Crys woke up with a jerk, her heart thumping in her chest. For a moment she was confused, wondering what had roused her. Had it been a nightmare? Then she realised it was a voice outside the tent.
‘Crys. Crys. Wake up!’ The tone was low, urgent.
It took another few seconds before her mind finally caught up and she recognised Bongani’s voice.
‘Crys. Wake up!’
She fumbled for her flashlight on the floor next to her sleeping bag and turned it on.
‘Crys. Are you awake?’ Bongani rasped.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, sitting up. ‘It’s the middle of the night.’
‘Get dressed,’ he whispered. ‘Quickly. There’s been a plane crash.’
That made no sense to her. ‘A plane crash?’ She had to be dreaming. There wasn’t an airstrip anywhere near the camp, was there? ‘A plane crash?’ she repeated.
‘Yes. I heard it when I was driving back from my cousin’s. It crashed on an old landing strip about five kilometres from here. I think it … I think it hit an elephant.’
Crys gasped. ‘Hit an elephant?’ A plane crashing into an elephant? This was becoming ever more bizarre.
‘Get dressed. Please. I need someone to come with me. Someone who can drive. I watched you today. You did a great job.’ Bongani sounded desperate. She could see his outline faintly on the other side of the tent wall. ‘I’ll fetch the rifle. I may need to shoot it.’
‘Shoot an elephant?’ Crys shook her head, trying hard to get her mind around what was happening.
‘I don’t think it’s dead. The noise was terrible.’
She wriggled out of the sleeping bag, conscious that she was naked and thankful Bongani hadn’t opened the tent’s zipper.
She dressed quickly and started to think what they might need. ‘Get some spotlights and a first-aid kit,’ she said through the canvas, matching her tone to his – they didn’t want to wake the guests. ‘Someone may be hurt. And get a couple of bottles of water. There should still be some hot water in the thermos. And grab the instant coffee.’
As she left the tent, she picked up her sleeping bag. If anyone was in shock, they might need it to warm them.
Outside, she hurried over to the dining area. Bongani was there, loading the stuff into a cardboard box. He had Johannes’s Winchester 70 rifle slung over his shoulder.
‘The first-aid kit and lights are in the Land Rover,’ he whispered. ‘I left it a bit down the track, so I didn’t wake the guests.’
Crys nodded, beginning to wake up properly. Dealing with panicked tourists was the last thing they needed. Then she paused for a moment. Actually, she was also a tourist. When had that changed?
Probably yesterday when she led half the party.
She started to analyse what had occurred. Something must have gone wrong with the plane. No one in their right mind would try to land in the bush at night, even if it was a full moon. She looked up and saw that in fact it was at least a couple of days until full moon. She glanced at her watch. It was near three in the morning. Why were they flying at that time of night anyway?
She looked around for Bongani, but he was already on his way to the Land Rover. She started to follow him.
The only thing that made sense was that the plane was involved in something illegal. She’d read that a lot of drugs were smuggled into the States from Central America on small planes that flew in so low they were undetectable by radar, dropped their cargo, then left again, still undetected. Those pilots were willing to take the risk of landing at night on unlit dirt strips.
She wondered if something like that was happening here. Maybe they were smuggling ivory … or rhino horn. Or someone was entering or leaving the country illegally.
Whatever it was, she knew she needed to find out, particularly if rhino horn was involved. This might be exactly the lead she’d been looking for.
But as she reached the Land Rover, another question popped into her mind: why was Bongani coming back from his cousin’s village so early? He’d said he’d be back just before six. She’d have to ask him when she had a chance.
The Land Rover wasn’t new, but the engine had been well looked after. The body, on the other hand, was bashed all over from bumping into trees and bushes as various drivers chased down game. Bongani started the engine before Crys had even closed her door, reversed off the road, and swung it back in the direction he’d come from.
‘It took me half an hour to get here from the strip. It’s about five kilometres. The road’s pretty bad. Some deep sand here and there. I was worried I’d get stuck.’ He paused. ‘Use the spotlight and look out for ellies. They’re hard to see, even in a good light. At night everything is grey like them.’
Crys nodded and plugged in one of the spotlights, her pulse quick as adrenaline coursed through her body. The thought of hitting an elephant really frightened her. She’d seen YouTube clips of them flipping a vehicle over with no trouble.
As they lurched through the night, she began to worry about what might be ahead of them. If someone had been hurt in the plane – which was highly likely, given what Bongani had said – it would take hours for an ambulance to arrive from Phalaborwa or Giyani. But they had no way of notifying a hospital in any case – they’d have to drive them there themselves.
They bumped towards the crash site, both thrown around the vehicle, and Bongani wrestling with the steering wheel, shifting into low-range gear when they hit soft sand. It was going to be a slow five kilometres.
And then they heard it. A terrifying sound – part trumpeting, part an anguished cry. Bongani slammed the brakes on, bringing the Land Rover to a stop so they could listen. Crys shivered. The anti-poaching trip had been scary, but this was something else. She was much more frightened now. An elephant could weigh six tons. Much more than the Land Rover. And there was likely to be a herd of them ahead. A herd of angry elephants. Her stomach tightened, and she could feel her heart beating faster.
Was it smart to go on? What if the elephants charged? Maybe they want revenge for their injured friend. They’d be dead in seconds, flattened into the sand.
She tightened her grip on the spotlight.
She looked over at Bongani; the moonlight was bright enough to show that he was just as worried.
‘Maybe we should go for help; or at least wait until it’s light,’ she said. ‘Can we get hold of the park rangers?’
Bongani shook his head. ‘Even if we could, it would be several hours before they could get here. We’ve got to go and see what’s happening. Maybe the pilot is injured. Or his passengers.’
As much as she disliked it, Crys realised he was right. ‘How do you think we should do it?’ she asked. This was his country – his work – she had to trust him. There was nothing else she could do.
‘We won’t know until we can see them. We’ll be in trouble if they’re around the plane. We won’t be able to get inside. And getting close to the injured ellie isn’t going to be easy. The others will be angry.’
Getting close to an injured elephant? This was insane. It was only yesterday that she’d seen her first one. She was definitely a long way from Minnesota.
They moved forwards at a crawl now, neither speaking, both staring hard into the dark.
‘There!’ Bongani pointed over to the left. They could see a number of large shapes moving around. The noise was almost deafening now. The trumpeting was the most terrifying thing Crys had ever heard. It was indescribable – unlike anything she’d heard before – animal, human or otherwise. Her chest tightened, and she took deep breaths as she tried to focus.
‘And there’s the plane.’ Bongani pointed straight ahead.
The plane lay about two hundred metres from the milling herd. It was right way up, but even at this distance, they could see it was badly damaged.
Crys pointed the powerful beam of the spotlight at the elephants. They immediately turned and stared into the light. They were agitated, ears flapping, trunks up in the air, trying to smell whether the vehicle posed a danger. Behind them Crys could see an elephant on the ground, moving, trying to stand, but not able to. If it’d been clipped by the wing, it probably had broken bones. If the prop had hit it, it could be sliced deeply and bleeding. Either way it was in great pain.
The largest elephant moved towards them. Crys struggled to keep the light steady as Bongani turned the Land Rover sideways in case he had to make a quick getaway. The elephant stopped, lifted its trunk, and sniffed. Then it moved forwards again.
‘Let’s get out of here.’ Crys whispered as though the elephant could hear her over the noise of the engine. Five tons of elephant coming towards her was more than she could handle.
Bongani shook his head and put the Land Rover in gear but kept the clutch in.
Crys glanced at him. She willed him to get out of there. But he did nothing.
What did he know that she didn’t?
The elephant stopped again. It was only forty metres away. If it charged, Bongani might not be able to move quickly enough. It sniffed the air again and flapped its ears.
It was a stand-off, and it lasted for a long, drawn-out moment. Then, the elephant turned and moved back to the group. Bongani exhaled, and Crys realised she’d been holding her breath too. She gasped in a lungful.
‘How did you know that it wasn’t going to charge?’ Crys gasped.
Bongani shrugged. ‘I didn’t, but they generally aren’t aggressive unless provoked. It decided we weren’t a threat.’
Generally aren’t aggressive? Crys swallowed. That seemed pretty poor odds to stake their lives on.
‘How’re we going to get close enough to the injured one?’ she asked.
‘Hold the light on it. I’ll take a look.’ Bongani grabbed his binoculars from the shelf in front of him.
Crys did her best to keep the light in place, but it was difficult with the elephants milling around in front of their injured family member. Bongani was looking carefully at the downed creature. ‘I think the prop hit its back legs. I can see … I can see blood and at least one deep wound.’
‘Do you think it can recover?’
Bongani shook his head. ‘I’m not sure. It doesn’t look like it. And I can tell it’s in a lot of pain. We have to put it out of its misery.’ He put the binoculars down and looked over at Crys.
Crys hated the idea, but was impressed by Bongani’s commitment to stopping the animal’s suffering. ‘Okay, but how do we get close enough to make sure you can get a clean shot, without the others charging?’
He didn’t answer immediately, and Crys had an idea.
‘Get in the back and let me drive now. I’ll do a wide arc to the left and come up directly opposite the elephant’s head. That should give you a good shot to the side – from about fifty metres. Will that work?’
For a moment Bongani hesitated. Then, leaving the engine running, he climbed over the seat to the back. Crys slid over into the driver’s seat, put the Land Rover in gear and let out the clutch, making a smooth start. She eased forwards, picking her way through the bushes so that they’d come up on the right side of the elephant. Her senses seemed sharpened by the night and the adrenaline. Somehow her driving was better than it had been during the day.
When she reached the verge of the airstrip, she paused. They were more than a hundred metres away, and she could hear that the herd was very agitated.
‘When I get close, I’ll turn around,’ she said. ‘You can use the back seat as a rest. And if the elephants charge, going forward is a lot easier than reversing.’
‘Okay. Good idea.’
As she moved the vehicle slowly forwards, Bongani clambered over the seats to the back row. There, he rested the rifle on the seat back.
At about seventy metres, the biggest elephant moved towards them again. Crys stopped. This time she didn’t have the light on its eyes. It would have a clearer view now without the blinding spotlight. She didn’t dare move the Land Rover. The only sounds now were the rattle of the diesel engine and the injured elephant groaning. The trumpeting had stopped, and there was something ominous about the quiet.
After a few long, drawn-out minutes, Bongani whispered that they should move ahead.
Crys nodded and eased forwards again, as slowly as she possibly could. In the headlights she saw the elephant lift its trunk once more. Then it tossed its head and walked away. She relaxed a little.
At about sixty metres, she did a tight circle so they ended up fifty metres from the injured elephant, facing away from it, as they’d planned. She waited, idling the engine.
‘Turn the engine off,’ Bongani said. ‘I may only have one shot, and I don’t want the vibration.’
She turned off the ignition. The Land Rover shuddered as the engine cut. She prayed that it would start right up if they needed it to.
‘Now turn it on, but don’t start it,’ Bongani whispered. She did as he said and the fuel pump came on again. That would make starting it easier.
Thank God Bongani knows what he’s doing.
She thought about him for a moment. From working on the antipoaching squad, to leading a safari, to dealing with an injured elephant, he really was quite impressive. It made her feel a little better.
‘Now, shine the spotlight on its head,’ Bongani said.
Crys reached across into the passenger side and picked up the spotlight. She had to stand up so she could focus the powerful beam on the elephant’s head, which was thrashing in all directions as the suffering creature struggled. Then she noticed the biggest elephant heading for them again. It wasn’t charging, but it was coming, with long determined strides.
‘Quick, Bongani. The big elephant’s coming for us!’
Bongani took the shot; there was a crack, and he jerked back with the recoil. The big elephant stopped in its tracks, shaking its head. Crys’s ears were ringing, but she heard Bongani ask, ‘Did I get it?’
Holding the light in one hand, she checked with his binoculars. ‘It’s not moving. I think … Yes, I think it’s dead. Great shot.’ She sat down, shaking, her pulse thudding in her ears, but managed to start the engine without stalling it. ‘Let’s get out of here and see if we can get to the plane.’
She was determined now to see what was in it.