by Frank Coates
‘How’s your doctoral thesis going?’ he asked.
‘It’s Dr Charlie now, if you don’t mind.’
‘Congratulations! That’s great news.’
She smiled. It was the same smile as on the inside cover of her book.
‘You look great,’ he said.
‘Thank you. Again.’
He struggled to think of something to fill the void his mind had become since her sudden appearance. He moved from behind the table and took her hand again.
‘It’s just that…I’m so amazed that we’ve bumped into each other here today, out of all of the millions in London. It just proves my point about synchronicity, don’t you think?’
She raised a shaped eyebrow. ‘Maybe. If it wasn’t for Google.’ She wore that I-know-stuff smile.
‘What!’ he said, then laughed as he understood.
He drew her to him, holding her body close.
Charlie wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling into his eyes.
He kissed her.
A soft breeze played over the stony, dry earth of the Seronera parade ground. The short rains were yet to bring the verdant flush of new grasses, but Joshua loved the fragrance of dry grass and dust. It was hot, but he didn’t mind. He stood to attention with his ten fellow recruits while the chief game warden made a speech about conservation, park management and the park’s history.
‘The Maasai call this place Siringitu,’ he said, ‘which means “the place where the land moves on forever”. The Maasai have always appreciated the beauty of the Serengeti; and it is you new recruits, gathered here today, whom the Maasai now entrust to protect that beauty. If you complete your training to become game wardens, you will have the skills necessary for the task. But it is how you use those skills that will determine the success or failure of your mission.’
Joshua glanced towards Mayasa, who stood with her hands clasped beneath her swollen belly as if to hold the weight of their unborn child. She had been determined to attend his induction, regardless of his pleas to avoid the heat. But his father was at her side, holding a large umbrella to shelter her from the Serengeti sun.
Joshua filled his lungs with the scent of the Serengeti—dry grass; dust; the peppery organic fragrance of growth, death and rebirth—and looked above the semicircle of government huts to the endless, clear blue sky.
He blocked out the chief game warden’s voice and listened instead to the voices playing on the breeze: the twitter of birds, the rustle of tree leaves, the distant bark of a zebra. The sounds of the Serengeti.
Perhaps the call of the Serengeti had always been present in his mind, but it was a call too soft to be heard over the din of Kibera. Now he could hear it. Every sweet soft sound of it.
Acknowledgements
In August and September of 2008, I spent a month in the Nairobi informal settlement area of Kibera while researching this novel. Although the vast majority of Kibera’s residents are law-abiding, I was warned that to attempt to go unescorted into many parts of Kibera would be dangerous. I was therefore very fortunate to have the assistance of a number of people to enable me to spend time in Kibera and complete this research.
I wish to thank Michelle Osborn, who at the time was a doctoral student in Nairobi, Kenya, for her advice and her assistance in arranging for me to meet a number of individuals who agreed to act as my guides in Kibera.
The assistance of Jared Nyamweya during my visits to Kibera is gratefully acknowledged. Jared is one of the many private citizens of Kibera who selflessly devote their time and limited resources to provide community assistance programs within the settlement.
There were others who offered information and opinions on the political situation in Kenya but who have asked to remain anonymous. Their contributions are gratefully acknowledged.
Many thanks go to my editors, Nicola O’Shea and Kate O’Donnell, and my publishers at HarperCollins, Anna Valdinger and Linda Funnell.
As always, my agent and friend, Selwa Anthony, has been a constant source of encouragement and guidance, which is gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, I also acknowledge Wendy Fairweather and James Hudson for their support and feedback on my early drafts.
About the Author
Frank Coates was born in Melbourne and, after graduating as a professional engineer, worked for many years as a telecommunications specialist in Australia and overseas. In 1989 he was appointed as a UN technical specialist in Nairobi, Kenya, and travelled extensively throughout the eastern and southern parts of Africa over the next four years. During this time Frank developed a passion for the history and culture of East Africa, which inspired his first novel, Tears of the Maasai, which was published in 2004. Softly Calls the Serengeti is his sixth novel.
Other Books by Frank Coates
Tears of the Maasai
Beyond Mombasa
In Search of Africa
Roar of the Lion
The Last Maasai Warrior
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2011
This edition published in 3011
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Frank Coates 2011
The right of Frank Coates to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney, NSW 2073, Australia
31 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland 0627, New Zealand
A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India
77-85 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8JB, United Kingdom
2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Coates, Frank.
Softly calls the Serengeti / Frank Coates.
1st ed.
ISBN: 978-0-7322-8649-1 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-0-7304-9420-1 (epub)
Adventure stories.
A823.4
Cover design by Nada Backovic Designs
Cover images: blood lily © Imagemore Co., Ltd. / Corbis; jeep by Jake Wyman / Getty Images; couple by Jordan Siemens / Getty Images; zebras on the Serengeti grassland © AfriPics.com / Alamy
Original map by Margaret Hastie, adapted by HarperCollinsPublishers
