pockets of palm trees. To the left, above the line of the forest rim,
the very top of the limestone escarpment was clearly discernable against
the hazy morning sky.
‘It’s actually quite beautiful,’ Melanie said.
‘It reminds me of paintings of prehistoric times,’ Kevin said. ‘I could
almost imagine a couple of brontosauruses in the foreground.’
‘Oh my god, I see hippos over to the left!’ Candace called out with
alarm. She pointed with her paddle.
Kevin looked in the direction she was indicating. Sure enough, the heads
and small ears of a dozen of these huge mammals were just visible in the
water. Standing on their crowns were a number of white birds preening.
‘They’re okay,’ Kevin assured Candace. ‘See how they are slowly moving
away from us. They won’t be any trouble.’
‘I’ve never been much of a nature lover,’ Candace admitted.
‘You don’t have to explain,’ Kevin said. He could remember clearly his
unease about wildlife during his first year in Cogo.
‘According to the map, there should be a trail not too far away from the
left bank,’ Melanie said, while studying the contour map.
‘If I remember correctly, there’s a trail that goes around the whole
eastern end of the lake,’ Kevin said. ‘It originates at the bridge.’
‘That’s true, but it comes closest to our left,’ Melanie said.
Kevin angled the canoe toward the left shore and began looking for an
opening in the reeds. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one.
‘I think we’ll just have to try to paddle right through the vegetation,’
Kevin said.
‘I’m certainly not getting out of this boat until there’s dry land,’
Melanie announced.
Kevin told Candace not to paddle as he aimed the canoe at the
six-foot-high wall of reeds and took a number of forceful strokes. To
everyone’s surprise, the boat skimmed through the vegetation with no
trouble at all, despite the scraping noise of the reeds on the hull.
Sooner than they expected, they bumped against dry land.
‘That was easy,’ Kevin said. He looked behind at the path they’d created
to the lake, but already the reeds were springing back to their original
position.
‘Am I supposed to get out?’ Candace said. ‘I can’t see the ground. What
if there are bugs and snakes?’
‘Make yourself a clearing with your paddle,’ Kevin suggested.
As soon as Candace climbed out of the bow, Kevin paddled against the
vegetation and succeeded to force the canoe still further onto the
shore. Melanie got out easily.
‘What about the food?’ Kevin asked as he moved forward.
‘Let’s leave it here,’ Melanie said. ‘Just bring the bag with the
directional beacon and flashlight. I’ve got the locator and the contour
map.’
The women waited for Kevin to get out of the boat, then motioned for him
to go ahead of them. With the gear bag over his shoulder, he pushed
aside the reeds and began moving inland. The ground was marshy and the
muck sucked at his shoes. But within ten feet, he emerged onto the
grassy field.
‘This looks like a field, but it’s actually a swamp,’ Melanie complained
as she looked down at her tennis shoes. They were already black with mud
and completely soaked.
Kevin struggled with the contour map to get his bearings, then pointed
off to the right. ‘The transmitting chip from bonobo number sixty should
be no more than a hundred feet from here in the direction of that cul de
sac of trees,’ he said.
‘Let’s get this over with,’ Melanie said. With her new tennis shoes
ruined, even she was beginning to question if they should have come. In
Africa, nothing was easy.
Kevin struck off with the women following. At first, walking was
difficult because of the unstable footing. Although the grass appeared
generally uniform, it grew in small, lumpy hummocks surrounded by muddy
water. But the going became easier about fifty feet from the pond, where
the ground rose and became comparatively drier. A moment later, they
came across a trail.
They were surprised to discover that the trail looked well-used. It ran
parallel with the shoreline of the lake.
‘Siegfried must send work crews out here more than we thought,’ Melanie