Danger in the Dust Read Free Page B

white sheets. It was hard to believe that only that morning he had woken up in his own bed, eager for their journey to begin. Now, here he was in Africa, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of the Nairobi night and reliving the events of the day.
    He began to mull over their evening in the restaurant. The one thing he couldn’t get out of his mind was the fact that one of the animals he had most wanted to see was an ostrich, and yet he had eaten ostrich meat before he had even seen a real, live one! He wasn’t sure he liked that idea very much, but reminded himself that he would quite happily eat beef and watch young calves at play in the same day.
    If I decide to be a vet, I’ll have to cope with things like that all the time , he thought.
    Deciding he would prefer to follow in his father’s footsteps, he fell asleep.

Chapter 5
    Joe was overjoyed when, the next morning, Binti announced that they were going to visit an elephant orphanage.
    ‘There’s only a one-hour viewing slot, so we mustn’t be late,’ she said.
    ‘Will there be any calves? And will we be able to get close to them?’ Joe wanted to know as they set off from the hotel.
    ‘There might be one or two very young calves, but most will be older, I believe,’ Binti replied. ‘I’m sure I can arrange for us to see them close up.’
    ‘That’s the advantage of having an international vet for a mother,’ said Peter. ‘She can open many doors that would otherwise be out of bounds.’
    Joe held his camera case tightly as they waited for their taxi to arrive to take them to the orphanage, which was located on the outskirts of Nairobi.
    It was a beautiful morning, though it had rained heavily during the night, and Joe was surprised at how green everything was. He had assumed that the landscape would be parched and dusty, and was surprised, too, at all the high-rise buildings that broke up the skyline.
    ‘Nairobi is like a lot of cities, isn’t it?’ he said.
    ‘Yeah, it’s very noisy,’ said Aesha.
    ‘I didn’t expect it to be so sort of . . . modern,’ he added.
    ‘It’s a big melting pot,’ said Peter. ‘It’s a real mix of skyscrapers, restaurants, cafés, shops and offices, parks and gardens, a number of very affluent housing complexes, and there are also the most appalling slums, where about half the city’s population lives. But Nairobi really stands out from other cities in that it has a national park right on its doorstep. Nairobi National Park is home to four of the Big Five, as well as numerous other animals and birds.’
    ‘Cool!’ exclaimed Joe. ‘Can we go there?’
    ‘The orphanage is just on the border of the park,’ said Binti. ‘You might see some animals while we’re there, but we’re saving most of our game viewing till we go on safari.’
    Joe pulled a face. He would have been quite happy to see wild animals every hour and minute of their trip.
    He didn’t have to wait long. As the taxi took them towards their destination, the driver told them to look to their right. To Joe’s amazement, there was a giraffe striding across a wide open space towards a clump of low-growing trees, with the cityscape in the background.
    ‘Wow!’ cried Aesha. ‘You just wouldn’t expect to see a giraffe so close to houses! Imagine looking out of your bedroom window and being able to see a wild animal like that!’
    I’d love to live here , Joe thought. I can’t imagine anything more exciting than having wild animals roaming right outside your window.
    He kept his eyes peeled for the rest of the journey, hoping to see more animals, but soon the taxi driver pulled up outside some gates and told them that they had arrived. They piled out of the car and joined the queue to get into the orphanage. Joe looked at his watch. It was a quarter to eleven. He didn’t want to miss one second of his time with the elephants and willed the gates to open.
    An official came to the entrance and ushered them through. They were shepherded to an