Somewhere In The World Tonight, There Is Hope

I don’t think hope ever really dies. It just shrinks to a tiny ember that we wrap in leaves deep within us and portage from place to place until it can set the world ablaze.

Corruption in African governments seems to be the norm rather than the exception. All the people I have met from south Africa, universally, agree their government is extremely corrupt. In a recent incident, four people stole a lot of gold from Madagascar and smuggled it out of the country on a plane bound for Johannesburg. The South African government was notified. They promptly confiscated the gold and allowed the thieves to escape to Dubai. They refuse to return the gold to Madagascar, even though there is no doubt who it belongs to. Madagascar has banned all flights to and from Johannesburg. This explains why I have to connect to Madagascar through an overnight layover in Addis Ababa, rather than flying the much more convenient route through Johannesburg.

It seems that stolen gold hasn’t gone into fixing South Africa’s power networks. Every day in South Africa there are regularly scheduled blackouts because of the inadequate power grid. People have set up power sharing networks where they move between houses that have power in order to do their work.

Elsewhere in Africa, Zambia has a new president. He was elected through a democratic process by focusing on building a grass roots coalition of voters. Elected despite the corruption, repression, and vote tampering of the previous administration. He has made education free up until seventh grade and hired 30,000 teachers and health workers. He has promised not to renew the leases of some big game hunting concessions when they expire, and he seems to be rooting out the corruption of the previous regime.

I have not found one person who is not excited about his presidency and what it means for the future of Zambia. His is universally loved, except, I assume, by the previous administration, who had their way with the nation’s finances for 18 years. I find that authoritarian governments that enrich themselves off the backs of their people seldom relish relinquishing their power. Apparently, the previous administration used state money to build lavish personal mansions and enhanced their income by running the ivory cartel. (Note: Like all good modern journalists, I have not checked my facts, nor verified this information with multiple independent sources.)

This week in Brazil, Bolsonaro lost his re-election bid, and the lungs of the planet breathed a giant breath of relief.

Somewhere in the world tonight, there is hope!

Malachite kingfisher on Elephant dung :-)

South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

This guy was hanging out on the lid of the water bottle in my room. He looked like some gargoyle intentionally carved into the wood for ornamentation.

As long as we're enjoying some herp pictures, how about a lizard ...

... and a Leopard Tortoise.

Spoonbill responds to Crocodile, "Oooh, a secret! I love secrets! Let me get a little closer so we won't be overheard."

A Genet nestled into a tree at night. Can you find it? The guide found it at night from a car about 75 yards away while moving about 15 miles an hour.

That night was much darker than this.

Martial Eagle

African Jacana

African Wild Dog

More African Wild Dogs

American Chaotic Dog

Crocodile thinks, "Yeah, this meal seems about the right size."

Lion Cub in South Luangwa, Zambia

Chacma Baboon in Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia

Woodpecker in Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia

These elephants swim to islands in the Zambezi river to feed. It's pretty cool to see an elephant swimming!

Sunset over the Zambezi River, Zambia