Page 43 of Walk on the Wilder Side

“How many water buffalo do you think there are?” Sylvie asked.

“This is a huge herd,” Ndungu answered. “I’d guess five hundred or so.”

“Wow. That’s incredible.”

“And look at the zebras coming in! I love zebras!” Doris clapped her hands. “I can’t wait to show Axel these pictures. I told him I was going to bring one home to be my new mount on the ranch.”

I sighed. “We already brought home a Spanish fighting bull, Doris. We’re not bringing home a zebra.”

She stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “But I love zebras.”

I watched the black and white creatures intermingling with the water buffalo, and while they were entertaining to watch, my mind was still back with the beautiful lions we’d left behind.

“Look! A lion!” Marge pointed.

“Where? Where?” I sat up straight, head on a swivel as I searched for it.

“Way over there.” She pointed, but I couldn’t see anything where she looked.

“I don’t see anything.”

“It’s pretty far out. I don’t think you can see it without the binoculars. Oh! Wait! Two ... no three lions! Cool!”

“Give me those!” I opened my hands, and with a groan, she placed the binoculars in them.

It only took a moment for me to find them in the distance, three lionesses trotting toward the herd of animals all taking turns at the watering hole.

“Oh! I can see them now!” Sylvie said. “Looks like they are going to the watering hole too!”

“Oh, boy,” Ndungu said with concern in his voice.

“Oh, boy? Is that bad? Why is that bad?” Doris asked.

“Because lions eat the animals there. If you ladies don’t want to get a real front row seat to how nature can be cruel, it’s probably best we head out.”

“I want to see the lions, though,” I argued, though admittedly, I had no interest in watching them tear apart the other sweet, innocent creatures I’d been watching the past twenty minutes.

Doris closed her eyes. “Oh, I don’t want to see this part.”

“Same.” Sylvie looked away as the lions closed in on their prey.

“I don’t like it, either,” Marge said, “but lions deserve to survive too. They’re carnivores. They kill or they starve. It’s not pretty, but it’s life out here in the wild.”

“I suppose,” Doris sighed. “I just don’t want to see it.”

“I’m going to turn us around and get us headed back toward camp. We’ll keep following the river here, and we’ll be back well before dark. You definitely don’t want to be out here in the dark.”

“Great plan, Ndungu. This has been amazing.”

“We’ll come back out again tomorrow.” He put the vehicle in reverse and began turning around. “Unless you’d like to try the rafting expedition instead. It’s supposed to be great fun.”

“No!” the four of us shouted in unison.

Ndungu jumped in his seat then looked at all of us.

“Sorry. Bad rafting experience last year.” Sylvie sucked the air through her teeth. “No rafting for us.”

“I’m going to need to hear this story on the way home I think.” He smiled and started driving away from the herd of animals behind us.

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