African Migrants

There's a lot in the news about African migrants. To investigate, I went to Tarifa in Andalusia, Spain - the southern tip of mainland Europe and the closest point to Africa, at only around 20km from the coast of Morocco.

I gazed over the strait from a vantage point above the town.

Sure enough, I soon saw at least 50 White Storks flagrantly crossing over into Spain.

If they successfully navigate the power lines and wind machines on the hill, they may make it to somewhere they can settle down and rear their children in safety.

It reminds me of my visit last year to the Zoology Department of Rostock University in Germany - where the stuffed 'Rostock Stork' can be found. The gruesome spear in the neck proved, in 1822, that storks arriving in northern Germany in Spring come all the way from Africa.

At home in Basel I can hear the storks clattering their bills in their nests at the end of my street.