend’s microwave device to produce fertilizer.

But as with many biofuel processes, it’s only efficient if the costs of production are lower than traditional processes associated with increasing energy costs.

Today’s low-cost traditional energy seems to come from fracking, and the strengthened South African policy is an important global incentive for governments worldwide to pursue friendly fracking policies.

“South Africa has very strong environmental legislation and a very strong environmental provision in our constitution,” explains one of South Africa’s most prominent environmentalists, Jonathan Deal.

“Were South Africa to fall to shale gas mining, I believe that it would be a strategic blow to those opposing shale gas mining globally. It’s got the potential to be a strategic domino in a series of dominos.”

And last night I listened to this passionate inventor, who also considers himself an environmentalist, concede that the chance for his inventions to become reality could be linked to fracking successes.

The glut of natural gas fracking is producing has so lowered the cost of traditional fertilizer manufacturing that his models are now stressed. The chances of attracting investment – at least in the immediate term – are now diminished because of fracking.

Last year the South African government lifted a year-long moratorium on fracking, and the issue as in the U.S. is now headed to the courts.

Few on either side dispute the facts. Fracking is a particularly intrusive environmental mining technique that often pollutes ground water, the most immediate hazard that can shake public support.

As in the U.S. and elsewhere in the western world, governments’ replies attempt to assure the public that the situation will be diligently monitored, and fracking will be suspended if pollution is detected.

Governments are widely supported by government-subsidized science, including the U.S.’s widely cited EPA study that essentially gave a green light to fracking.

Of the entire developed world, only France has banned fracking. But that is likely because 80% of France’s energy comes from nuclear power plants.

Everything, today, is inextricably linked. My friend’s microwave invention for fertilizer, to neighbor’s solar panels, to Chinese employment of solar factories, to the safety of the water I drink.

Moreover, I think if the beneficiaries of our energy debates were truly public, and not measured as the profits of BP-Shell, the debates would be quicker and more accurate. I really see that as a major part of our energy dither, the inability to extract private enterprise from public good.

I’m no scientist, but ever since I met and lived with my wife in Paris, I’ve liked the French: Nuclear is the way to go.

That would empower not only South Africa, which already has nuclear energy, but my friends’ inventions as well.

But I haven’t yet passed this by my Japanese friends.

China’s striking involvement in Africa is well documented, including a growing African skepticism of it. Capitalizing on this tension, Brazil may become a bigger player than China in the next decade.

China’s interest in Africa is transparently its need for the continent’s considerable natural resources. This transparency was sold with total noninterference in local politics and government. It didn’t matter if you were lily white or deadly dark, a despot or a human rights hero. If you had oil, a deal’s a deal.

This was attractive to Africans in the beginning, a refreshing change from the centuries of Machiavellian dealing by the west which began with the earliest days of colonization.

But Africa and China are growing increasingly at odds with one another.

Africans are starting to realize the bad thing about “non-interference” is that bad African governments and policies are propped up by the Chinese philosophy. And throughout especially sub-Saharan Africa a truly new political awakening is occurring.

“China’s indiscriminate investments in good and bad governments alike, with its particular affinity for corrupt and dictatorial governments, [is] undermining peace and security in the region,” writes African scholar Alula A. Iyasu, an Ethiopian who holds prominent expert positions in the African Union and United Nations.

East African governments were particularly angered this year by Chinese positions in the UN Security Council that stalled much needed action in The Congo.

And there is a growing concern with Chinese immigrants. Call it xenophobic if you want, but large-scale Chinese immigration – which is part and parcel of Chinese policy for African development – has recently challenged traditional African tolerances.

This May Ghanian President Mahama launched a crackdown on illegal gold mining that resulted in 169 individual Chinese arrested.

In East Africa increasing numbers of Chinese are being arrested for ivory smuggling, a distinct change from the recent past when authorities looked the other way.

And particularly in South Africa, Chinese companies have built manufacturing and mining factories with work conditions that are inferior to similar South African companies.

It’s a doubly whammy to South Africans who are in the first incidence harmed by Chinese preference to hire Chinese immigrants, and then when South Africans are hired, discover that the working conditions are so bad.

China, Russia, South Africa, India and Brazil formed a trade and political association in 2005 called BRICS, intended to coordinate political, economic and cultural development. BRICS ostensible policies would facilitate an integration and ease of cooperation that is quite impressive by most trade pact standards.

But Russia and India have yet to show any serious enthusiasm for the new association, and with Africans’ new ambivalence towards China, Brazil has immediately stepped up to the plate.

Not without controversy similar to the Chinese, Brazil is striking forward positions in Mozambique mining and Angolan manufacturing, two potential powerhouses with which it shares a native language.

But as Kenyan Julius Okoth of the social movement “People’s Parliament”
explains, Brazil comes to the table with a distinct advantage China lacks:

Humanitarism.

Recent, successful socialist policies to reduce poverty, including ‘Bolsa Familia’ (“Family Fund”), have resulted in a major redistribution of wealth in Brazil under its last president, Lula da Silva. Okoth and others believe that these social/political models would work well in Africa.

China in complete contrast has no desire to export its social or political policies. In fact, there is every indication the Chinese don’t want outsiders to fully understand exactly what policies the government has for such major social problems as poverty, much less try to copy them.

As the world’s sixth largest economy, Brazil is in a highly competitive situation with China, the world’s second. Brazil’s culture is much more similar to many in Africa than China’s culture is, and its stated humanitarian and social positions strike a higher moral bar than China’s that is especially attractive to African youth.

It’s far too early to say for certain, but I for one think that African tolerance of Chinese involvement – however financially beneficial – is growing increasingly raw.

Brazil is much better fit.

Today through the weekend is America’s Independence Day Holiday! Enjoy! Make sure to come back on Monday for the wrapup of the Felsenthal Family Safari.

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 the apartheid era: individuals need to see for themselves, and because those places at those times were safe for tourists.

As Kenya is, again. As Rwanda is, today. But just because it might be safe doesn’t mean I condone the evil and undemocratic policies of the government.

This is not just my assessment, of course. As each day passes, there is more condemnation of Kenyatta and Ruto, most of it from within Kenya.

Over the weekend it became clear that that the Uhruto Mafia might actually weasel out of their trials as still another important witness dropped out of the case. This has infuriated the educated Kenyan public.

It’s important always to make a distinction between government and the people. Especially when “the people” are so closely divided between those who ardently support their government and those who are so ardently opposed to it.

Such was the era of George Bush. And such today is the era of Uhuru Kenyatta. George Bush didn’t last and hopefully neither will Uhuru Kenyatta. But Kenyatta is just beginning his term, and it doesn’t look good.

Twisting the good things of the new constitution onto themselves, Kenyatta has managed to stymie opposition in Parliament. He’s done this by stepping outside civil society and the majesty of his own constitution, and essentially bribing easily coerced members of the opposition.

This is not Lincoln trading a post office to free slaves. It’s Uhuru Kenyatta dolling out money and fancy cars from the national treasury to support appointing his cronies to the most important watchdog committees of Parliament.

And following the lead of Ages Past, a recent High Court judge just stopped the prosecution of Kenya’s biggest financial scandal in its history, with the blessing of Kenyatta.

But such overt actions, skirting the boundaries of legality, are not as disconcerting as the extra-legal ones.

“Recent public pronouncements … suggest that the Uhuru administration might at some point resort to a Russia-style crackdown to silence critical voices,” claimed one of Kenya’s most acclaimed columnists this weekend.

Mr. Otieno explained that the organizations currently being harassed by public institutions on a much more grievous scale than our Right Wingers were called out by the IRS are universally ones that challenged Kenyatta’s election victory in the courts.

Kenyatta is feeling deep embarrassment on the global arena, as world leaders shun him and he becomes increasingly isolated. His problem, of course, is that he’s been indicted for crimes against humanity by the world community, and is due to be tried on July 9 in The Hague.

Cornered beasts tend to lash out, and that remains my worry. I worry that the current Kenyan regime – although I admire them for having established a palpable peace in society for the first time in nearly six years – will become so isolated that violence will return.

If it does, we’ll go away, again. If it doesn’t, I invite you to enjoy the beauty and promise of Kenya, which does not include its current government leadership.

This year’s Great Migration is an almost constant sea of animals from the eastern Serengeti plains to the western and beyond, one of the most placid and easiest to see that I can remember.

Seeing the migration is like seeing the stars. You can never see them all, and you can’t even see at once all those that might be in your field of vision. The sky is just too large, and so is the Serengeti. Two million animals might not seem like a lot when you’re atop Naabi Hill, but it is.

I figure that at the very best views of the Serengeti, one of which is atop Naabi Hill, when pointed in any one given direction the most you can see is about 25 square miles, and if the animals in the migration were packed into every crevice of that view, you’d maybe see 150,000 animals, a tenth of the great migration.

The migration for us this year is not sardine packaging.The veld is green and beautiful across almost the entire southern Serengeti, and so the grass is abundant everywhere. The animals are dispersed much more than they would be during drier years.

We started seeing wilde right after leaving Shifting Sands outside Olduvai. We saw them continuously, although sparsely, over the plains between Shifting Sands and Lemuta Kopjes.

We had lunch atop one of the unique kopjes opposite Lemuta where the view was incredible. To the south was the giant Ngorongoro on our day covered by a super storm. But while we could see the lightning, the rest of the sky – probably 80% of our sky view – was clear and beautiful.

At lunch the density of the wilde increased. As we moved west towards Ndutu it fluctuated but we were never out of sight of large groups of wilde, and as we approached the main road the density was quite high.

We also saw many other animals, of course, including many hyaena, jackal and as a great bonus, nearly 200 eland. That’s especially beautiful as the world’s largest antelope (1600 pounds) when in a truly wild situation is especially skittish.

This massive and beautiful antelope runs at breakneck speeds and leaps nearly 8′ into the air, and unbelievable sight.

And of course we saw several kills, or possibly deaths caused during bad childbirth, covered with birds and hyaenas. This is the season for birthing, and one day we spent nearly an hour just watching a nearby female herd of wilde give birth.

That’s why this is my favorite time for the migration. It isn’t as dramatic as the racing across rivers chock full of crocodile that starts in June and continues through September (at different parts in the Serengeti and Mara), but those events are very irregular and hard to intersect.

Whereas the birthing time is when the entire herd comes to feed on the new nutrient grasses brought by the heavy rains. So everybody is together, more or less, even if more widely spaced and much calmer.

And unlike the “racing time” where the herd is fractured into innumerable smaller groups, now it is more or less uniformly on the southern grassland plains. And seeing the newborn gives an added dimension to the experience.

Nothing can ever be guaranteed in the wild. A shift in weather, an insect blight, and even an over- or under-population of animals can result in radical changes in numbers and locations. But this year everything was – more or less – normal, and we witnessed what is absolutely the greatest spectacle in the natural world.