Remember 2008?

The number of people who went to jail specifically for their roles in the 2008 financial crisis varies depending on the scope and definition of the prosecutions considered. Here’s a breakdown based on available data:

In the United States, the most notable case is that of Kareem Serageldin, a former Credit Suisse executive, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2013 for mismarking bond prices to hide losses during the crisis. He is often cited as the only Wall Street executive jailed directly for actions tied to the core events of the 2008 financial meltdown. However, this does not mean he was the only person prosecuted in connection to the broader fallout.

The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), which oversaw the $700 billion bailout funds distributed after the crisis, reported significant enforcement actions. By 2016, SIGTARP investigations had led to criminal charges against 402 individuals, including 97 bankers, with 35 of those bankers receiving prison sentences. These cases largely involved fraud related to the misuse of TARP funds rather than the direct causation of the crisis itself, such as subprime mortgage practices. Examples include Edward Woodard, former CEO of the Bank of the Commonwealth, who received a 23-year sentence for hiding financial troubles at his bank.

Globally, the picture expands. Research by the Financial Times identified 47 bankers worldwide who were sentenced to jail time for roles directly linked to the crisis or the collapse of their institutions, with Iceland accounting for 25 of these cases. Iceland took a notably aggressive stance, prosecuting executives from its major banks—such as Kaupthing, Landsbanki, and Glitnir—resulting in sentences ranging from months to several years for crimes like fraud and market manipulation. In Ireland, seven bankers were jailed, though some convictions were later quashed. In the U.S., beyond Serageldin, prosecutions of lower-level players—like mortgage brokers and loan officers—numbered in the hundreds, with 324 convictions reported by SIGTARP for mortgage-related fraud contributing to the crisis.

In contrast to earlier financial scandals, such as the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s (over 1,000 convictions) or the early 2000s accounting scandals (e.g., Enron and WorldCom executives), the 2008 crisis saw remarkably few high-profile Wall Street executives face criminal charges. Major banks paid billions in fines—nearly $190 billion by 2015—but these were civil settlements, not criminal penalties, and no top CEOs from firms like Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, or JPMorgan Chase were imprisoned.

The total number of incarcerations thus ranges from a narrow focus on one (Serageldin) in the U.S. for core crisis actions, to dozens (e.g., 35 via SIGTARP plus others globally) when including bailout fraud and international cases, to hundreds when encompassing lower-level mortgage fraud. The exact figure depends on how one defines “the 2008 financial crisis,” but the consensus is that accountability at the highest levels was limited compared to the scale of the economic damage, which saw U.S. household net worth drop by over $16 trillion and global markets lose around $30 trillion.

CHRONIC PAIN & AVERAGE HEALTH

Do you believe physicians care more about your health or their income?

The purpose of medicine is to have you come back for more medicine.

M.D.s will not and do not prescribe great food, healthy nutrition, walking shoes, gym memberships, or exercise.  Why? No $$ in that "health care".

They want and need you to come back for MORE MEDICINE!

Not many things in life are worse to live with than chronic pain.  I fixed some chronic pain yesterday.  I climbed back into the Sea of Cortez and went to work in the salt.   My morning swim today was a beautiful thing.   If you don't use it, you lose it.   Mornings in the sea in Cabo are a beautiful thing.  Swimming is great medicine.   Funny I have never gotten a prescription for an ocean swim.

That said, if medications truly worked, why would you need to refill them every month? Because they don’t fix the problem—they just mask the symptoms while the disease continues.

An antibiotic cures an infection. But weight loss drugs, blood pressure meds, and diabetes medications? They just keep you dependent.If your doctor is trying to put you on meds instead of taking you off them, you need a new doctor.

Medications for chronic disease do not cure you; they are just an antidote. If you want the cure, you'll have to stop poisoning yourself.

The poison is ultra-processed foods, causing us to eat 500-1,000 calories extra every day over time, causing energy toxicity. What is energy toxicity? It's obesity spilling over into excess visceral (belly) fat once you're past your personal fat threshold. Now you have a fatty liver. You have insulin resistance. You have high insulin and high blood pressure. Your blood glucose is rising. Soon, you'll have type 2 diabetes (severe energy toxicity). Keep it up, and a decade or two or three later, you'll get heart disease, cancer, dementia, stroke... and by then, it may be hard to fix things. Today, you can fix it. Fix the energy toxicity. Cut out the foods that make you overeat, the ultra-processed, low-satiety-per-calorie foods that make you need to eat more. You can try a low-carb diet, a high-protein diet, or only eat real foods (nothing processed). These options all work.

I think the simplest and potentially most effective approach may be to go straight for the problem. Eat foods that are more satiating per calorie, on average. That makes you eat less. That fixes the energy toxicity, and you'll likely get stronger and leaner, too.

Remember I said this. Get yourself healthy, it's your responsibility.

Any pill you take long term is a business model, not a medicine.

Remember kids: The healthcare system is a for-profit industry that makes its money selling pills and procedures to sick people, not fresh meat and vegetables to healthy people.

Here lies the problem. The average American is a lazy fuck. People like pills. Most Americans don't have the ability or drive to do hard work. People are unable or unwilling to enact the lifestyle changes required to prevent or reverse disease.

Big Pharma is evil but the average person is too dam lazy and not in control of their own body. Look at the obesity in America.

Here's a thought.

Don't be average.

FLORIDA HOUSTON

Epic battle.  Not a loser anywhere near either team.

The defense, effort, hustle, speed, "bring it", and accuracy were on full display.

Congratulations to the players of both teams, the parents, the coaching staff, the universities, and fans around the world.

That game was epic. 

Beautiful basketball.

The "no-quit" in Florida was world-class.

I will watch that game a time or two again. 

What a training video for basketball coaches worldwide! 

SPEAK UP AMERICA!

To whomever wrote this-Well said!

When millions of illegals were ushered in through the southern border, you said nothing!
When they abandoned millions of dollars worth of military equipment in Afghanistan,you said nothing!
When they flaunted a two tier justice system, one for them and one for everyone else, you said nothing!
When they covered up the HunterBiden laptop, you said nothing!
When they passed a trillion dollar infrastructure bill that failed miserably, you said nothing!
When they forcedAmericans to take an untested vaccine,you said nothing!
When inflation crushed the middle class, you said nothing!
When they sent billions to Ukraine, you said nothing!
When chemicals polluted the water in EastPalestine, Ohio and they ignored it, you said nothing!
When Americans were raped, robbed and murdered by illegals, you said nothing!
When they implanted Kamala as the presidential nominee without getting a single vote, you said nothing!
When billionaire and anti American GeorgeSoros funded dozens of AG elections, you said nothing!
When they turned our classrooms into liberal indoctrination camps,you said nothing!
When they spent our tax dollars on inmates transition surgeries, you said nothing!
When they gave the citizens of Hawaii $700 after losing their entire city, you said nothing!
When they gave free money, food and 5 star hotel lodging to illegals,you said nothing!
When they came for our free speech, you said nothing!
When DEI weakened the military and put our national security at risk, you said nothing!
When they colluded with the media to push false reports, you said nothing!
When it was open season on law enforcement and criminals reigned, you said nothing!
When they weaponized the justice system to take down their political opponents, you said nothing!
When the bureaucrats took over the White House and ran the government, you said nothing!
When they covered up Biden's rapidly declining mental state, you said nothing!
When they groomed our kids in school and hid it from the parents, you said nothing!
When the drug epidemic exploded and 1000s died annually, you said nothing!
When they accosted the jews on their campuses, you said nothing!
When they weaponized the intelligence agencies against Americans, you said nothing!
When they spent $45 million dollars on "Diversity and Inclusion" scholarships in Burma, you said nothing!
When they let men play women's sports, you said nothing!
When they chanted "Death to America" and burned our flag, you said nothing!
When they shutdown our energy production, and emboldened Russia, you said nothing!
When the crime rates in American cities increased, you said nothing!
While thousands of veterans were left to sleep out on the streets, you said nothing!
When 300,000 migrant children went missing and no one had a clue, you said nothing!
When JoeBiden pardoned his friends and family, you said nothing!
When they sent billions to Iran and inadvertently funded Hamas, you said nothing!
When men were celebrated for pretending to be women, you said nothing!
When they let aChinese Spy Ballon sail across America, you said nothing!
When 50 intelligence agents all lied to bury the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation, you said nothing!
WhenAmerican citizens were taken hostage and held for a year in Gaza, you said nothing!
WhenFacebook admitted, they conspired with the Biden administration to censor the truth, you said nothing!
When they cleaned the streets of San Francisco for the communist Chinese President Xi Jinping, you said nothing!
WhenFauci and the WHO peddled covid 19 virus lies and covered up the origins, you said nothing!
When they sealed the January 6th commission files or "lost them", you said nothing!
You saw the corruption, the lies, the bad policy, the antiAmerican agenda and said nothing, so please spare us your crocodile tears and all your fake hysteria now. For 4 years you watched this country get run into the ground on all fronts and you said nothing!

Now,it’s our turn!

IYKYK

 

UA 294 DIA -- SJD

Our flight from Denver to Cabo the other day was rather interesting.

I always watch flight tracker or have it open when in the air, and noticed something wasn't according to plan.

We were informed by the crew that something was lodged in the aircraft's windshield, and we were circling to attempt to dislodge it.

Upon landing, the fear amongst passengers quickly subsided.  

We departed the aircraft, boarded another with the same crew and got to Cabo unscathed.   Just another day in paradise.  

As a wanna-be P.I. I got an immediate photo of the front of the plane.  I see nothing, do you?   The story of truth remains untold.

GROK

 

Time for You to REVISIT this Speech

 

No April Fool's Here.............

 

Eating eggs and meat for breakfast is a given for Dean Parisian.  At Ghost Ranch, it's often fresh fish.   My pal and I got into the sauger and smallmouth bass the other day.  They were hungry, and the minnow schools were getting hammered.  It was like throwing the kitchen sink at them. Fun times, great eating.

This morning I scored a double!  Been a good while since breaking out a double on yolk!

The market is selling off, but is still a bit pricey at 20x on the S&P. It is a great week to put some cash to work.  Bond prices up, yields down.

What a great time to live in America!  And that isn't an April Fool's joke.   

GREETINGS to 1,000,000 VISITORS!

This "blog" was started a few years ago to comment on financial matters affecting clients of CHIPPEWA PARTNERS/Native American Advisors, Inc. It has since become more than that.

Fast forward to now, we have had over 1,000,000 visitors to this site.

To all of the regulatory agencies, the 3-letter government crowd, the politicians, the media, sports fanatics, slimy politicians who have been called out,  foreign wack jobs, naturalists, hunters, trappers, classmates, fishermen, travelers, political junkies, Native American tribal members, X'ers, friends, haters, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, you name it they have dropped in to weigh in.

It's been a grand ride,  I'm still here.  

Thank you friends, new and old, close and far!

Keep your big boy pants on, saddle up, and ride with the brand!

We are headed in the right direction.  Thank you.

  

 

FLAT EARTHERS

FLAT EARTH DEBUNKED

MONTANA in Spring

 

America in the Mirror.................

I live in the country which is a good thing.   Listening to coyotes serenade their mates is much better than traffic noise and city congestion.  My town has a very busy pharmacy inside a WALGREENS drugstore.   I have been told it is near the top pharmacy in any WALGREENS store in the United States.  There is ALWAYS a line for the drive-up crowd to get their pills.

The older I get, the more laughable it is that the medical profession never offers prescriptions for exercise, good walking shoes, sunlight, vitamins, sleep, nutritious food, instructions on preparing healthy food, gym memberships, weight training, and so on.

Just pills and more pills and more and more pills.  

The town near me has an unhealthy population.   You never see citizens walking, exercising outside, biking, or swimming in pools.    It is the most obese population I have ever lived amongst.  The city fathers recently rammed through a YMCA/City/Community facility to the tune of $39,000,000, which I promise will not lose a single pound of fat for the community.   

No one wants to do the work.   The lack of ambition, pride in appearance, reliance on pills, and excuses needs further study.   

Perhaps the New England Journal of Medicine can do a case study on Crossville, Tennessee.      

So You Want to Change Your Life?

Simple. 

So easy.

Quit drinking.

Sleep better.

Clear thinking.

Better energy.

No regrets.  

BEAUTY

 

COVID LIES and TYRANNY 5 YEARS LATER

 COVID LIARS and BULLSHIT 5 YEARS LATER

GROK @ work

If you aren't on GROK you should be.  Every single one of you.

Laurel Kenner does a great job in this article. 

Check out her great writing.

SENIORS LOVE AI

HUNTING FOR DEAD AMERICANS

Imagine the number of people involved in the fraud and corruption.

The scummy bankers, attorneys, accountants, and an endless myriad of families.

Long live DOGE and Elon Musk!

The Spendthrift DEAD!

Joe Kernen, CNBC

Dear Joe,

If you are ever in the golf capital of Tennessee, we have the course of your choice covered!  You are like fine wine! The longer you remain on CNBC and batter these liberal nutjobs like you did today to Jeff Sonnenfeld, the more viewers will watch you! 

What a complete take-down of Yale's finest liberal wacko!

You, Leon Cooperman, Ray Dalio, and a few others are the only people we turn the volume on when we watch CNBC in the Parisian Family Office.  

Your career has wed common sense, great politics, a stiff attitude, intelligent discourse, and tremendous humor for decades.   

When you quit, I quit.  Keep hammering the lunatics!

With best wishes to the Kernen crew,

Dean Parisian

President Trump, when is the audit?

 

Death of the New America High Income Fund

The New America High Income Bond Fund, (HYB) was a fund whose sole purpose was to continue to supply compensation to all concerned with the fund. Shareholders have been bagged in this name since Patsy Ostrander became part of the "daisy chain" at Drexel Burnham Lambert. From coming public at $50 per share to the 2008 low of $3.20 this fund has to be one of the top, dismal, miserable, unbelievably crappy funds ever to exist. It was run for the sole benefit of the insiders over all those years. What an ugly history of greed and corruption, to say nothing of poor management by whatever clown shop was in charge until it folded last month.

The Stock Market

Amazed how many calls have lit up my phone over a few days of selling.  

Would you please relax?  You haven't seen anything yet.   When you have so much fear you can't even pick up the phone to call me, you will want to start working on your "buy" list.

We have some minor pullback action, entirely warranted, overdue, and much anticipated.  Stock prices don't go to the moon boys and girls.  There are metrics in valuation that you might heed but are worthless in an onslaught of selling pressure.  

Please watch and listen to this YOUTUBE video to familiarize yourself with real fear and stocks getting puked out of portfolios with heavy leverage.   I am scared of the carry trade crowd, not the school teacher in Mandaree, Crow Agency, or Pickstown.   

FEAR in the Stock Market, LIVE!

I did purchase one name a couple days ago.

I bought 10,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs, CLF, at $8.625.  Wish me luck.

I have no idea on the stock market,  I know I own some good management teams, with good growth prospects, with good industry fundamentals.  Greed and fear haven't gone out of style for about 10,000 years and shares don't know I own them and wouldnt' behave any differently if they did.

I like where President Trump is going.  I am investing in that direction. 

I get fleeced every day when I trade just as you do.  Expect it and live with it.

Educate yourself, your commissions are not "FREE".

NO ONE Understands the Market

Gutless wonders at the SEC and FINRA

FINRA is the fox guarding the hen house.   You see, the hen house has the hens that lay the golden eggs.  The NYSE was toast after (it's anniversary today), March 7, 2006 of no longer being owned by seat holders.  Today, it's been 19 years since the club sold out to other exchanges, dark pools, and HFT firms!    

For over a decade I sat as a public arbitrator in proceedings between aggrieved parties, brokers, brokerage firms, and client/customers until the day all of the arbs in the NYSE and FINRA pools who were unbiased, fiduciary members/owners/employees of investment management firms were tossed out of the arb pools!  It was shocking to hear but expected.  

When the fox is guarding the hen house and the game warden can't protect the hens from honesty and truth, the house will do what they must to keep feeding the fox.    

Here is more nonsense from regulators taking a few steps backward! 

Joe Saluzzi is and has been at the forefront of market manipulation by HFT.  Read his Substack here: 

WIPING AWAY the FINGERPRINTS

Tell me again why you wouldn't want the information to catch bad guys.

It's lonely at the top..........

Most days I get tired of winning.   It's lonely at the top.   Trying to share over 40 years of market experience with people who spend more time reading a newspaper than studying price action is futile.  Nobody wants to do the work.  Nobody wants to adopt an investment strategy.  Nobody believes the purpose of markets is to take from the weak and give to the strong.  Nobody wants to believe down markets are always TEMPORARY and the ups are always PERMANENT.

We have had a tremendous week at the Parisian crib.

We booked our largest gain on a private investment position (a multi-year long) in history!

Beat the State of Tennessee Department of Revenue at their own game.

We've had excellent workouts!

Had some delicious meals.

Started two rock tumblers with some beautiful petrified wood and agates.

Picked up some great reading material.

Scored the bull elk over the fireplace. (Boone & Crockett GROSS score of 354)

Made a 6 figure donation to what we think is the finest charity in the world.

Planned some outings with friends in Mexico.

Taxes are near completion. 

Celebrated our wedding anniversary!

That's just to name a few!  Yet the hoodlum critters in D.C. can't come up with 5 things they did in their jobs over 5 days?  GMAFB...........  

Oh, one more!  Watched the greatest President of my lifetime deliver some stunning blows to the Democrat clowns in Congress and the Senate!

NOBODY CARES, WORK HARDER!

    

Like Father, Like Son

 

Like FATHER, Like SON

Vivek speaking TRUTH

TRUTH

1. God is real. 

2. There are two genders. 

3. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels. 

4. Reverse racism is racism. 

5. An open border is no border. 

6. Parents determine the education of their children. 

7. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind. 

8. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty. 

9. There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four. 

10. The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedom in history.

A.G. Pam Bondi on March 1, 2025

 

The Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, told America there were over 250 victims.

Any arrests yet?      

I know the answer.

None today.

None tomorrow.

None in all the tomorrows ahead.

Simple question from Dean Parisian.  If America has to protect pedophiles as a matter of national security, perhaps now is the time to reconsider our national priorities.

Bondi is cut from the same cloth as Amy Coney Barrett!

Democratic Filth in Crossville, TN

The Democrat crazies were out in force today.   The liberals decided to make a few placards and join forces in front of the Cumberland County Court House today to let the populace know they can spell.  

To be a Democrat, you literally have to care more about power, position, and personal enrichment than you do about our country and her people. No sane person would think destroying America's sovereignty with open borders was good, or that rampant crime and drugs pouring in and killing Americans was fine - or that almost bankrupting our country for wealth and permanent power was acceptable or that chopping off genitals of adolescents was decent.  Democrats argue in favor of keeping fraud and waste of taxpayers' money. The party of boys competing against girls. The party of teaching preschoolers to be "trans" in school. The party of voter fraud and cheating at the ballot box. The party of Epstein and Diddy. The party who wanted 87,000 more IRS agents.

You see, the Democrats are corrupt Marxists who want perpetual power and slaves as citizens.  Democrats can't compete or win on ideas, talent, or skill. Thus, the need to rig elections, steal money, and hire morons based on DEI policies. It's not just that their politics are bad. Democrats are generally dishonest people who are incapable of advancement while planning Presidential coups and working against the Federal Government and United States taxpayers.  They love the Ukrainian drug snorting dictator who has squandered $150,000,000,000 of United States taxpayer assets and has no record of where it was spent.  They put all Americans last and give the world our tax dollars. 

Here is Sen. John Kennedy on the Democrats: “They mismanaged COVID. They mismanaged the economy. They mismanaged inflation. They mismanaged the national debt. They mismanaged Afghanistan. They support illegal immigration over the rule of law, just like they support transgender athletes over women's sports, just like they support Hamas terrorists over Israel. The party is controlled right now by people who majored in online activism with a minor in puberty blockers. They think men can breastfeed. They're triggered by race. They cry if you use the wrong pronoun.”

Democrats had power for four years. They kept Biden, with full-blown dementia, in office and showed their true colors — censorship, political oppression, corruption, propaganda, lawfare, and theft. The American people rejected all that. 

They blew it. 

I miss anything?

Attorney General Pam Bondi and TRUST

This was a total botch of a rollout. Trust has been eroded.  Pam Bondi misled the American people.  You don't release official government documents to social media influencers. This has made a mockery of her office at the DOJ and the FBI.  They should have set up an official link for all Americans to access via the internet.

So this was nothing more than a photo-op?  Pam Bondi is now claiming the FBI is hiding files from her.  Where I come from, this has just turned into one big clusterfuck of disinformation to throw off the American people.

If it was mostly just information that is already public, why on Earth waste the time and money to put it in fancy binders? What happened to Pam Bondi's interview where she said it was "sick" and that we'd be "shocked?"  Only 250 victims of sex trafficking and the rape of minors and we get PHASE 1?    

What we saw was a bunch of opportunistic “influencers” laughing about the contents of a binder that was supposed to expose child rapists. We are neither amused at their humor nor impressed by the evidence that materialized yesterday.

So Bondi only found out that "the FBI is still withholding documentation" after the public release from an FBI whistleblower? And not until AFTER she handed out the big, white, official-looking red herring loose-leaf binders calling it PHASE 1? 

This is not a glitch; this is a disaster. A huge fail.

Where there's smoke, there's fire.   Trust in Pam Bondi has vanished.

I have never forgotten.  On my first day in law school, we were told there is no justice.  We were told that justice is only how good your attorneys are.

America needs a new attorney.   Trust is gone.  

Epstein Flight Log

EPSTEIN FLIGHT LOG

SAFARI, 2025

Come along for a couple of weeks on the African continent in the beautiful country of Tanzania. It was a great ride, and I would rank it a top-five adventure for the Parisian Family.  Yes, it's good to go, but it's great to be home in the United States of America.  With over 8 billion humans on the planet and over 345,000,000 now in America, you have about a 1 in 24 shot just at being an American! Imagine how lucky you are.  You have opportunity, freedom, education, free speech, freedom of religion, a diverse geography, great healthcare, and world-class infrastructure. It is endless.  There are big rewards for ambition, freedom, and innovation in America.  

You can do whatever you want in America.  The Creator has blessed you for being an American.  

Nine time zones separate the Nashville, Tennessee airport from the airport in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.  If you don't know jet lag it is tough on the body.  The older I get the more impact it seems to have.  We left Nashville, changed planes in Atlanta, boarded a Delta flight in a Boeing 787 to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, and again, changed aircraft, boarding a KLM (Dutch carrier) 787 flight for another 8-hour flight to Kilimanjaro.   It made for a long 24 hours!  I was very impressed with the service and the great food on the KLM leg. 

My first job out of college was working for one of Curt Carlson's many companies in Minneapolis, Performance Incentive Corporation as a trip director helping companies send their top people to exotic places as a reward for being big hitters in their respective companies.  It was a job I will never forget.   To interview, I had bought a new suit but didn't get a great haircut as I had been trapping beaver most of the spring, so when I walked in with my resume the lady at the front desk was rather inattentive and asked me why I thought I should get an interview when the massive bookcase behind her was full of resumes just like mine.  I replied very off-the-cuff that I was the guy they were looking for.  I am forever grateful to Patti Schullo for arranging an interview with the President, Dennis Callister, and for giving me a shot.

All I wanted was a chance. 

Those trips overseas taught me about life.   Top hitters at companies were approachable, fun, had beautiful wives, and expected success.  I had one major fiasco during my time there that was my fault.  We had gotten into a European restaurant to have lunch much later than planned after an excursion, it was hot, and everyone was thirsty and hungry.  The restaurant was understaffed and because of my outstanding collegiate training in tapping beer kegs, I got on the stick, tapped a keg, and started pouring beer to the hot and thirsty.  I wasn't a pro at delivering beer off a serving tray by any means and proceeded to spill a couple of cold beers directly down the back of the President of Toyota America!   His wife jumped to my defense and cooled him down while apologizing profusely for my ineptitude as a waiter.   I have never waited tables again.   

We landed at Kilimanjaro airport and were driven to our hotel in Arusha about an hour away.   It was late in the evening and our bodies, given the 9-hour time differential were telling us to wake up and start the day!    Exhausted, we hit the pillows and awoke in daylight.  Opened the curtain to the morning sun and was looking at Mt. Meru, the 2nd tallest mountain in Tanzania and the 5th tallest in Africa at about 15,000 feet above sea level.   Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest.  

Tanzania is 365,794 square miles and is the 13th largest country in Africa, the 31st largest in the world. To give you a sense of comparison, the state of TEXAS is 268,596 square miles and Tanzania is roughly double the size of California! The country's population is about 70,000,000 people and is concentrated in a couple of areas. This is a staggering number to consider when 38% of the country is a National Park!

The state of TN has over 42,000 square miles. The national parks in Tanzania are over 38,000 square miles, which is a relative
comparison.

Tanzania is one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas on Earth. Traces of fossil remains of humans and hominids date back to the Quaternary era. Here are some of the oldest footprints on the planet.

I want to give you my impression of the country. Those of you who've traveled in Tanzania may have a different view.  

We hired a safari company to ferret us around and were lucky.  We had probably the finest Land Cruiser driver in the nation.  Mr. Kimondo was his name! He knew animals, he knew birds, he knew reptiles.  He was a great driver and we had a lot of fun covering hundreds and hundreds of miles, maybe thousands but everything was done in hours.  Hours to get here, hours to get there.  The game drives were on the nastiest roads and we didn't see a lick of pavement for over a week.  They call it getting an "AFRICAN MASSAGE" after sitting in a Land Rover all day getting tossed about!  

We went to Tanzania on a photo safari and brought cameras and binoculars.  Our gang is always on top of their game trying to come up with the best "spot" of the trip. Our family was blessed with good eyes.  

We took thousands of pictures, so let's look at what Tanzania is about!

Giraffes were many.   Fairly easy to distinguish females from males.  Immense size, always eating.

         

Nasty critters.  Don't get near one.  They kill more Africans than lions.  Temperament of a woman scorned.  Cape Buffalo

                 This was a group of bachelor males.  Young and hungry.  Cheetah. 

                                                  A species of Bishop birds.

Rhino's were hard to get near to.  Wary, don't like people.  

                Momma gazelle in action.  We all started somewhere. 

Saw a great number of lions.  Average pride was 6 to 10.   Did see a pride of 18.  They sleep most of the day and feed when they get hungry.  Eat and sleep, repeat!

Territorial.  The biggest killer of humans in Africa.  Hippos feed at night and cover a wide area eating vegetation.  Massive trails out of water holes.

                                     Plenty of youngsters closely watched by Mom. 

                                     Everywhere.  Look for shade, you'll find lions.

                                            Warthogs.  Found everywhere.

                                      Baboon.  

           Saw a few leopards.  They attract a crowd.  Tough to get good pictures.

   For the number of lions we saw I wasn't sure there were many old, mature males around.   This was the oldest we saw.   

Males have a good group of females.  Bachelors like this guy wait to grow up and lead the herd!

                             Birds were gorgeous across the Serengeti.   Colorful.

                              Mom Cheetah had 3 youngsters and was moving them gently.

                   Don't even think about getting close to these rank behemoths. 

2 to 3 million animals move across the Serengeti during migration.  It is hard to catch, via camera, the size of the herds.   Drones are illegal. From horizon to horizon the herds stretched.  Hard to fathom.

                                       Mom and baby

                           Hyena's. Powerful, shy, nasty, opportunistic canines. 

                  Grey-crowned cranes.  Not a better-looking crane on Earth.

Wildebeest.  I wasn't aware that so many wildebeest calves are left behind as the migration moves.  We saw several lost and would soon be a meal for hyenas and lions. 

                                   Wary Ostrich.  Didn't get close to them.

                                                       Serval

                                                                  Simba!

                               Eat, eat and eat.   

                             Playtime for the kids.

                                    Lichensteins Hartebeest

                               Secretary bird.  They walk miles daily.

                            Topi

                                  Dung beetle

Remains go fast.  Many vulture species have massive wing spans.

                      Like coyotes, they can't be domesticated.  

                          Look close at the lion damage on this hippo!

                                      Turtles were fairly common.

Dirt airstrip!

This big girl had cubs below her and was very nervous.  She had killed a small antelope and had it in a tree close to her.  Can you see the antelope in this tree?

Bird nests in Africa are like Monets or Picasso's!

Crocodiles were numerous.

Impressive rigs.  Not much plastic,  fueled by diesel.   They take a beating on the rough roads and being all metal they are built like a tank.

Looking into the Ngorongoro Crater, a massive volcanic caldera teeming with wildlife, often called Africa’s “Garden of Eden.”

We did see bat-eared fox, jackals, and hyenas everywhere, impala, a couple of mongoose, one big snake, zero rabbits, zero squirrels, lots of eagles, hawks, geese, ducks, grebes, dik-diks, shorebirds, flamingoes, black and white Colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, eland, bushbuck and probably a million wildebeest. 

In no particular order here were my take-aways.

Drove hundreds of miles, and didn't see a fence.   Didn't see any litter, no paper, cigarette butts, zero, none.    Went 600 miles before I saw my first plastic Coke bottle in the ditch.  No high-fructose corn syrup in Tanzania therefore no obesity in Tanzania.  No tattoos.   A happy, warm, mostly bi-lingual people, speaking English and Swahili, proud of their nation.  Tanzania’s economy leans on agriculture—coffee, tea, cotton, and sisal are the big exports, and over 60% of people farm or fish for a living. Gold mining is a cash cow, ranking it among Africa’s top producers. Tourism is massive—Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti Plain, and the island of Zanzibar pull in over a million visitors yearly.  Poverty is everywhere, per capita income hovers below $1,200, so it’s still a developing nation.   The Swahili phrase Hakuna Matata, from The Lion King, really means “no worries” here.

It was a long haul back to the United States.  Here is our approach into Atlanta from the belly of an AIRFRANCE 787.  Listen to the applause upon landing in the greatest experiment in the world, America!  

ATLANTA LANDING

Thank you for coming along to see some of Africa.  It was unforgettable.  My real beauty was being with the people I love the most.  The people of Tanzania were remarkable.  Yet, we all live here. 

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WE LIVE HERE!