After lunch, I couldn’t decide what to do. Everyone had chosen a rest in their rooms before the evening game drive. I had looked everywhere for any of my fellow travelers to talk to. Or more accurately, to interrogate.
The pool, the reception area, the gift shop. I even checked the gym. Everywhere was empty. I pulled up my phone to try to do some research on Dr. Higgins. No signal. I wondered if this was typical for the area and for this lodge in particular. Or was it an attempt to keep us isolated?
I was well rested, so this wasn’t paranoia talking. This was a feasible question. Was someone at the lodge responsible for Dr. Higgins’ death? And had that person disabled the Wi-Fi to contain us?
I made for reception to ask and debated phrasing options. I didn’t want to sound like I was complaining—and end up murdered like Dr. Higgins—and I didn’t want to sound too nosy—and get murdered in order to shut me up.
I paused and contemplated turning around. Enjoy the rest of my vacation, I told myself. Enjoy a safari like a traveler should and don’t turn it into a murder mystery vacation.
“Ready for the hippo walk?” Sonny asked.
“For what?” I asked.
“The hippo walk.” He looked around me and saw no one else. “Looks like it’s just you and me.”
“Okay,” I answered and followed him out to our ride.
I didn’t know what a hippo walk was but I had nothing else to do, so hippo walk it was. Charlotte was right. I should pay attention more. I’m sure he had told us about it at the end of the morning game drive but I was half asleep by the time we’d returned to the lodge. The only thing I could think of was climbing into bed for a nap.
Charlotte always did her research. She definitely would know what a hippo walk was. She probably knew the exact star rating the lodge had and any internet availability complaints from recent stays. I made a mental note to ask her later.
“No need for you today,” Sonny told the waiting Ray. “Just Naomi.”
He nodded and took his hand out of his pocket, to wave a greeting, before turning to leave. Something fell out of his pocket and I ran over to it and picked it up. I flipped over the facedown photo. He snatched it from me before I could take a good look.
He said something in another language, Swahili perhaps. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Thank you, Naomi.” He ironed out the wallet-sized photo before shoving it back into his pocket.
The quick movement caused him to cringe and, reflexively, look at the inside of his right arm. The bandage hung off his forearm. He quickly re-covered a long thin gash. It was long but not deep. It appeared to be healing well but what did I know? Charlotte was the one studying to be a doctor.
Ray said goodbye again and Sonny got in the Land Cruiser. “Ready, Naomi?”
Without hesitation, I jumped in the front seat. Something large in a green case lay across the dashboard. I hadn’t noted it during my previous ride up here. But I wasn’t known for my observation skills.
I had a lot of questions: What was a hippo walk? Where we going? How long would be gone for? Did he think someone murdered Dr. Higgins? Did he know who did? But I stayed quiet and marveled at the view. Another question for Sonny. Did these views still take his breath away?
Several turns down dirt paths and fifteen minutes later, Sonny parked.
I jumped out my side and he jumped out of his side. He leaned back for the item on the dash.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Shotgun.”
I had been studying my fellow travelers as suspects but had never suspected Sonny. If he were the killer, what better way to get rid of the only one interested in Dr. Higgins’ death?
That seemed pretty drastic—a shotgun. Death by hyena seemed far more subtle.
But if I were killed by gunshot and then mauled by hippos who would know the cause of death? Their teeth would mask any gunshot wound. Had the hyenas masked the cause of death for Dr. Higgins too?
Maybe there had never been a hippo walk. Maybe he saw me alone and seized the opportunity. But Ray was waiting. The hippo walk had to be planned because Ray had been waiting, I corrected myself.
And that returned me to my primary problem—only Ray knew where I was. If I disappeared, no one would know where I was. No one but Ray had seen me leave with Sonny. And surely Ray would cover for his coworker and friend before helping me.
My only hope was my phone. With limited cell service at the lodge, it’d be foolish to think I could place a call for help from here. And, really, who would I call? I didn’t know the local number that equated to our 911. If I called Charlotte, what would I say? Send help. I’m near the hippos.
My only hope was that I could type a quick note or text that Sonny had killed me to cover his murdering another tourist. Surely, Charlotte would decipher my phone’s passcode—1111. If I disappeared, Charlotte would use a location app to find me and my phone.
If nothing else, she’d want the phone. It was one version better than hers. I knew she coveted it.
Sonny turned and saw my horrified face. He laughed, mistaking my panic. “Americans and their diverse feelings about guns.”
He reached back into the truck for something and then threw it at me. I screamed and ducked. I landed flat, on my stomach, on the ground.
“Naomi!” he yelled.
I stayed covered on the ground as he approached.
He tapped on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”
I slowly looked up, fearing I’d see the shotgun pointing at me. But I saw Sonny, shotgun hung on his shoulder, looking at me with genuine concern.
He handed me the item he had thrown at me—a bottle of water. “It’s hot out. You have to stay hydrated.”
I mumbled thanks. I slowly got up and tried to wipe the dust off my front. I got most of it off. I couldn’t wipe off my embarrassment for my overreaction. What did I think he was throwing at me? A knife? A grenade?
“Didn’t mean to scare with the shotgun,” he said. He appeared sincere and I took the waiting water bottle from him. “We have to take it whenever we leave the cruiser.” I nodded, staring at the weapon that hung on his shoulder.
“Is it really necessary?” I asked.
“I’ve never had to use it. But better to have it just in case.”
“In case of what?” I asked.
“In case one of the hippos charges at us.”
I was rethinking coming here for a hippo walk—for the fifth time in the last minute.
He patted me on my arm. “Don’t look so worried!”
The smile convinced me. I didn’t think he was going to kill me anymore. Mainly because he would have done it already.
“See this,” he said, pointing to the trampled grass. “It’s the hippo highway!” He pointed down the hippo-made track. I followed him down the narrow path toward the awaiting snorting hippos. “They drag their feet when they walk, flattening out the land underfoot.”
When I got to the clearing I gasped. A pod of hippos lay in the water before us. I followed Sonny onto the flat rocks for a closer look. At least six hippos could be seen. They floated in the water. For some, only their heads floated on the surface. Others, their whole back floated on the surface.
“Hippos are nocturnal. They like to stay in the water this time of the day. Keeps their skin moist. Keeps them cool in the heat of the day.”
I raised my baseball cap and wiped sweat from my brow. It was hot. I took a sip from the water bottle he had thrown at me, thankful for it.
“Want a picture?” He held out his hand for a camera.
“I didn’t bring my camera.”
“Phone then,” he said, stilling holding his hand out.
I shrugged and handed him my phone. I turned toward him, and away from the hippos for the picture. I smiled at Sonny, waiting for the quick snap. He studied the phone and pointed at me to walk to my left. I tried to maintain a genuine smile, as sweat dripped down my face. Just take the picture already.
“A couple steps back.” I glanced back before doing as told. It seemed reckless. I didn’t need to be any closer to the wildlife. I could see the headlines:
Foolish tourist dies trying to get the perfect photo.
Photo of a lifetime leads to end of life.
Death by stupidity caught on iPhone.
Before panic set in that this was his real plan to knock me off—to have me fall into the water and drown or be devoured by hippos—he took the photo and held the phone out to me.
I’m sure that photo was going to be a keeper. I doubted my fake smile did little to disguise my genuine fear. I put the phone back in my pocket. I didn’t need to see it now.
Without realizing it, I was now calm. I breathed a sigh of relief. I now had photo proof of where I was. The picture would go to the cloud or something. With the tension in my body gone, I enjoyed the view. Vacations were supposed to be relaxing.
And then the tension was rekindled. “Did you know that hippos are the most dangerous land animal in Africa?” Sonny announced.
“I thought they were vegetarians.”
“You have been paying attention!”
I had no idea how I knew that but it impressed the teacher.
“They are extremely aggressive and territorial. They kill about five hundred humans a year.”
I glanced back at the floating threats. “Time to go?” I asked.
He laughed. “Yes, time to go.”
I followed him after taking one more look at the pod.
Sonny jolted me from my moment of tranquility. “Actually, mosquitos are far more dangerous to humans.”
I looked around for the threat. I did my best to suppress my desire to swat my arms around frantically to keep the flying killers away.
“You’ve been taking your malaria medication, right?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered, still surveying the area for the annoying killer. Thanks to Charlotte’s always annoying reminder. She sounded just like our mother when she asked me once, and then again five minutes later, if I had taken the daily pill. “And wearing this,” I added pointing to the item clipped on my belt.
“I was wondering what that was. I’ve never seen one before.” He leaned in and looked closer.
I pulled it off and handed it to him. “It’s a clip-on fan that has a mosquito repellant in it.”
“Does it work?” He held it and closely inspected it.
“I’m not dead yet, so I think so.”
He laughed. More accurately, I hadn’t found any itchy small pink bumps on my skin.
We resumed our trek on the narrow path, surrounded by the high grasses. Without our tracker Ray trailing behind, I wondered how safe we were. The rifle hanging on Sonny’s shoulder reminded me I was safe.
I tripped over something. I looked back and saw something white. “Is that…is that a bone?” I asked.
Sonny stopped and turned around. “Yes.” He knelt down and inspected the curved bone. “Probably a jawbone from a hyena.”
I stared at it, trying to keep that bone in my view and not images of Dr. Higgins’ dead body.
“Thinking of Dr. Higgins?” he asked.
I nodded. How could I not?
“So sad. I don’t know how such a thing could happen.” I didn’t either. “I’ve contacted a few friends, a few fellow guides. They’ve never heard of such a thing.” He stood up. “Yep, I think it’s a hyena’s bone.”
I squatted down for a closer look. “But it’s so big.” I thought hyenas were the size of dogs. This jawbone was bigger than any dog’s jaw I had ever encountered.
“Hyenas are big. A male will usually get to sixty kilograms.” He added, “About one hundred and thirty pounds,” before I had to ask. “They range from one hundred to one hundred and ninety pounds.”
“Wow, that’s much bigger than I expected.” I shook my head. “They’re scarier than I imagined.”
“Even scarier when you consider they hunt in packs. They work together to isolate a herd animal, usually one that’s sick or old, and pursue it to its death.”
I shivered despite the heat. Is that what Dr. Higgins was? A lone human from our herd?
“They’re better known as scavengers, opportunistic. They feast on another animal’s kill.”
I stood back up. That rang true to me. The hyenas that had been in Dr. Higgins’ room had snatched another animal’s—a human’s—kill.
Sonny continued, “They’ll eat almost anything, but I’ve never—none of us—have ever heard of them attacking a human at a lodge.”
I wish he hadn’t added he’d never heard it happening at a lodge. Did it happen outside the lodges? I looked around. There were no hyenas near us now.
We stood over the bone, the hippos snorting in the distance. “Didn’t you talk to him that morning?” I asked.
“Who?”
“Dr. Higgins.”
He shook his head.
“But everyone, every morning, gets a wake-up call. You call each of us to wake us up.” I might regret asking but I couldn’t hold my tongue. “Why didn’t you call him that morning?”
“Oh, Dr. Higgins refused wake-up calls. Guests get one if they want one. He didn’t want one. He cancelled it his first night for the whole trip.”
I had no idea the wake-up call was optional. I started to cancel mine but knew Charlotte would be furious. Plus, to be honest, I needed it far more than Charlotte.
Sonny resumed his walk to the cruiser, not realizing I had, multiple times during our walk, thought he was a murderer.
He put the shotgun back in its sheath while I got in the passenger seat. He hesitated before starting the car. “So how was your first hippo walk?”
There were many adjectives I could choose—terrifying, life-threatening, enlightening, astonishing, beautiful. I answered simply, “Great.”
“Do you think you want one now?” he asked.
“What?” I asked.
He started singing “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.” Now, I remembered how I knew a hippo was a vegetarian. I couldn’t help but join in with the tune.
To my amazement, months away from the holidays, we sang the whole song, while driving in the hot afternoon sun back to the lodge.