On Tuesday morning Rose was ready and waiting when a horn sounded outside her compound. Samwell opened the gate and closed it behind her as she climbed into the front passenger seat of Thabiti’s white Land Cruiser. Rose had rarely seen him drive it and remembered the car had belonged to his mother, a childhood friend of Rose’s, who had been murdered a few months earlier.
Thabiti held a flat brown paper package and asked, “Can you nurse this? It’s a painting from the UK which has just arrived and is to be hung in the dining room at the lodge.”
Rose turned to the passenger in the rear and said, “Habari Julius,” before taking hold of the large package and resting it on her feet.
“Mzuri sana,” he replied with a large grin and pushed his hands down on the plush seat.
Their first stop was the roadside workshop of Tony the woodman, who had built his ramshackle wooden hut opposite the entrance to Podo School. He ensured his wares of rustic tables, bookshelves, chairs, and whatever else he was currently working on, were prominently displayed by half-past eight each morning, so they would catch the eye of Podo parents leaving the school after morning drop-off.
Tony delightedly clasped each of their hands in turn. Rose realised why he was so excited when they were led around the side of his workshop and he lifted a tarpaulin to reveal a large collection of furniture. It represented a lot of work, and an excellent income for Tony, who had only recently started his furniture business.
Thabiti consulted his phone. “Marina has asked me to take a king-size bed, two side tables and a washstand.”
Tony stepped forward into the jumble melee of items, picked up a small table with a drawer and handed it to Julius. They repeated the process with another bedside table and a large table with a hole in the middle. “That’s for the sink,” explained Tony. “And this is the bed.” He stood proudly next to a large, solid looking piece of furniture.
Thabiti winced. “I’ll never get that in my car.”
Tony bent down. “We can undo these screws and take the frame apart? Would you be able to put it back together at the lodge?”
Thabiti kicked at a wood chip on the dusty ground. “I think so, as long as I don’t lose the screws.”
Tony whistled and an old man peered through an opening in the slats of the hut. Tony spoke rapidly to him in Kikuyu and he vanished, reappearing beside them with a screwdriver.
It took an hour to dismantle the bed and find just the right combination of pieces of furniture so that it all fitted into the car. Julius sat warily in the back, pinned between the ends of the two long sides of the bed frame which slanted up from the boot.
Thabiti was sweating and removed his fleece jumper. He turned to Julius and asked, “Are you OK back there?”
“I think so,” Julius replied gingerly.
Rose picked up Thabiti’s discarded jumper and said, “Why don’t you wrap this around the piece of wood next to the window? It might help protect the glass, and Julius’s head if we hit a bump.”
“Good idea,” Thabiti leant into the back and arranged the jumper over the end of the bed frame. He also shifted the leg of a table, so it didn’t move during the journey and poke Julius’s leg.
Thabiti drove carefully over the speed bumps as they travelled north out of Nanyuki. The first part of the drive was relatively smooth on a tarmac road. After Timau, they turned left onto a muram track and maintained a steady speed, with only a few jolts to unsettle Julius in his precarious position in the back.
Thabiti slowed at the entrance to the Ngare Ndare forest to negotiate hanging strands of thick wire.
“Why are these here?” he asked.
“To stop the elephants,” shouted Julius from the back.
They continued slowly and the car rocked as Thabiti negotiated the uneven road. “I hate this bit of the drive,” he said. “I’m never sure whether to try to stay on the bits of tarmac or keep completely clear of them. But at least it’s dry so I can use the tracks by the side of the road without worrying that we’ll slide into a tree.”
“Someone told me this road was built by the British Army nearly a century ago,” Rose commented, “when it was the main route north. So it’s done incredibly well to survive at all.”
“Well, I wish they’d repair it,” quipped Thabiti, as the steering wheel jerked in his hand and Julius cried out as they slid into a large pothole.
“Sorry about that,” apologised Thabiti.
Rose turned to Julius, who was rubbing his head.
“It’s OK, Mama.”
They drove through the main part of the forest and emerged onto a road running along the side of a cliff. There was a large drop to the right and a stunning view of the forest and, as the road turned to the left, Rose could see all the way to what she thought was the Mathews Range of hills. “Spectacular,” she announced.
They arrived at Aureus Lodge and Thabiti pulled into a bare-earth parking space marked by white painted stones.
Marina ran forward to meet them and threw her arms around him.
He stood rigid with his arms by his side.
She released him and exclaimed. “It’s great to see you. How was your drive?”
Before he had time to answer, Marina crossed to Rose and threw open her arms. “Welcome to Aureus Lodge.”
There was a tapping sound, and they turned to see Julius peering out of the car window.
“I think he’s stuck,” Rose explained.
Marina called for help and between them they swiftly removed the furniture, and a shaken Julius was extracted from the car.
Marina grabbed hold of his arm and asked, “Chai?”
He nodded and was led away by a member of the lodge staff.
Rose was also enjoying a cup of refreshing tea when Julius reappeared and said, “Kennedy, the lodge gardener, is going to show us the empty den. It’s about a kilometre away. Are you all right walking?” The colour had returned to his face, and he was once more the competent head warden with a task to perform.
Rose felt like a good walk after the arduous journey, and she set off with Julius and the gardener. As they walked, she discovered that Aureus Lodge was built on top of an escarpment with spectacular views over Borana, Lewa and on towards Samburu. When she turned back to look at the lodge, she could also see the three most prominent peaks of Mount Kenya.
Following Kennedy, they scrambled down a rocky slope onto a smaller ridge and from that down onto the valley floor. At the edge of the slope, partially hidden by a small Egyptian thorn tree, was a dusty black hole.
Julius dropped to his knees, sniffed the air, and as he shuffled forward his head and shoulders disappeared from view.
He re-emerged with particles of sand caught in his curly black hair. He stood and brushed the earth from his trousers. “The den is empty, and it looks dry and intact. What do you think?”
Rose looked around at the sparse landscape of Maasai grass, white hibiscus bushes and the occasional umbrella thorn acacia tree. It was now hot in the late morning and she knew that most animals would be resting down their burrows and dens, or in the shade of trees and bushes.
“It appears sheltered and secluded, and as it’s not too far from the lodge, someone, perhaps Kennedy here, could monitor the jackals. What is your plan for releasing them?”
Julius paced across from the hole to a small thicket of lyceum bushes and white thorn acacias. “Borana have agreed to build a small enclosure, close to the den, into which we can release them. Do you think this is a good place? Is there enough shade.”
Rose wandered towards him. “Yes, I think it will do. I suggest you keep the enclosure closed, and their cages open to start with, until they are comfortable with their environment.”
“And then when they are happy, open the enclosure?” Julius asked.
Rose walked back towards the den. “That would be my recommendation. I think you will have to see what happens after that. And whether they immediately take to the den or return to their cages to sleep.”
Julius joined her. “Kennedy tells me you’re staying this weekend, so he has offered me a room in the staff quarters. If I can arrange transport, and the enclosure can be built in time, we could begin the jackals’ rehabilitation this weekend, when we are both here.”
Rose clasped her hands together and announced, “That’s a great idea.”