The Akimbo Adventures. Alexander McCall Smith
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the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, or the leopard would have smelled their presence. If that had happened, then they would have been in even greater danger.
‘That was close,’ his father said, once they had got away. ‘I don’t like to think what would have happened if I hadn’t noticed them in time.’
It was not leopards, or even lions, that Akimbo liked to watch. He loved the elephants best of all. You had to keep clear of them, too, but they seemed more gentle than many of the other creatures. Akimbo loved their vast, lumbering shapes. He loved the way they moved their trunks slowly, this way and that, as they plodded across the plains between the stretches of forest. And he loved the sound of an elephant trumpeting – a short, surprised, rather funny sound.
There used to be many elephants in Africa, but over the years they had been mercilessly hunted. Now there were fewer and fewer.
Akimbo could not understand why anybody should want to hunt an elephant and asked his father why.
‘It’s for their tusks. They’re made of ivory, and ivory is very valuable. It’s used for ornaments and jewellery. Some rich people collect it and like to show off elephant tusks carved into fancy shapes.’
‘But it’s so cruel,’ said Akimbo. ‘I’m glad it doesn’t happen any more.’
Akimbo’s father was silent for a moment.
‘I’m afraid it does still happen. There are still people who hunt elephants – even here in the reserve.’
‘Can’t you stop them?’ he asked.
Akimbo’s father shook his head. ‘It’s very difficult. The reserve stretches for almost a hundred miles. We can’t keep an eye on all of it all the time.’
Akimbo was silent. The thought of the elephants being hunted for their tusks made him seethe with anger. He wondered whether there would come a day when all the elephants in Africa were destroyed. Then all that we would have to remember them by would be photographs and, of course, the ivory from their tusks. The reserves would be empty then, and the sight of the elephants crossing the plains would be nothing but a memory.
‘I don’t want that to happen,’ Akimbo said to himself. ‘I want the elephants to stay.’
Father elephant
A few weeks later, Akimbo was to be reminded of what his father had said about the poachers.
‘We have to go out to check up on a water hole,’ his father said. ‘Do you want to come with us?’
‘Yes,’ said Akimbo eagerly.
‘It’ll be a rough ride,’ his father warned him. ‘There isn’t even a track for much of the way.’
‘I don’t mind. I know how to hang on.’
Akimbo’s father was right. It was not an easy journey, and it was very hot as well. At noon the sun burned down unmercifully, and it was unbearably hot in the truck cabin. Akimbo wiped the sweat off his face and drank great gulps of water from the water bottles, but he did not complain once.
They had to travel slowly, as there were rocks and potholes which could easily damage the truck if they came upon them too quickly. Every now and then, a concealed rock would scrape against the bottom of the truck with a painful, jarring sound, and everybody inside would wince. But no damage was done, and they continued their journey.
During the hot hours of midday, few animals will venture out of the shade of the trees and the undergrowth. But Akimbo saw a small herd of zebra cantering off to safety, throwing up a cloud of dust behind them.
Then, quite suddenly, one of the men in the back of the truck hit his fist on the top of the roof and pointed off to the left. Akimbo’s father brought the vehicle to a halt.
‘What is it?’ he called out.
The man leaned over into the cabin.
‘Vultures. Flocks of them.’
The eyes of all the others followed the man’s gaze. Akimbo saw nothing at first, but when he craned his neck he saw the birds circling in the hot, still air. Even from this distance, he could tell that there were lots of them, and so he knew that something big was attracting their attention.
Akimbo’s father turned to one of the other men.
‘Do you think the lions finished a meal?’
The other man looked thoughtful. ‘Maybe. But there are rather a lot of vultures for that. Don’t you think we should go and take a look?’
Akimbo’s father agreed. Then, swinging the truck off to the left, he steered in the direction of the circling birds. After a bumpy ride of fifteen minutes they were there and they saw the sad sight which they had all secretly been dreading.
The elephant lay on its side, where it had fallen. As the truck approached, four or five vultures flapped up into the air, angry at the disturbance of their feeding. Akimbo’s father looked furious as he drew the truck to a halt. Without speaking, he opened his door and strode off to stand beside the fallen elephant.
Akimbo stayed where he was. He could not bear to look at the great creature. He knew that the elephant had been destroyed so that its tusks could be stolen.
Akimbo looked away. There was a group of trees nearby and as Akimbo looked towards it he noticed movement. Then, a little way away, the vegetation moved.
Akimbo strained his eyes to try to see more. He was sure an animal was there, but it was difficult to see through the thick covering of leaves and branches. He hoped it was not a buffalo, which could be dangerous.
There was another movement, and this time Akimbo was looking in the right place. Quickly opening the door of the truck cabin, Akimbo leapt out and ran to where his father and the other men were standing.
‘Look!’ he cried out. ‘Look over there.’
The men spun round. As they did so, the baby elephant broke cover. It took a few steps and then stopped, as if uncertain what to do. It raised its trunk and sniffed at the air. Then it dropped its trunk and stood quite still. Akimbo noticed that it had a torn right ear.
‘It’s her calf,’ said his father. ‘It’s very young.’
They stared at the calf for a few moments. The tiny elephant was obviously confused. It saw its mother lying motionless on the ground, and it wanted to join her. At the same time, its instinct told it to keep away from the intruding men.
‘Can we look after it?’ Akimbo asked.
Akimbo’s father shook his head. ‘No. The herd will pick it up. If we leave it here, another cow elephant will come for it.’
‘But it’s so small. Can’t we take it back to the compound and look after it?’
‘It will be all right,’ said Akimbo’s father. ‘It’s best not to interfere.’
They began to walk back to the truck. At a distance, the little elephant watched them go, withdrawing slightly as they moved. When the engine started, Akimbo saw it run back to the shelter of the trees.
‘Goodbye,’ Akimbo muttered under his breath. ‘Good luck.’
The truck turned away. Akimbo took one last glance back, and saw that the vultures, which had been circling high in the sky, had now dropped lower.