Long entry. Woo. Hard to do when game kept crashing because MM2 Beta is installed...(sorry, nothing MM2 is in this, don't even ASK, lol)I woke up with the warmth of the sun on my face, but I don’t think that that was what woke me up. Everyone was in the camp, unusual for me because I was so used to them being gone before I awoke. I saw Hazkia standing next to one of the larger buildings, and he rose his hand to greet me. I waved back at him. I stood up, brushing off the debris that collected on my clothes as I rolled on the ground during the night. I walked over to the camp’s leader, almost colliding with a boy who was quickly carrying a basket of almost brown bananas through my path. When I reached Hazkia, he firmly placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled at me.
“Mika, how are you today? You sleep long time, no?â€
I laughed. In his broken English, I could still here my mother scolding me for spending half my summer days sleeping. “I am good, Hazkia. Why is everyone so busy? What is going on?†I looked around the camp, watching people moving back and forth with baskets of food and saw the carcass of what appeared to be a gnu.
“Ahh, Mika, we go home, to the forest. We hunted long time, but the food is scarce. We lucky to get her,†as he pointed to the animal lying in the camp. “But we return here when the rains come. The rains bring plants and water for the animals, and they give birth. When the animals not hungry, we not hungry. You go with us? See home?â€
I started to almost panic at the thought of leaving the savannah.
I just got here though! I was thinking. I mean, I had only seen flamingoes, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, African Wild Dogs, a lioness and a cheetah! Thinking back through my list, I realized that seeing those animals in such a short amount of time was quite the feat. I placed my hand on Hazkia’s shoulder, mimicking his stance. “Hazkia, let’s go to your home. This sun is
hot!I began to pack up the few belongings I had. I sat in the hut a while, deleting some extremely bad pictures off of my digital camera’s card to free up some room in case we saw something on the way. I cam across one of the giraffes I had photographed a few days before, and though it was kind of a bad shot, decided to keep it because it just looked so pretty.
As I had woken up much later then everyone else had, and everyone had basically muled themselves with everything we could carry, it was time to say goodbye to the encampment for now. Adebanke showed up just as we were leaving, an almost sad look in her eyes. She barked at us a few times, running into the camp and then back to us, back and forth a few times before finally settling next to the burnt out camp fire.
Hazkia and I could not figure out why the dog was acting as such. We tried to coax Adebanke out of the camp, but with no success. We even tried to offer her a piece of the meat the men had worked so hard to get, but she sniffed it and promptly refused. She chittered at us, begging us to stay with her there. Hazkia scolded her “Adebanke! We leave every year, and you come with us every year. Why you hesitate?â€
Instead of an answer from Adebanke, we heard the hooting of a Wild Dog off to the distance. Adebanke sat up, listened, and hooted back.
Hazkia laughed. “Is there someone we need to meet before we leave, Ade’?†She barked a few times at us, seemingly to say yes.
From out of nowhere, a male Cape Dog came near to the camp. Instead of growling at this dog like she had before, she greeted him warmly.
Then she got a serious look on her face. She chittered, then hooted, then barked, almost panicing. From where the male had come, so did two little Wild Dog Pups!
“Well, it seems that we have a few more coming home, this time,†Hazkia stated. “Good, but we not travel with those who are nameless. This boy here, we will call him ‘Yahya’ – God’s Gift. He is God’s gift to our little Adebanke. It strange that a male would mate with one without a pack.
“Now for these youngsters…â€
Watching, one pup was obviously attached to the newly dubbed Yahya. Seeing this, Hazkia promptly found a name for her. “You are ‘Adanna’ – father’s loving daughter.†Noticing that Adanna was smaller than the other pup, also a female, Hazkia chuckled. “Your name is ‘Kissa’ - First daughter born to the family, in hopes that Adebanke and Yahya will stay together long time, and make much larger family.â€
As the sun began to disappear behind the hills of the savannah, everyone realized that while they were very eager to return to the shady home in the woods, it was too late to head out now. Besides, there were new puppies to play with!
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register