A Great Bay

It must be good for a star rover to see human habitation below when approaching a planetary surface even if his reception by the locals seems hostile. On Nike, Roan Tom sees:

part of the north temperate zone;

dawn reddening the eastern horizon;

a valley with what look like large agricultural estates;

villages along a shining silver river;

ships and barge trains (again, "water ships" are differentiated from spaceships);

a swampy delta before a great, glimmering, narrow-mouthed bay;

lights twinkling around the gate of the bay and on the shore;

to the north, rugged, forested, uninhabited hills rising steeply toward a smoking mountain.

People live there. That is what matters.