Grasslands as far as the eye can see, little trees struggling to survive, beaten by the wind and grouped around an occasional water hole, that’s the landscape of Eastern South Dakota. One can imagine the herds of bisons that used to roam this land, before the white man arrived and changed everything.

The Badlands , Mako Sica (Lakota) Mauvaises Terres (french), appeared to me like a wound in the prairie. As you stand of the edge of the grass, the soil breaks sharply and uncovers a strange and fascinating scenery composed of mud mounds (actually crumbling rock) colored by the decomposing minerals and chemicals from the decaying plants that used to grow there, for at one time, this land was covered by a sea, then the water receded and a jungle took it’s place, then the jungle died and the Badlands were born.

Jagged edges, strange shapes and colors, all of which seems to change with the time of the day, as the winds and the rains continue to sculpt the land into an ever changing “moon like” landscape.

Animals do live here, prairie dogs are abundant, jackrabbits, coyotes, butterflies, turtles, vultures, snakes blue birds and bisons to name a few.