Global warming? Poor land management? God's will? The drought in East Afrifca....

East Africa is experiencing their worst drought in 50 years.  Now this is quite a statement.  I have travelled to Africa during three terrible droughts over the past 20 years and they were devastating.  So to say that this water shortage is the worst in half a century is to announce the arrival of an extremely dangerous situation.  Drought occurs within a geographic triangle of land encompassing most of Somalia, northeastern Kenya and southeastern Sudan.   All of these areas have people living at or below the poverty line hence any disruption of rainfall is catastrophic.  In the west we are almost inured to these periodic tragedies.  Pictures of starving Somali children has become almost trite.  That is what "a life of plenty" will do for you.  Because the pictures are not personally painful - we can ignore the drama and move on with our lives, too bad.  Millions are in jeopardy and intervention by the international community is necessary.  Ironically we can marshall the community of nations to oust dictators from control of their countries (usually countries with impressive oil supplies) but we can not garner support for an all out effort to aid dying children in East Africa.  Sad.  Travel to Africa just once and you will never feel the same.  You will be impelled to act.  All I can do currently is blog.  Will this blog make any difference at all?  Hope is eternal.  And hope is all I have.  Next summer when I lead my safari to East Africa I hope to enlist a few more in the army of the informed.  When you walk through a village and look into the eyes of those in need - well that is tactile.  There is no place to hide.  You should come along and then you too will have a desire to make a difference.

Zebras are very social.  Scientists believe their stripes confuse predators.  I am thinking of getting stripes.