Chapter 26

 

Morning dawned bright and early. Tabitha examined the watch still on her wrist in the confines of her sleeping bag. 6:02 am. A chill in the air made her reluctant to withdraw from her cocoon. The sleeping bag made her feel invisible and safe; for some reason, getting out felt as if it made her vulnerable. Unsafe. She shook herself and was finally driven out by the idea she might get some good game viewing in if she’d get on the road soon.

A half hour later, she’d pried herself out of the truck and cleaned up at the ablution block, washing her face under the hot tap at the sinks. She was ready to go. The camp stirred with those set on an early safari ride into the bush. The animals, Tabitha had learned, were more active at dawn and at dusk, and so, it seemed, were the campers.

A red-gold sun warmed the landscape and called out to Tabitha that things weren’t as bad as they seemed. She saw a huge herd of impala crossing the road, as well as a few elephants and a family group of another antelope she couldn’t identify for sure. Maybe the nyala, with white stripes on their golden hides. She shot a couple of rolls of film and only killed the engine four times.

She didn’t bother driving into the main Skukuza camp, but took the side road leading around to the offices. Hopefully someone was early to work, or she might be waiting. The lights were off in the long hallway, but light shone through the windowed office at the other end. Tabitha’s orange sneakers squeaked loudly on the freshly washed linoleum floors. She fidgeted with the papers in her hand, wishing her footsteps were quieter.

Kindness was busy turning things on as Tabitha entered the office.

“Good morning,” Kindness sang out to her. The enthusiasm surprised Tabitha. “We’ve been searching for you. The paperwork has come through.”

Tabitha held up her hand, full of papers. “I’ve already gotten some in Nelspruit. Perhaps we can fax it right away.”

“Mr. Mpande will be in momentarily. He wants to write a letter to go with the forms.” Kindness had settled behind her desk and appeared to wait for her computer to return to life.

Tabitha leaned over her. “He will do it this morning, won’t he? I don’t want any more delays.”

“I’m sure he will. He is anxious to have this finished also.” Kindness nodded and put a hand up to cover her mouth in case she might smile.

Tabitha gave the details of Mister M’s mortuary and hoped a sad struggle had passed and she could move on. On to what, was another issue.

 

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Tabitha dashed over to the snack bar and got a breakfast sandwich and a rich cup of coffee. She gobbled this on the way back to the truck. An urgency to get more photographs drove her back out into the park’s savannahs. Or maybe she was running from problems she could not solve. She shot a few more rolls of film, still anxious to see what was on the ones she’d left in Nelspruit, especially Phillip’s. Would they tell more about his time here?

It was certainly easier to shoot when Daniel did the driving. She kept getting the camera straps caught on the steering wheel and the gearshift. How well would her amateur photo work fulfill the contracts?

After a morning shooting, Tabitha felt she might be beginning to have something to show editors, but Phillip’s would be so much better. She consulted his calendar. He’d noted appointments for some lodges at Skukuza and an hour before that he had a cryptic “SF at Kudu sculpture.” The sculpture she knew was at Skukuza camp. Tabitha guessed the SF was the Schopenhauer Factor representative. She wished she had more background going into this meeting, if indeed that’s what it was. She freshened up at the main lodge and walked the short distance over the cultivated grass to the two giant copper Kudu antelope, horns entwined, fighting for supremacy over one another. She’d read that these antelope with the curled horns could become stuck in a fight and trapped together, suffering a lingering death. She leaned against the cement base of the art piece. Clouds began to drift in, making a haze overhead.

Tabitha noticed a young man with a full head of brown curls making his way toward her. She noted that he wore a green shirt that gave a good impression of being a park uniform, but was not. He glanced around, then approached her.

“I’m Chris. Christopher. I was expecting someone else. Are you here to talk about the Schopenhauer Factor?”

Tabitha thought he must be quite a bit younger than her, and seemed an unlikely spokesman. His accent was American. They settled on a nearby wooden bench with Christopher looking around again.

He dove in before she asked a question. “We’re considering another lawsuit against the park. They don’t listen to the conservation message. If they are going to truly respect the animals, they would stop serving meat in their restaurants and stop the poaching problem, remove fences except in cases of safety near busy roads, build crossing tunnels for the roads, and put more funding into alternative energy resources to supply the park.”

Tabitha wasn’t sure where to start. “I understood the park had a fairly aggressive stance on poaching. What problems does your organization see?”

Christopher sighed. “That’s just it. They say they combat it. What have they actually done? Poaching continues, and a while ago they sold some of the ivory stock that supposedly comes from naturally deceased animals. These actions encourage the problem.” He pushed round glasses up the bridge of his nose and glanced around again.

“What could they do differently?” Tabitha picked up a strident note in Christopher’s argument and was wondering how to spin this for an environmental magazine.

“They need to increase their patrols throughout the park and add another set of officers to work during the night so they have equal patrols all day.”

“How would they pay for the increase?” Tabitha knew all about the amount of patrols that were available in Kruger. Look how long it had taken to find Phillip.

Christopher laughed like she’d told a joke. “I have thought about this, you know. The other man, he understood.”

“You spoke with my uncle?”

“Uncle? You mean the photographer?”

Tabitha nodded. “What did he say?”

“We were here. I was telling him the park could easily put in windmill generators on one of the plains areas. Your uncle agreed. I showed him the area.”

“Where was this?”

“It’s out to the west by the Orpen gate, but that’s not the point. There would be no disturbance to the animals once they were in. It would generate electricity for the park, more they could sell and pay for true reform in the park.” Tabitha’s hope at more information on Phillip’s activities faded as she realized Phillip was probably trying to be nice to Christopher. Phillip liked to encourage young people. During Christopher’s speech, Tabitha noticed Souli, the head of rangers, approaching.

“Where did Phillip go when he left you?”

“What? Are you even listening to me? We came back here.”

Souli’s dark skin was matte in the hazy light. He made a polite gesture and smiled at Christopher. “Hello, young conservationist. I wanted to report to you that we caught a couple of men from Mozambique poaching this week. We deported them back to their country.” Souli raised his eyebrows at Tabitha and added, “I think maybe I should tell the park’s side of the story to Ms. Cranz.”

Tabitha watched Christopher’s open face turn to a mask of anger as Souli explained the park’s policy. His mood intensified as he looked beyond Tabitha. She turned and saw a woman in her mid-fifties making her way toward them. She wore flip flops, her body sheathed in yards and yards of bright purple fabric with a traditional African pattern in batik on it.

Souli turned and smiled. “Elizabeth, how are you?” He turned to Tabitha and said, “This is the president of the Schopenhauer Factor.”

A breathless Elizabeth adjusted her head wrap where gray curls spilled haphazardly out of openings. Sweat showed on her pale upper lip. “Sorry I’m late.” She addressed Tabitha. “I see Christopher was getting you up to speed on us. He’s one of our most enthusiastic members.” She gave him a peck on each cheek.

Christopher gave her his seat and left. Souli bade them farewell too, leaving Tabitha perplexed and intrigued by the interview. She tried to gather her thoughts as Elizabeth began talking as if she were continuing a thread of conversation.

“Our name comes from a scholar who believed animals have the same essence as humans. We so agreed that animal and human are all the same that we took his name for our group.”

Tabitha blinked. “Uhm, Christopher was explaining some of the ideas for change in the park.” She let it hang.

Elizabeth looked off in the direction that Christopher had stomped off. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, like a yoga exercise. “Christopher is very fervent. He means well. He’s only been in this country a year, so we are trying to cultivate his intensity. Did he bring up windmills?”

Tabitha nodded.

“We aren’t for that.” She rummaged in a large cloth bag and drew out a packet of papers. “Here’s our positions on all things in the park. We are a unique group in that we are focused on one location and we come from all walks of life. Some are just,” her eyes drifted away again, “overly passionate.”

The rest of the interview seemed much more normal. She confirmed that they were against selling the ivory stockpiles, and against the transport of animals, as it was unnatural. When Tabitha asked about Phillip, she learned that Elizabeth had not met Phillip, but had a call from him after he got her number from Christopher. “He asked me an odd question, though,” Elizabeth offered.

Tabitha nodded, her eyes suddenly glued to Elizabeth’s pale face.

“He asked me if I knew anyone who could talk about human trafficking in the park.” Elizabeth’s gaze wandered the park grounds. Her eyes were a strong, serene blue.“I thought that was odd. I told him I’d heard rumors that people were shipped through the park, but I had never heard anyone speak of it publicly.”

This was new. Tabitha wondered what could have gotten Phillip’s attention off of his favorite subject of nature photography and onto something as serious as human trafficking. How could she find out more? You couldn’t just walk up to a shopkeeper or an animal patrol guy and ask about that. If wi-fi would work anywhere, maybe she could find something online.

Tabitha was able to wrap it up in time to do the interviews with the luxury safari lodge keepers later in the afternoon. Apparently Phillip had made these appointments through a colleague, so no new information there. Then she headed back to claim her rondavel at Lower Sabie. She couldn’t take too many nights in the back of the truck. For some reason, it made her feel more alone than being in a round rondavel, even though she was in a camp where she knew no one and no one knew her. No one anywhere really knew where she was, on the entire planet.