‘It’s freezing!’ Aesha cried, as they hurried towards the minibus that was waiting for them outside the terminal at Vladivostok airport.
‘Isn’t that what we were expecting?’ Her father grinned.
‘There’s freezing and then there’s freezing. This is f-f-f-freeeeezing!’
‘Put your hat on then!’ said Binti.
‘It’s not that bad,’ Aesha replied quickly, scrambling into the minibus while the driver stowed their luggage in the back. ‘It’s warm in here. Hurry up and get in!’
‘You’re right about one thing – you do look like a beluga,’ chirped Joe, jumping into the seat behind her so that she couldn’t take a swipe at him.
They set off through the town. Joe found himself gripping the door handle as the minibus swerved past cars that were going too slowly along sweeping boulevards lined with buildings that seemed to belong to another century. The next minute, they were driving nose to tail through streets that were too narrow for all the traffic. The driver was very vocal and shook his fist at anyone he deemed to be in his way.
‘He’s excitable,’ Peter observed.
‘He’s a lunatic!’ Binti muttered.
Joe stared with fascination when they passed close to the harbour because he loved looking at boats. Small private yachts were moored next to trawlers and cargo ships, while passenger liners were busily swapping places with ferry boats and a huge tanker drifted along the horizon. The road continued to follow the seafront, skirting an extensive stretch of sandy beach.
‘I never thought of Russia being by the sea,’ Joe said.
‘You wouldn’t catch me swimming in it,’ Aesha declared.
‘People do, in the summer. The temperatures then are similar to ours in the UK,’ Binti told her.
‘So it’s not that warm,’ scoffed Aesha.
Soon after they turned inland it began to snow lightly and Binti expressed her concern that they might not make it to Lazovsky, where they were heading.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Peter brightly. ‘Russia doesn’t come to a standstill like it does back home just because of a bit of snow.’
Joe gazed out at the whitening world, feeling excited. This was proper snow – great big flakes the size of cottonwool balls were dropping from the sky, and every mile they travelled took them closer to the realm of the Amur tiger. He peered intently at the pine woods fringing the highway. I’d so love to see a tiger in the wild, he thought. His mother, however, had warned him that the chances were almost nil.
‘I’m sure you’ll be able to watch any camera footage that’s shot while we’re there, but you won’t be allowed to join the night patrols,’ said Binti, as if reading his mind. ‘The most you can hope for is that we spot a tiger when we’re driving around the reserve, but there are so few of them left.’
‘How many?’ Aesha wanted to know.
‘In the area we’re visiting, only about ten. In total, in Russia, around four hundred.’
‘No wonder there’s such a big campaign to save them,’ Aesha pondered. ‘It would be a crime if they became extinct.’
Joe continued to scour the woodlands and fields as they progressed. Even if I don’t see a tiger, I might spot something else while everyone is dozing, he thought to himself.
Joe must have fallen asleep, though, because the next thing he knew, someone was shaking his shoulder.
‘Wake up, sweet prince,’ Peter said. ‘We’ve arrived at our castle.’
Joe struggled to open his eyes. He was disappointed to find it was nearly dark outside, and even more disappointed to discover that their ‘castle’ was a rather grim-looking hotel. His mother and Aesha were in the lobby, being welcomed by a woman dressed in a big furry hat and a deeply quilted coat, who spoke English with a heavy accent. Joe shivered. It was only a few short steps into the hotel, but he was reluctant to leave his cocoon. He pulled his own coat around him, jumped down from the minibus and looked about.
Everywhere was covered with a thin layer of snow. Joe had hoped it would be deeper. He wanted it to be so deep that he would have to lift his feet up to his ears just to walk through it! There had been a lot more snow back home the previous winter, when everyone had talked about the snowfalls as being among the heaviest on record.
‘How long are we staying in this place?’ he asked as they walked through the dimly lit hotel lobby.
‘Only till the morning. We arranged for a stopover here because it’s so late. We, and our hosts in Lazo, felt it would be better if we set off tomorrow, refreshed and in daylight.’ Binti smiled at him. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I know two days of travelling isn’t much fun, but the adventure is about to begin!’
Joe nodded as she squeezed his shoulder. He was overwhelmed with tiredness and right at that moment would have been happy to sleep anywhere – even standing up, there in the lobby. He allowed his eyes to close briefly. When he opened them again, he noticed the man from the plane, the Walrus, sitting on a stool in the hotel bar.