Joe thought the hike was brilliant. They warmed up in no time, so much so that they wound up carrying their coats even though there was a smattering of snow on the ground. Because of their presence, there was little sign of wildlife, but there were plenty of birds flitting from treetop to treetop and Peter was determined to photograph as many species as possible. Joe tried as well, but his camera wasn’t powerful enough to produce anything more than indecipherable shadows that could just as easily have been leaves as birds. Peter took to photographing trees too, much to Joe’s amusement.
‘I thought you were going to photograph anything that moved,’ he chortled. ‘Trees don’t move.’
‘They sway in the wind,’ his father countered, ‘and they’re home to all the birds I’ve been photographing. Anyway, I’m being very arty with my close-ups of the bark.’
Joe looked at the latest shot on the LCD screen of his own camera and wished he could be as creative. Then he spotted something in the background that even Iona hadn’t seen.
‘Look. What’s that?’ he asked. ‘There’s a face behind that bush.’
Peter and Iona stared hard at the camera screen.
‘Well, well!’ Iona exclaimed at last. ‘You’ve captured a roe deer and he’s posing beautifully for you!’
‘Fluke!’ scoffed Aesha.
‘Pure skill,’ said Joe.
He was proud of himself, even if he hadn’t known the deer was there at the time. He smiled at the thought of looking at another photograph and discovering a tiger winking at him in the background.
Iona knew the reserve like the back of her hand and took them to several spectacular viewpoints. She had brought a picnic lunch with her, which they stopped close by a waterfall to eat.
‘I can’t believe we’re eating a picnic in the snow in the middle of a forest in Russia!’ said Aesha.
‘Where Amur tigers live!’ added Joe enthusiastically.
‘Poor Joe,’ said Binti. ‘I wish we could magic up a tiger for you, but I think you’re going to have to wait till we go home and visit the zoo.’
‘I’ve seen tigers in the zoo, but it’s not the same as seeing them in the wild,’ Joe replied.
‘Zoos do very important work in helping to protect them in the wild,’ said Binti. ‘Without that work – not just in our country but overseas as well – tigers might have become extinct already.’
‘It seems cruel to keep them cooped up in a zoo just so that people can go and stare at them, though,’ said Aesha.
‘If you don’t engage people’s interest, you won’t have their support when it comes to raising funds to save an endangered species,’ Binti explained.
‘And zoos enable scientists to study animals at first-hand. Many of the animal species in reputable zoos are endangered. The role of the zoo then is to maintain a back-up population in case a species becomes extinct in the wild,’ Iona informed them. ‘Unfortunately, though, there are still too many zoos around the world that treat their animals very badly.’
‘The people who run those should be put behind bars and the animals set free,’ said Aesha indignantly.
Joe shivered. The sun had gone in and he was beginning to feel cold. They packed up the picnic and continued their hike, circling back towards the jeep.
From one high point, they were able to look out across the sea, and it was then that Iona announced they would be spending the night in a log cabin on the shore. Joe was entranced at the prospect. Wait till I tell my friends about this – this and the sniffer dogs, thought Joe.
‘We kept it as a surprise for you,’ said Peter. ‘Now you’ll be able to say that you slept in the realm of the Amur tiger.’
‘Won’t it be freezing cold?’ asked Aesha.
‘Not if you keep the furnace stoked up,’ said Iona. ‘I’m going to drive back to the village with your mother to introduce her to our young vets, and we’ll return in the morning. Tomorrow we’ll check one or two of the camera traps, you’ll stay here one more night, and then the next morning we’ll return to the village to run through some of the films.’
‘How do you decide where to put the cameras?’ asked Aesha.
‘From following their tracks we know the tigers’ favoured routes,’ said Iona. ‘Like all cats, they mark their territory with their scent, usually on trees. We tie the cameras to trees that have been marked.’
‘You mean trees that have wee on.’ Joe giggled.
‘Oh, Joe!’ admonished Aesha. ‘Trust you.’
‘It’s not wee, Joe,’ Iona corrected him. ‘It’s a spray from their rear end or a rub from a facial scent gland.’
Joe pulled a face. Whatever it was, he didn’t think it sounded very nice, but he still hoped that the cameras might show him a glimpse of a tiger.