Nature – Jadi Campbell

The Great Migration

One of the most spectacular sights I’ve ever witnessed is what’s known as the Great Migration. One and a half million wildbeests and zebras are all traveling at the same time. The animals make a huge loop from Kenya down to Tanzania and back again, following the weather patterns for water and grasses. The best times to see the Great Migration is in the summer when it’s raining and massive herds have to ford raging rivers.

Serengeti Plain. I love this picture. I think this is one of the best photos Uwe’s ever taken.

The other best time to go is in the winter during the dry season and see the herds with their babies. Uwe and I went in January for ten days of safaris on the Serengeti Plain and the surrounding national parks.

Look at this photo! Those are animals as far back as you can see.

This little zebra’s stripes will darken as it ages

The Serengeti National Park is beautiful, a stunning and stunningly impressive nature reserve. I would have been blown away by the opportunity to see it without all the animals. Getting to watch from the middle of the largest migration on the planet was unbelievable.

NOTES: We used the Wilkinson Tour Agency and I recommend them whole heartedly. A really well-informed guide is worth his or her weight in gold – or animals. https://wilkinson-tours.com© Jadi Campbell 2026. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.

I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. Recent awards include Finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award for The Taste of Your Name and Finalist for Greece’s Eyelands 11th International Short Story Contest.

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Meet The Ugly 5. #1 Spotted Hyena

Rosalind: I will laugh like a hyen, and that when thou art inclined to sleep.” As You Like It, IV. i. 147-9. – William Shakespeare

The goal of everyone who goes on safari is to spot The Big 5: lion, elephant, leopard, rhinoceros, and Cape buffalo. It took us 3 tries to see them all, but in January this year we finally did it!

Less famous (or looked-for) are The Ugly 5. Uwe and I have spotted every single one over time. And yes, they are UGLY. It is my great pleasure to introduce you to them, one at a time….

First up is the spotted hyena. They like grasslands and open terrain. From our tent in the Serengeti, in the middle of the night I heard them laughing hysterically. The spotted hyena is chatty!

a mud bath. Because he’s not filthy enough yet

following the Great Migration and hoping something gets killed soon

Unlike most hyenas, the spotted hyena is a social animal and hunts in packs, probably because they follow migrating animals.

When they do their own hunting, spotted hyenas kill with their teeth and not their claws. They take care of other animals’ leftovers with those sharp teeth (and lack of compunction about eating something that’s clearly been dead for ages). As Wikipedia describes them, “Spotted hyenas evolved sharp carnassials behind their crushing premolars, therefore they did not need to wait for their prey to die, and thus became pack hunters as well as scavengers.” [1]

Along with bats, the spotted hyena is one of the very few creatures that can survive a rabies infection. Their diet of rotting meat gives them powerful concentrations of antibodies in their saliva.

Our safari guide told us that lions only eat meat. The hyenas then move in. They’re able to completely digest the organic matter found in bones, and their skulls and teeth are specialized to crack large bones and cut through animal hides.

Along with the hyenas come the carrion birds – two more of the Ugly Five. You’ll meet them soon.

NOTES: [1] wiki/Hyena; The Hyena Family © Jadi Campbell 2026. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.

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Shanti Arts and Still Point Arts Quarterly

This is the first time I’ve ever had a poem published. Still Point Arts Quarterly is a very beautiful publication. Shanti Arts

I could not feel prouder or more honored to have Cranes accepted by this magazine.

The summer issue can either be purchased as a printed magazine or viewed online for free. If you scroll down this page for Still Point Arts Quarterly, click on my name to read Cranes. The entire issue is gorgeous, and worth ordering in print. You can also view it directly here: Cranes

I’m over the moon with happiness. Enjoy!

NOTES: © Jadi Campbell 2026. To see Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.

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Paddling in Paradise

Uwe and I spent two weeks in Tanzania and Zanzibar in January. One of the highlights for me wasn’t what we saw (although there were highlights aplenty). A highlight was what I got to do. It all started with a boat ride to spot birds. Uwe sat in the middle of the canoe and took photographs.

a GULP of cormorants! What a great name for a group of birds, especially these ones

We had a fantastic guide/driver for a ten day safari. He knew everything, except how to swim. When the day’s activities involved going out in a canoe on Lake Duluti, he firmly declined to join us, even with a life jacket.

Did either Uwe or I know how to paddle a canoe? asked our guide for the lake. I do! I do! I was sooo excited. I grew up around water and canoes and man I miss them.

I spent the next two hours paddling the circumferance of the lake. Uwe took endless photos of the water birds. We were both in Paradise.

that dazzling Malachite Kingfisher again

I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. My recent awards are Finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award and Finalist for Greece’s Eyelands 11th International Short Story Contest.

Click here for my author page to learn more about me and purchase my books.

Charles Pierre Baudelaire + δίκταμος

Poet Charles Baudelaire was born April 9, 1821 in Paris, France. I was fascinated to discover that he’d translated the works of Edgar Allen Poe into French! In Baudelaire’s honor here is the post I wrote after visiting Crete and trying dittany. – Jadi

I’m sitting down to drink a cup of tea. If you don’t hear from me again, please notify my husband.

I’m going to try dittany or diktamos. The Cretans call it erontas or erondas, from the word eros. As you know, Eros is the Greek god of love and sexuality. The Greek is diktamos (δίκταμος) or erondas (έρωντας).

Diktamos is an herb that grows only on remote, rocky hilltops on the island of Crete. The name comes from the Dikti mountain range in the Lasithi region of East Crete.

The use of dittany goes back into the mists of history. It may be the plant featured in the fresco of garlands at the Minoan palace of Knossos. Hippocrates prescribed it. Homer, Euripides, Aristotle and Theophrastus, Plutarch and Virgil all wrote about the herb.

When Aeneas is injured, his mother Aphrodite (Venus) uses dittany to cure him:

A branch of healing dittany she brought

Which in the Cretan fields with care she sought:

Rough is the stern, which woolly leafs surround;

The leafs with flow’rs, the flow’rs with purple crown’d,

Well known to wounded goats; a sure relief

To draw the pointed steel, and ease the grief. [1]

Even characters in Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows use dittany. The herb is considered an aphrodisiac (okay, maybe not in Harry Potter). Suitors collected the wild dittany flowers and gave bouquets to prove their love. The young men were known as “erondades (love seekers) and were considered very passionate men to go to such dangerous lengths to collect the herb.” [2] Traditionally, diktamos was given to newlyweds to inflame desire.

It can be used both internally and externally: a poultice, an essential oil, for application on wounds, an herbal tea (my chosen method – I bought a bag of dried herbs when we were on Crete this fall), to disinfect wounds, chewed, or as toothpaste for a sore throat and to clean the mouth and teeth. Dittany is distilled and used as a bitter in vermouth or martinis (for example), and in cosmetics. [3]

Finally, before I drink my brewed cup, I give you my favorite fact. Dittany/Diktamos is also known as the burning bush. I leave it to you to decide why I’m drinking it.

In memory of Charles Baudelaire, 9 April 1821 to 31 August 1867

NOTES: Copyright © 2025 Jadi Campbell. Previously published as Love Tea. [1] Book XII.411–415 of Virgil’s Aeneid. As the poem mentions, Cretan mountain goats nibble on diktamos to heal their wounds. [2] botano.gr. The flowers of the Dittany plant are hermaphroditic with both male and female organs. [3] This rare and protected little plant gets around! Photo courtesy of phyto.gr. To see Uwe’s photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.

“Dittany contains an essential oil called Carvacrol, which is a natural antibiotic, 50 times stronger than penicillin. In the leaves, there is furthermore a substance called Dictamin, which is used for cardiovascular diseases. In all, there are 70 different curative substances in the plant that can be extracted and used for medication or cosmetics.” — ilovecrete.eu

“Compounds of Dittany are powerful antioxidants. The essential oils have also antiseptic and anti-fungal properties and are often used in ointments to treat burns and skin ailments. Tea made from dittany is used to relieve tension headaches and as a relaxant. Dittany is also used to relieve indigestion, colic, stomach cramps and bloating. It is also thought to be a diuretic and to combat fever.” —greece-is.com

To learn more: Origanum_dictamnus, www.we-love-crete

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The Magic of Metal

I loved the metal sculptures in southern Africa. They adorn everything from walls to drives to shops. Here are some of my favorites.

Riverside Guest Lodge, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

Gate that opens for road to lodge in Divundu, Namibia

Here are a few more examples:

https://www.contemporary-african-art.com/contemporary-sculpture.html

I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. My recent awards are Finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award and Finalist for Greece’s Eyelands 11th International Short Story Contest.

Click here for my author page to learn more about me and purchase my books.

Save the Animal Kingdom! #11

I present installment #11 from my blog thread describing what to call groups of animals … I updated it and the roll call of endangered species has grown. See how many you can guess. Answers listed at the bottom of the page.

A walk walks very, very slowly.
When this parade parades by, you can’t miss it.
The building builds on the built building.
The skulk skulks to avoid hunters.
The clutter cluttered the basement.
He didn’t want a kettle in his kettle.

Parade member, Sahakari Spice Farm Goa, India

Answers:

Walk of snails [1]
Parade of elephants [2]
Building of rooks [3]
Skulk of foxes [4]
Clutter of spiders [5]
Kettle of vultures [6]

I’m beyond dismayed – I am furious. The Trump administration is gutting environmental protections. Take action. Speak up! Write letters, make phone calls, donate to organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund and Greenpeace. Volunteer.

NOTES: [1] Scientific American reports that snails are going extinct. scientificamerican.com [2] Yup, the planet’s largest land mammal is on the list. WWF [3] Rook populations are in decline. [4]The fox is in danger of going extinct. People’s Trust for Endangered Species [5] Sigh. Spiders make the list, too. Go to the following website for a partial listing of endangered spider species: www.earthsendangered.com [6] And go to this site for a list of threatened vulture species: Mother Nature Network © Jadi Campbell 2025. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. Fun animal names from www.writers-free-reference.com, Mother Nature Network and www.reference.com.

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #10

This is installment #10 from my blog thread describing what to call groups of animals, more and more of them in danger of extinction … See how many you can guess. Answers listed at the bottom of the page.

He parceled out food to the parcel.
The bob bobbed.
I added an herb bouquet to the cooking bouquet.
The pack thinks this part of Australia should be called the Outpack.
The pace set a slow pace.
How the charm charmed me!

Answers:

Parcel of pigs
Bob of seals [1]
Bouquet of pheasant [2]
Pack of dingos [3]
Pace of asses
Charm of hummingbirds [4]

Bob, protected sea life islands near Woody Island, Esperance, Australia

I’m beyond dismayed – I am furious. The Trump administration is gutting environmental protections. Volunteer. Take action. Speak up! Write letters, make phone calls, donate to organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund and Greenpeace.

NOTES: [1] The gray seal flourishes, while other species need protecting. The Japanese sea lion and the Caribbean monk seal have not had confirmed sightings in the past 50 years and are considered extinct. The Galapagos fur seal, Hawaiian monk seal, Caspian seal, and Mediterranean monk seal are all endangered. The Mediterranean monk seal is currently considered the most at risk seal species. Seals World, IFAW [2] According to earthlife, pheasants are one of the most endangered groups of birds in the world. [3] The Australian dingo may become extinct. Bush Heritage [4] Ditto many hummingbird species. Hummingbird Society © Jadi Campbell 2025. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. Fun animal names from www.writers-free-reference.com, Mother Nature Network and www.reference.com.

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Rocks Like Aliens

or stones from the moon.

I’m in love with New Zealand. These are the Moeraki Boulders, mysterious rock spheres on an east Otago beach. The spheres are 60 million years old. Similar round rocks can be found in a few other places: Kimmeridge Clay and Oxford Clay in England, and North Dakota, USA.

Maori explain these boulders on New Zealand’s South Island as what remained when calabash squashes, sweet potatoes, and eel baskets washed ashore after Āraiteuru, a large sailing canoe, capsized. According to the legend, “the rocky shoals that extend seaward from Shag Point [are] the petrified hull of this wreck and a nearby rocky promontory [is] the body of the canoe’s captain. Their reticulated patterning on the boulders, according to this legend, are the remains of the canoe’s fishing nets. ^[[1]

It was early morning when we visited. The beach was mostly deserted and deeply mysterious. Sixty million years of existence lend objects the gift of magic, and the Moeraki Boulders were unlike any rock I’ve ever touched.

As I say: Rocks like aliens, or stones from the moon.

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Don’t Attempt to Adjust that Dial…

My alternate titles for this post are, “Oh, Really??” and “Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection in Action”.

These photos are from the thermal springs in Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, Rotorua, New Zealand. All of New Zealand is earthquake-prone and Rotorua steams and belches and burbles from the many, many underground geysers and hot springs. Rotorua is gloriously alive!

My first title, Don’t Attempt to Adjust that Dial, is because the colors are not normal. In fact, thanks to the high concentrations of various chemical and metallic elements, the colors of the pools are downright creepy. (According to their website, Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland is known as “One of the 20 Most Surreal Places in the World”.) https://www.waiotapu.co.nz/information/

I suspect the Champagne Pool’s orange isn’t normal either

The second title, “Oh Really??” is my sarcastic and astonished response that the park felt like they needed to post signs warning that the springs are damned hot:

Seriously? They have to warn people NOT to walk over and enter this pool?

Personally I thought the clouds of steam gave away the secret, but maybe that’s just me.

And the third alternate title “Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection in Action” was my response when I spotted this sign:

Apparently it isn’t enough to inform visitors that the waters are boiling hot. No: the park has to go further and admonish visitors NOT to climb over the waist-high fences and wade into the springs.

I say this proves beyond a doubt Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, aka the law about survival of the fittest/brightest/least stupid.

PS: The park is run by Te Arawa Group Holdings, a local Maori tribal business. In addition to these signs, their Health and Safety Page has these warnings: “There is NO SMOKING allowed within the attraction.” And this: “Thermal pools can be very hot (over 100⁰C or 210⁰F) or have toxic gases or fumes at the surface. Also, thermal pools can form a thin crust over the top of them that looks like a solid surface, but will break if a person stood on it. Thermal pools can be hidden under vegetation. Please refrain from trying to touch any water or go the edge of pools as you can cause yourself serious harm.” And this. “Steam can be attractive to visitors, for your own safety, please refrain from sitting on, standing over, touching or placing any body part over steam vents or crevasses. These can be very hot and cause serious harm to your skin.” And this… “Being an active geothermal area with uneven terrain, sturdy footwear is recommended. Jandals, sandals, flip-flops or high heeled shoes are not suitable.” https://www.waiotapu.co.nz/health–safety/

Darwin’s turning in his grave!

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Category: Nature

The Great Migration

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Meet The Ugly 5. #1 Spotted Hyena

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Shanti Arts and Still Point Arts Quarterly

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Paddling in Paradise

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Charles Pierre Baudelaire + δίκταμος

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The Magic of Metal

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #11

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #10

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Rocks Like Aliens

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Don’t Attempt to Adjust that Dial…

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