Danger in the Dust

by Sally Grindley

  Joe wondered about waking his father and asking him to go with him. He leant over and half-heartedly touched his shoulder. His father snorted loudly, turned over and stopped snoring. The new silence was worse than the snoring – it made Joe feel completely alone.

  Don’t be such a wimp! he scolded himself.

  With that he clambered out of bed and tried to find the torch his father had left on the floor between them. He couldn’t find it anywhere. He fumbled his way towards the tent opening and pushed his way out. It was pitch black everywhere. The lights that had lit the pathways earlier had been turned off. He thought he knew which way to go, but in the darkness doubts crept in. He contemplated peeing on the ground behind the tent, but worried about tripping over the guy ropes or being caught out by a ranger.

  Joe couldn’t wait any longer – he was desperate! He turned left, away from the tent, and walked slowly along what he hoped was the path, putting one foot carefully in front of the other. A thin shaft of moonlight illuminated what looked to him like the toilet block, but it quickly disappeared at the same time as drops of rain began to fall.

  Oh no! I’ll get soaked!

  He walked faster, the torrential rain that was thudding to the ground disorientating him. He was no longer sure he was heading in the right direction and, as he considered giving up and going back, he heard a series of ghostly wails from somewhere close by. He panicked and started to run, the rain filling his eyes and soaking his T-shirt.

  ‘Mum, Dad, where are you?’ he shouted.

  His flight came to an end when he hit something soft and solid – and screamed.

  ‘Shhh. It’s all right, boy. You’ll wake everyone up.’

  A man’s voice – calm, taking control. Joe stared through the darkness, but all he could see were the whites of the man’s eyes.

  ‘Where were you going, boy?’

  Joe gulped in air to try and steady his nerves. ‘To the toilet,’ he said weakly. ‘I heard something howling.’

  ‘Those were jackals you heard. Don’t worry – they’re outside the camp. The toilets are this way.’

  Joe hesitated for a second, before following the man, who told him his name was Kwame and that he was a night patrolman. Joe was so relieved when Kwame led him to the toilet block, switched on the light and waited for him.

  Kwame then showed him the way back to the tent, which was no distance at all, and told him that the heavy rain would make the early-morning safaris much trickier.

  ‘Your guide may have to stay on the roads if the ground is too wet, but they like to go off-road if they can.’

  ‘Does that mean we won’t see as many animals?’ asked Joe.

  ‘Maybe,’ said Kwame.

  He wished Joe goodnight and walked away.

  Joe tiptoed into the tent, took off his wet clothes and got back into bed. He lay there shivering for a while; from the chill air, from his earlier fright, and from anxiety that because of the rain they might miss out on some of the animals he had set his heart on seeing.

  ‘Please stop raining,’ he muttered, as he listened to it hammering down.

  Chapter 7

  Joe was woken the next morning by Peter’s hand on his shoulder.

  ‘Wake up, sleepyhead. We’re going on an early-morning safari. It’s the best time to see lots of animals.’

  It took Joe a moment to take in what his father was saying.

  ‘Is it raining?’ he asked, yawning and wondering how they were going to see lots of animals when it was still dark outside.

  ‘No, though it did rain in the night,’ Peter replied. ‘I must have slept like a log because I didn’t hear a thing.’

  ‘You did sleep like a log – a snoring log,’ said Joe. ‘It poured last night.’

  Peter picked up Joe’s wet clothes from the floor. ‘And it looks like someone couldn’t resist going for a walk in it,’ he said, chuckling.

  ‘I was bursting to go to the loo, but I couldn’t find the torch and got lost,’ said Joe. ‘I could have been wandering around for hours if I hadn’t bumped into Kwame. You should have heard the jackals, Dad.’

  ‘I heard the jackals too, and then I heard someone scream in the night,’ said Aesha, who had appeared at the entrance to their tent. ‘It was horrible.’

  Joe blushed and asked her to leave so that he could get dressed.

  ‘Mum says to hurry up. The cooks have made a pot of tea for us to drink before we go.’

  Aesha and Peter left Joe to get ready. Joe remembered his conversation with Kwame.

  ‘It had better be light soon and the ground had better not be too wet,’ he muttered to himself, grabbing a brown T-shirt and some camouflage trousers.

  Daylight broke through very quickly and the sun was rising by the time the Brook family was on board the four-wheel-drive game-viewing truck that would take them into the heart of the reserve. Joe’s spirits rose rapidly as they set off, especially when, within seconds, they spotted a herd of zebras grazing close to the track.

  ‘Cool!’ he cried. ‘There must be at least twenty of them.’

  He stood up on his seat with his head through the open roof, and lifted his camera. He took several photographs in quick succession, following his father’s lead and using his long-distance lens to zoom in and out.

  ‘Nice camera,’ said Matunde, their guide.

  Joe grinned. He had liked Matunde from the moment they were introduced, when the guide had done a high five with him and told him he was going to show him more animals than he could dream of.

  ‘Look behind the zebras. What do you see?’ Matunde was pointing now.

  Joe stared hard but couldn’t see anything else.

  ‘It’s some sort of antelope,’ Aesha piped up.

  ‘That’s an eland,’ said Matunde. ‘The largest antelope in Africa.’

  Joe spotted it just as Matunde drove on.

  ‘In the tree – see? A fish eagle.’

  Matunde slowed again to allow Peter and Joe to photograph it.

  ‘It’s beautiful!’ Binti exclaimed.

  ‘Look over there!’ cried Aesha. ‘Look at those tiny antelopes. They’re so pretty.’

  ‘Those are Thomson’s gazelles,’ said Matunde. ‘We’ll see lots of them.’

  In a short space of time they had added wildebeests, baboons, storks and giraffes to the list of animals they had spotted. When Joe first caught sight of a giraffe stripping the branches of a tree, he could hardly contain his excitement, especially since Matunde left the track to allow them a closer look.

  ‘He’s amazing!’ he cried. ‘Look at his tongue!’

  ‘That’s a very prickly acacia tree he’s eating from, yet his tongue is so tough that he doesn’t feel a thing,’ said Matunde.

  They drove deeper into the reserve and for a while there were few animals in view, apart from more zebras and antelopes. Joe and Aesha competed with each other to see who could be the first to spot something, but more often than not Matunde beat them to it.

  ‘When can we see a lion?’ Joe asked him.

  ‘Or an elephant?’ said Aesha.

  ‘Elephants coming up now, over there on the right,’ Matunde answered, as though he had magicked them up to order.

  A herd of seven elephants was foraging in the middle of a patch of low bushes. One of the elephants was huge and looked over to where Matunde parked the safari van, its head swaying slightly from side to side. It took a step in the direction of the van, then stopped and watched.

  ‘She’s the matriarch and she’s in charge,’ Matunde said. ‘She shows her family where to eat, what to do and how to survive. She has maybe forty years of experience to pass on.’

  Joe stood on his seat again and lifted his camera through the open hatch in the top of the van. As he peered through the long-distance lens, a tiny calf appeared under the matriarch’s belly, staying there for no more than twenty seconds before hiding among the other elephants.

  ‘Did you see it?’ he cried. ‘Did you see the baby? I got a p
hoto of it standing right underneath the big one.’

  ‘You were quicker off the mark than me then,’ said Peter. ‘It had gone before I had time to focus.’

  ‘I didn’t see it at all,’ said Aesha grumpily. ‘You were in the way.’

  They set off again, Binti noting that they had now seen one of the Big Five and so had four to go.

  ‘If your wish is to see the Big Five, then you will see the Big Five,’ promised Matunde. ‘I will do my very best.’

  Part of their wish was granted almost immediately. Matunde left the track and drove through an area where the ground was very wet and covered with lush vegetation. He turned a corner and there, right in front of them, was a Cape buffalo, knee-deep in waterlogged undergrowth. The buffalo chewed slowly and fixed them with an unwavering stare.

  ‘This is a very dangerous animal,’ Matunde informed them. ‘This is a very bad-tempered animal.’

  ‘It looks it, too,’ said Aesha.

  Joe gazed at the buffalo’s massive, curved horns before getting in position to take a photograph.

  ‘Smile for the camera,’ he said, and laughed as he clicked the shutter. ‘That’s two of the Big Five now, and I bet that one’s the meanest.’

  Matunde drove back on to the track, which took them through a long stretch of open savannah where again there was little to see except a few herds of zebras and wildebeests in the distance. The sun was much higher in the sky now and the day was heating up.

  After a few kilometres, Matunde came to a halt, under the shade of a densely foliated tree, and encouraged them to get out of the van and have breakfast. Joe couldn’t believe what he was telling them to do!

  ‘But what if a lion comes?’ he asked. ‘Or a leopard?’

  ‘It’s perfectly safe,’ Matunde said, grinning at him. ‘It’s too exposed for animals here, and I have my gun.’

  Joe noticed for the first time that there was a shotgun next to the guide’s seat.

  I hope he doesn’t have to use it, he thought. I don’t want him to kill anything.

  He soon forgot it, though, as he sat alongside Binti on a large rock under the tree, looking out over the endless expanse of wild grassland and breakfasting on generous hunks of bread and cheese, washed down with a bucket-load of chilled cola.

  ‘Happy?’ Binti asked him.

  ‘Yes! This is the best!’

  Chapter 8

  The Brook family’s safari resumed after breakfast and, to Joe’s great joy, it wasn’t long before they came across a large pride of lions with four young cubs.

  ‘Look at them playing!’ cried Aesha, as two of the cubs clambered on top of a resting male while the other two attacked his tail.

  ‘They are learning how to kill,’ said Matunde. ‘Through play they learn how to stalk and attack and bring down their prey, like the females did with that zebra over there.’

  It was only then that Joe spotted the remains of a carcass just beyond the romping cubs. The lions had obviously had their fill for the time being and were stretched out in the long grass, allowing their meal to settle.

  ‘Gross!’ muttered Aesha.

  ‘Look up in that tree.’ Matunde pointed. ‘Two vultures are waiting to feast on what’s left.’

  Joe knew all about vultures from their trip to Ahmedabad in India, where his family had been involved in a conservation project.

  ‘Are vultures endangered in Africa?’ he asked.

  ‘Their numbers are declining,’ said Matunde. ‘It’s not good. They are needed to clean up what other animals leave, and that helps to stop the spread of disease.’

  Binti asked him if anything was being done to halt their decline. While she was talking, Joe focused his attention back on to the lions and took numerous shots of the frolicking cubs, which were still pestering the sleepy male.

  ‘He has the patience of a saint,’ observed Peter, who was taking his own video footage.

  At that very moment, the male cuffed one of the cubs and bowled it over.

  ‘Not any more he doesn’t.’ Joe laughed.

  They continued on their way and came across more giraffes and zebras, wildebeests and elephants, before Matunde informed them it was time to head back.

  ‘It’s getting too hot for many of the animals and they’ll be finding shady places to sleep. We’ll come back later in the day.’

  Joe felt a pang of disappointment, because they still had two of the Big Five to see and as yet they hadn’t come across any ostriches or cheetahs, either. But Matunde had promised they would see all five of the Big Five, so he had to hope that when they set out again in the late afternoon they would be able to put a tick against the leopard and the black rhino.

  On returning to the campsite, they showered and freshened up before being taken by minibus to visit a nearby Maasai village.

  ‘We think it’s important for you to have an understanding of ways of life completely different from our own,’ said Binti.

  They had already seen some of the Maasai shepherds leading herds of goats and cattle on the edges of the reserve. Joe had been impressed by their long red tribal robes, their tightly cropped hair and by how tall and athletic-looking they were. Now, as they reached the village and were greeted by women and children who were decorated with colourful, intricately beaded jewellery and other adornments, he couldn’t help staring at them in awe. When they were shown into a Maasai hut, which was a complex structure made of branches stuck together with mud, he found it difficult to believe that anyone could live in such a confined space, with so little light and so few possessions.

  ‘How can anyone live with so few things?’ whispered Aesha, echoing his thoughts.

  ‘In many ways the simplicity of the Maasai way of life is enviable, especially because they’re so in tune with the natural world,’ said Binti. ‘No university course can teach what tribes like the Maasai know through spending their lives immersed in nature. We’ve lost a lot by detaching ourselves more and more from our natural environment.’

  ‘I couldn’t live without a television and computers and stuff,’ said Aesha. ‘It would be so boring.’

  Joe was inclined to agree, though he didn’t say anything.

  ‘I think I could be quite happy roaming the savannah and sitting outside my hut at the end of the day to watch the world go by with my family and friends,’ said Peter.

  ‘There’s nothing going by!’ Aesha scoffed.

  ‘I bet there’s more than you think,’ replied Peter. ‘We’ve just lost the knack of seeing it.’

  ‘We’re too accustomed to our own way of life to make such a radical change – even you, Peter Brook. You’d have ants in your pants in no time.’ Binti smiled at him.

  ‘He would, too, if he sat down there!’ exclaimed Joe. ‘There’s a line of enormous ants!’

  ‘Ah-ha!’ said Peter. ‘I told you there was a whole world going by.’ He prepared his camera and knelt down to photograph them, Joe following suit.

  ‘I don’t see any Maasai people with cameras,’ Aesha observed.

  ‘I’d have to trade in my spear for one,’ said Peter. ‘Ouch – that hurts! One of those ants just bit me!’

  ‘Ah,’ said Binti. ‘They obviously have a taste for plump pink flesh. That could be a problem if you were to live out here.’

  Behind her, Joe noticed several of the Maasai girls giggling at his father’s antics. He blushed, stood up and went to his mother’s side.

  ‘Shall we leave him here?’ he whispered conspiratorially.

  Chapter 9

  Joe and his family snatched a couple of hours’ sleep when they returned to the campsite. They were all tired from the early start to the day and the excitement of the safari. Joe thought it would be impossible even to doze in the daytime, especially since he couldn’t wait to go back out on to the savannah, but he must have dropped off almost immediately and didn’t have a clue where he was when Peter woke him again. He was upset to find that it had rained heavily while they were sleeping, and there was sti
ll some moisture in the air as they set off with Matunde for a second time.

  ‘Rain makes it more interesting to go off-road,’ Matunde said, grinning broadly.

  ‘Does that mean we’ll have to stick to the tracks?’ Joe asked anxiously.

  ‘We have leopards and rhinos to see,’ said Matunde. ‘If they don’t come to us, we’ll have to go to them!’

  As the sun broke through the clouds and it began to heat up, water evaporated from the sodden ground, making it misty and difficult to see very far. Matunde and his group of eager travellers passed herds of zebras, several giraffes and even another pride of lions, all of which caused cries of delight, but none of which had quite the same impact as on first viewing. Joe was eager to spot an animal they hadn’t seen before, and when he saw a strange, dark-grey shape, like an enormous swan on stilts, appearing through the mist, he held his breath in anticipation.

  ‘Look!’ he cried, when at last it became visible. ‘An ostrich! It’s enormous!’

  The ostrich came closer, its head aloof, as though refusing to acknowledge its spectators, its long pink legs scything through the wet grass. Then, before Joe could pick up his camera, the ostrich began to lope away, its strides getting longer and longer, until it disappeared behind a line of trees.

  ‘Cool!’ said Joe, though he was dismayed he hadn’t managed to take a photograph. ‘They can run so fast!’

  ‘Over seventy kilometres per hour,’ said Matunde. ‘It’s one of the fastest creatures on earth.’

  They continued for some distance without seeing anything else and Joe began to think that they would leave without spotting either a rhino or a leopard. He wasn’t so worried about the rhino, because he knew he would soon be helping to release rhinos, though it wouldn’t be the same as coming across one already living in the wild. But he was desperate to see a leopard. Matunde tried his best to locate both animals by liaising with other guides in the reserve via mobile phone, but the final two animals of the Big Five proved elusive.

  ‘I have an idea where to go,’ Matunde suddenly informed Joe and his family. ‘Hold tight!’