Grand Theft Safari (4 page)

Mom walked up behind us, admiring the beautiful newborn zebra and doting mother.

“Just think,” Mom whispered, “those lions could have gotten this one.”

I knew what she meant. Because the lions caught an old, slow zebra, the lions would not be hungry for a while, giving this mother zebra and baby zebra a chance to grow strong and survive.

Chapter Five

GIRAFFE ENCOUNTER

Mom spent the next few days recording field data. After the lion attack, Tomas and I thought it best to stay close to camp. Nigel needed to drive to the field station to pick up supplies and food. My brother and I thought it would be fun to tag along with him.

The truck bounced across the grassland, narrowly missing ruts and rocks. Nearing a patch of trees, Nigel stopped the truck. He looked through his binoculars.

“A-ha!” He smiled. “You children are in luck.” He passed the binoculars to me.

I looked through the lenses. “Giraffes!”

“I want to see! I want to see!” Tomas shouted, grabbing the binoculars from my hands.

“Let's see if we can get closer,” Nigel suggested as he hopped down from the truck.

Tomas and I followed behind him.

“Be quiet and calm. You might get very close,” Nigel whispered.

The giraffes plucked the leaves from the tree branches with their tongues. Three smaller giraffes trailed behind three larger adults. “Probably mamas with their babies,” Tomas said.

“What a funny walk,” I remarked.

Tomas gave me an amused look. “If you had legs a mile long and a neck like that, you'd walk funny too.” We giggled. The giraffes did have an unusual, almost swinging walk. But it was graceful in its own way.

Nigel let us watch the giraffes graze a little longer until we needed to get back to the truck. Nigel wanted to make it to the field station and be back to camp before night fall.

When we got to the field station, the park ranger helped us load dry goods and water canisters onto our truck.

“I hear the elephants are on the move,” the ranger told Nigel. “Watch out for the lone bulls.”

Nigel nodded his head.

“How is your ammo supply?” he asked Nigel.

“Fine. I haven't had to use too much.”

“Good, good,” the ranger said. “Keep the children close to you, just in case.”

“Will do,” Nigel assured the park ranger.

Tomas got closer to me. He whispered in my ear, “Is Nigel going to shoot an elephant?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don't know. Isn't that illegal? Aren't elephants endangered?”

“Why did that ranger want to sell you more ammo? To shoot elephants?” Tomas asked Nigel as we headed back to camp.

“Oh no, Tomas.” Nigel chuckled. “To shoot poachers.”

“Poachers?”

“Yes, sir. When the rangers notice the elephants on a strange move, they know something is going on out there. But poachers are sneaky and hard to catch,” Nigel answered.

I read the newspapers. I know how horrible poachers are. Men with large machine guns stalk elephants. The men destroy entire herds. They take only the ivory tusks, leaving dead elephants
scattered on the savannah. The ivory is then sold illegally all over the world. Scientists think that if the poaching doesn't end, elephants will be extinct in some parts of Africa in fifty years.

“Are you going out to shoot the poachers?” Tomas asked.

“No,” Nigel said. “That is not my job. I am not law enforcement. But, we must be prepared. If we come across poachers, they may shoot us. We might have to defend ourselves.”

“Why would they shoot us? We're not elephants?” asked Tomas.

“True. But we could easily report them to law enforcement,” Nigel said.

“Dead men tell no tales,” I said.

Nigel nodded. “Yes, that's the poachers' philosophy.” Nigel looked at the horizon. “We'd better hurry. It will be dark soon.”

We saw the giraffes on our way back to camp. They were moving in another direction. But I knew it was the same group we saw earlier. The three long-legged babies trailed behind the group.

Mom, Dad, and Elea were happy when we made it back to camp.

“We had visitors at camp today,” Dad told Nigel.

Nigel looked surprised. “Who? There's not another research team around for a hundred miles.”

“A rough-looking bunch. Had machine guns. Tried to push us around a little bit. I tried to tell them we're just doing bird research,” Dad said.

“They nosed around the tents. They didn't take anything, at least that I know of,” Mom said.

“Did you have your guns?” Nigel asked.

“You bet. I let them see it strapped to my belt,” Dad answered. “Carolina offered them tea and biscuits, so as to seem nonthreatening and friendly. They were edgy. Nervous.”

Nigel nodded thoughtfully. “Did they have trucks?”

“Not that we saw,” Mom said. “But how else could they have gotten out here?”

“I think you met the poachers,” Nigel said.

“That's what I suspected,” Mom said.

“I'm going to radio the field station and let the rangers know what happened. They'll send a squad out. Until then, nobody leaves camp,” Nigel said.

Tomas spoke up. “We've got guns. Let's go get
those poachers before they can get the elephants.”

Nigel shook his head. “No, young man, these poachers form groups like small armies. Let the authorities fight them. Law enforcement has much more training than you do.” Nigel patted Tomas on the back.

As we sat around the campfire after dinner, I worried about the poachers.

“Mom, do you think we'll be all right?” I asked her.

“As long as the elephants move away from us, we will be. The poachers only want them. But if we get between them and the elephants, there's no telling what will happen.”

Even though the night was warm, I shivered and cuddled close to Mom.

Later that night, I heard a muffled sound coming from outside my tent. I woke Tomas up.

“Tomi,” I whispered, “do you hear that?” It sounded like an animal or a person brushing up against the canvas tents. Large footsteps moved across the grass. I could hear Elea whining in another tent.

“Do you think it's the poachers coming back to
get us?” Tomi asked.

“I don't know. Should we wake up Dad?”

Before I could wake Dad up, our side of the tent was caving in. Tomas rolled over, on top of Dad.

“Whoa!” Dad bolted upright from his sound slumber. I scurried over to the far corner of the tent, closer to Mom.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, went the side of our tent. The ceiling almost folded completely to the ground.

“What's out there?” Tomi yelled.

Mom grabbed the flashlight and jumped to the tent's door. She unzipped the flap and burst out into the night. We heard loud stomping, like a stampede.

After all the chaos, Mom's laughter rang out.

We rushed outside to see what the commotion was. Mom was doubled over, holding her stomach, laughing.

“What was all the noise?” I asked.

“About six or seven giraffes decided to check us out,” she gasped, still laughing. “I don't think they expected to wake us up.”

“Really? They thought we could sleep through
all that?” Tomas asked. Then he got Mom's joke and started laughing too.

Mom pointed the flashlight in the direction the giraffes ran. I could faintly see their eyes in the darkness. I think we scared them more than they scared us.

“Let's use the lanterns and reposition our tent. It is battered,” Mom said as she shone her flashlight across our tent.

We worked together to stand the tent upright again.

“Why do you think the giraffes came into camp?” I asked Mom.

“Oh, who knows? Maybe they smelled something yummy, like those canned beans we had with dinner,” Mom said. She winked at me, joking. Those beans were definitely not yummy.

“Maybe they were curious. They wanted to see us up close,” I said.

“Sure. Who knows what these animals think? I'm just relieved it wasn't a pride of lions. Or a crazed group of poachers. I'd rather deal with vegetarian giraffes any day,” Mom said.

Chapter Six

ELEPHANT STAMPEDE

The park ranger came out to speak with Nigel the next day. Nigel thought the poachers were moving northwest, following the elephant herd. Nigel and the park ranger huddled over the park map, pointing at various coordinates and talking excitedly.

“We will trail them,” the ranger assured us.

“What about my research on the flamingoes?” Mom asked the ranger. “I need to go to the lakes.”

The ranger shook his head. “I am sorry, ma'am, but it is not safe for you out there when poachers are afoot. You could get in the crossfire.” The ranger paused and then said, “You should head to Lake Bogoria or Lake Nakuru. You will surely find flamingoes there. They prefer the soda lakes.”

“Soda lakes?” Tomas whispered. “Can I drink them? I'm dying for a real soda.” He clutched his throat and made gurgling sounds. I laughed.

“We might as well pack up,” Mom muttered. “I haven't found evidence of the flamingoes this far inland anyway.”

I knew Mom was frustrated. She didn't like her research trips interrupted, especially by criminal poachers.

“We will pack up and head out first thing tomorrow,” Nigel told the park ranger. Then Nigel looked at Mom. “Dr. Perez, I will personally take you and your family to Lake Bogoria.”

Mom consented. After all, she couldn't argue with Nigel or the park ranger. They were both concerned about our safety.

The rest of the day, we cleaned and packed equipment back into the trunks. Dad and Nigel lifted the trunks onto the truck. We left only the bare necessities out for dinner and breakfast.

To take our minds off the poachers, Nigel told us African stories around the campfire that night. He started with a creation myth. He told us about Ngai, the god who created and divided the
universe. Ngai created a man, Gikuyu. Then Ngai gave Gikuyu part of his land, rivers, and animals, so that Gikuyu could father a tribe. Ngai made a wife for Gikuyu. Gikuyu and his wife had nine beautiful daughters but there were no husbands for the daughters. Gikuyu was told to build a fire and sacrifice a goat to Ngai then Ngai would create nine husbands for Gikuyu's nine daughters. When Gikuyu came home, he found nine husbands for his nine daughters.