At a quarter to six on Tuesday morning, Kennedy, Aureus Lodge’s gardener, drove Rose and Julius to the jackal enclosure. Julius and Kennedy appeared to have become firm friends.
Rose was delighted that the lodge kitchen had provided them with a flask of hot water, sachets of tea, coffee, milk, sugar and some hot breakfast rolls.
The headlights of the car lit up the enclosure and Rose spotted a lone jackal pacing along the inside of the fence.
“That one is very shy and I don’t think she has left the enclosure at all,” said Julius in a resigned tone.
“Won’t she be hungry?” Kennedy asked.
“Probably, but she will have been eating insects and berries in the enclosure, and even grass. But there will come a point when she is forced to leave to find more food,” Julius told him.
Kennedy parked a short distance away from the enclosure, and Rose stepped out into the chilled air. She shivered as she heard the deep roar of a lion. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and realised that it wasn’t pitch black. A sea of stars, so often obstructed by light pollution from towns and cities, lit up the clear night sky.
“Shall we see if we can find the other jackals?” asked Julius.
Rose and Julius wandered past the enclosure towards the foot of the escarpment, which loomed up like a dark shadow in front of them.
“There,” whispered Julius. He pointed to the left, and Rose was able to discern the shadowy shapes of two jackals trotting through the grass.
“I think they’re heading back to the enclosure,” she said. They followed the jackals back to their starting point.
As Kennedy poured hot water into three mugs, Julius said, “This doesn’t look good. We still have only three of them and they are refusing to leave the enclosure.”
Rose swirled a tea bag around her cup and replied, “If you need to go back to the orphanage, perhaps Kennedy could keep a watch on the jackals, or someone from Borana. But at some stage the enclosure will have to be dismantled.”
She leant against the safari vehicle and sipped her tea. The mounds of hills and silhouettes of bushes and acacia trees were emerging as early morning light seeped into the darkness.
Suddenly they heard a high-pitched cry. Rose heard it again, as if the caller was yowling ‘where’ into the morning air.
“Look,” exclaimed Julius.
The three jackals in the enclosure had turned towards the sound and stood with their ears pricked. One lifted its head to the sky and responded with a similar call. It left the enclosure, and the others followed.
“Quick, get in. We must follow them,” shouted Julius.
Rose flung the remains of her tea to the ground and heaved herself into the car’s front passenger seat. They moved forward slowly, without lights, following the three jackals. Their route took them out into the conservancy and they were able to drive along a dirt road, keeping the three jackals to their right.
After about a mile and a half the jackals veered right and they followed, with Kennedy carefully negotiating the uneven ground.
Julius, who was leaning forward between the front seats, said urgently, “Steady, there’s something up ahead.”
Rose began to make out the form of a fourth jackal standing by the side of a partially eaten animal carcass, which she thought was that of a zebra. She wondered if it was killed by the lion she had heard earlier. The lone jackal called again and the other three trotted towards it. They all began to pick at the carcass.
“So the missing jackal had left in search of food,” stated Julius.
“Is it true that jackals have their own unique calls which only members of their family respond to?” asked Kennedy.
“Yes, that’s correct,” replied Julius.
They watched the jackals for twenty minutes, until the four animals stopped and looked warily to their left.
“I think another animal is interested in the carcass,” whispered Julius.
They watched as two large hyenas sloped their way towards the jackals. The jackals made half-hearted barks at the hyenas and then turned and trotted back in the direction they had come from.
“They were sensible not to pick a fight with hyenas. And they should have had enough time to fill their bellies,” commented Rose.
Kennedy turned the car back to the track, and they followed the jackals. But instead of heading towards the enclosure, they continued towards the base of the rocky escarpment.
“Do you think they found the den?” Julius asked excitedly.
A few minutes later, the jackals disappeared down the sandy hole Julius had shown Rose on their first visit.
“A happy ending,” she declared. “Your jackals are reunited.”