Zoe woke to the sound of her alarm buzzing in her ear. She staggered out of bed in the dark and shook Ben. He was always hard to wake – especially at five thirty in the morning. By the time he’d pulled on his clothes his sister was ready by the door, checking the satellite map on her BUG.
They crept down the dim corridor, trying not to make the wooden floor creak.
At last the big double doors at the front of the softly lit lobby came into view.
“I can’t see anyone on Reception,” said Zoe. “Let’s go – oof!”
Someone came round the corner and ran straight into her. It was Lester Hall. He had his camera slung round his neck and looked as if he’d pulled on his clothes in a hurry.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, scratching his tousled head. “I’m not really awake.”
“And we thought we were the only ones up!” said Ben, trying to sound relaxed and friendly. “Going somewhere nice?”
Lester yawned. “My dad’s taking me on a photo expedition. But I didn’t think he’d be dragging me out of bed in the middle of the night!”
Ben and Zoe stared at him, trying to keep the look of shock from their faces. The hunt was setting out today!
“What are you two doing up so early?” came a familiar voice, and Mr Hall strode into view.
He was kitted out for his expedition, from his state-of-the-art trekking boots to his expensive binoculars and his decorated hat. Hands on hips, he looked Ben and Zoe up and down, taking in their backpacks. He poked a finger at them. “I get it. Sneaking out while your tutor’s ill. I bet she’d like to know what you’re up to.”
“No,” protested Zoe. “We –”
“I’m obliged to let the hotel know that you two are heading off on your own!” Mr Hall interrupted. “They won’t want to send out a search party because a pair of stupid kids have been eaten by lions.”
“Our tutor’s coming with us,” Ben assured him. “She’s better now. We’re just waiting for her.”
“She knows this area well,” Zoe took up the hastily improvised story. “She lived here when she was a girl.” She could feel her heart thumping. Would Mr Hall believe them?
Mr Hall humphed. “That’s all right then.” A brief look of concern flickered over his face. “Where exactly are you going?”
Ben thought quickly. “To the village,” he said. “Our tutor wants us to see a whole day in the life of the village.”
Frank Hall forced a thin smile. The children saw he was relieved they wouldn’t be going in his direction. “Come on, Lester,” he grunted. “We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s get going. I’ve ordered us some breakfast. We’ve got a long trek ahead so we’ll need the energy.”
The yawning boy traipsed off after his dad.
“This is a disaster!” whispered Zoe. “We thought we’d have three days before the hunters started out. Why have they changed their plans all of a sudden?”
“We can’t worry about that now,” replied Ben. “Our mission is to save Tomboi, and that means getting there before the hunters and sorting out his leg.”
“And letting Uncle Stephen know that the hunt is on so he can alert the Kenya Wildlife Service,” added Zoe. “Come on, we can tell him on our way.”
Sneaking through the spotlit lodge grounds, the children dived behind a hippopotamus statue as an armed security guard walked past. Dawn was just breaking and the air was still cold.
“We’ve got to find a new route,” said Ben. “And that’s going to be hard. You can see a long way on the plain because it’s so flat. We’ll easily be spotted if we’re anywhere near the hunting party.” He called up a satellite picture of the area. A tiny red light pulsed from the lodge. “They’re in the dining room.”
“Let’s hope it’s a huge breakfast that will take them ages to eat,” said Zoe.
“And that Frank Hall will be so stuffed he’ll hardly be able to walk.” Ben laughed and zoomed the map out until the waterhole appeared. “I know we should be heading south-east,” he muttered, “but if we go southwest to start with, there’s more cover.”
“You’re right.” Zoe nodded as she looked over his shoulder. “There are clumps of trees there…” She pointed. “…And there.”
“Then we cut south-east through that outcrop of rocks and finally get to the undergrowth near the waterhole,” said Ben. “That’s a good hiding place to wait for the elephants tomorrow morning. We’ll camp somewhere on the way.”
“But we’ll have to set a good pace,” said Zoe. “This detour makes our trek longer than theirs.”
Ben tapped away at some keys on his BUG. “I’ve sent a message to Uncle Stephen to let him know the change of plan.”
“Tranquilliser guns at the ready,” added Zoe, nodding towards a large sign – DO NOT PROCEED UNACCOMPANIED BEYOND THIS POINT. “And scent dispersers on so we don’t smell tempting to predators.”
When the coast was clear they slipped out of the lodge grounds. Ben checked the map on his BUG and gestured for Zoe to follow.
Skirting round the lodge, Ben and Zoe drank in the spectacular view of the plain bathed in the early morning sun. The flat land stretched away towards the snowcapped Mount Kenya in the far distance. Trees grew here and there – tall fanned acacias and thick-trunked baobabs.
The children moved quickly, darting for the cover of trees where they could. As the sun began to warm the arid land, the plain woke up. Herds of zebra and wildebeest grazed on the open grass and giraffes lolloped along as if chasing each other.
“Look over there,” gasped Ben. “By those trees. Awesome! Our first sign of an elephant!”
“It’s huge!” said Zoe, wide-eyed. “It couldn’t be part of our herd, could it?”
“It’s a male,” said Ben. “Remember Wambua told us they live alone.”
The bull elephant stamped about among the trees, his head tossing and trunk swinging irritably.
“He looks bad-tempered,” said Zoe. “Good thing we’re nowhere near him.”
Ben came to a sudden halt. “What’s that over there?” he said, pointing at the far distance. “To the east. Something’s moving and I don’t think it’s an animal.” He threw himself flat on the ground, pulling Zoe with him.
Zoe grabbed her binoculars and focused them. “It’s the hunting party. We were in full view.”
“That was close!” panted Ben. “Did they see us?”
“I’ll find out,” said Zoe, calling up her OWL.
“I did see something,” they heard Mr Hall insist. “It looked like people.”
“I cannot see anything,” came Chitundu’s voice. “I expect it was an animal.”
“Hope so,” grunted the hunter, “for your sake.”
“Now we’ve stopped can I take some photos?” asked Lester. “We’ve been going so fast I haven’t managed to take one yet.”
“You’ll get some good shots later.” His father chuckled.
“We must be more careful,” said Zoe. She studied the map on her BUG. “We should go further west.”
They took the new route, seeking high grass and thick bushes whenever possible.
Suddenly, there was a tremendous crashing in the bushes ahead of them and the bull elephant burst out into the open. He stamped his front feet, blowing angrily through his trunk. The children stopped, not daring to take another step.
“Stay still,” whispered Ben. “He might ignore us.”
They could hear a low growling noise as the elephant shook his head. Then he raised his trunk and gave a tremendous trumpet of rage.
“Run!” cried Zoe, as the elephant began to charge.
