National Park

Chapter 10

"What do you mean consensus was not reached?" a deep young voice was heard asking.

"Well, consensus is reached when seventy-five percent or more of the group vote in one direction. Last night, only sixty-six percent voted together, and for that reason a special vote was held this morning. All the members from last night were given a chance to review their position and vote again today," answered Niol.

Raja fought the urge to drift back to sleep. He could hear various unfamiliar voices questioning Niol, and he decided to listen in first before getting up.

"Why do we move the magnets on the human map?" a confident young voice asked.

Raja's ears perked up as he remembered the maps in the park camps and his belief that they appeared different to each other.

Niol smiled. "I will go into more detail later once Raja awakens, but you do realise that there are various meetings being held in the park, with different animals convening at a single spot. We do not want the humans to realise our activity, so we devised a plan to keep them away. The only animals that enter the various human camps without trouble are the warthogs. We thus organised for the warthogs to rearrange the various magnets away from the meeting area, diverting the attention of the humans from our meetings."

Raja smiled at the brilliant simplicity of the plan.

His curiosity piqued, Raja opened his eyes to see Niol standing over a small group of young warthogs, smiling patiently as they peppered him with questions.

"When do these meeting occur?"

"Which animals vote?"

"Who else can you vote for?"

Raja stood up and performed his routine stretches, which got the attention of the little hogs and stopped their questions immediately.

"That seems to have silenced these young ones." Niol laughed. "Right, since Raja is now awake, I will explain to you all the framework of the park. But first, how is your head, Raja? Cronilot says it should be healed by now. I have also brought you some breakfast. I'm not sure what human pets eat, so we've brought you a variety of choices."

Niol pointed his head at each pile of food neatly packed at his side. "This is fresh zebra meat. I just hunted it this morning." Noticing Raja's face cringe, he quickly added, "My personal favourite, but I think it's more of an acquired taste. The next pile we have at the request of Sqwee. He suggested that you are a dog as he is and, therefore, should enjoy this mixed selection of buck, which includes springbok, kudu and impala."

"Umm... let me hear what all the specials of the day are before I make a decision," Raja suggested nervously.

"He chose my meal right, right?" screamed an excited Sqwee as he ran in and jumped up on the mound he had slept on the night before. Sqwee scanned the pile of buck and then looked at Niol and then Raja quizzically.

"I am still explaining all the options, Sqwee. He has not chosen anything yet, although he did look very interested in the zebra," Niol said with a grin, causing Sqwee to hop maniacally in disagreement.

"Don't get your tail in a twist, Sqwee; I'm just teasing. Now let's move on to the boring selection as suggested by Niya. The third and fourth piles are a mix of various grasses and berries collected from around the area. Well, Raja, what do you think?" Niol asked in anticipation.

Raja was feeling a bit pressured as he walked past each pile of food watched by Niol, Sqwee and the little warthogs. He smiled, hoping not to offend anyone, and announced, "Thank you, my friends, for such a variety of choices. I think I will have a bit of every pile."

Raja created a fifth pile by picking up a mouth full from each of the four piles. He smiled at his friends and took his time eating what turned out to be a very interesting mix of flavours and textures. After finishing, Raja walked over to the stream, dipped his snout into the water and took a single gulp. He stopped in awe – he could not believe the freshness of the water! He followed this with three more large gulps, then shook the drops of icy water off his whiskers. The stream was surprisingly empty compared to the day before, with only a few elephants splashing each other in the middle of pond. Niya was not amongst them, which made Raja wonder where she could be.

The few buffalo that were around seemed to be deep in discussion, as did a variety of birds lined up on the different trees. Something must have happened, and he was sure that Niol would mention this later or as part of the lecture he seemed to have planned. Raja smiled as he sat down next to the little hogs, who were busy scurrying around attempting to make themselves comfortable. Sqwee had already chosen his spot and was watching the little hogs too. Niol stood patiently as they finally settled down, taking this as his cue to start with his lecture, but, as he opened his mouth to speak, a short, plump giraffe approached the group.

"Hello Busi. I was actually wondering where you were. I asked a few of the other animals, but none had seen you. You looking a bit stressed. Is everything okay?" asked Niol.

The giraffe gave a weak smile and moved over to where Sqwee sat. She stamped around the area to flatten the ground in preparation to sit before responding.

"It is good to see you too, Niol. I am well and I thank you for asking. I have been out searching for our dear leader, Dhinoo, while you all have been here having meetings. It has been a tiring night and morning, which has drained me of much of my energy." Busi yawned and tilted her head from right to left to stretch her neck. "I hear that Josie has been nominated to represent Umzantsi and that she has since left to meet with the rest of the council? How did she take the nomination? I would have liked to have spoken to her before she left; such pressure to be placed on one so young. It is such a difficult position to be placed in, especially when your family member is missing. I understand the laws of the park, but it frustrates me when the bureaucracy retards action."

Niol maintained a straight face, but his body language showed agitation.

"We are all concerned about Dhinoo," he replied, "and we are all doing what we can. I understand your frustration and I feel it too. We have all searched for Dhinoo, but we believe that a co-ordinated approach is required instead of helter skelter as suggested. We can take this discussion further a bit later if you like. I would like to introduce you to Raja. He has been separated from his human family. Raja, this is Busi, a very close ally of Dhinoo. She has always been a trusted and revered advisor to all in Umzantsi."

Busi nodded in acknowledgment. "A great pleasure to meet you, little Raja. You are the first outsider to have the privilege of spending time with us. Your insights and comment into the functioning of the park and the laws that govern it would be welcomed. It is a difficult time now, with the disappearance of our dear friend, but I am hopeful that he will be found soon."

Raja nodded back at Busi, intrigued by how formally the animals spoke. Thinking of his meeting with Cronilot, he attempted to respond as intelligently as he could.

"It is great to meet you too, Busi. It truly is a privilege to be able to spend time in the park, especially from this unique perspective. Niol has truly been an exceptional host. I will add my comment and insights where I can. I believe Niol was just about to start explaining the structure that has been created in this park."

"If you don't mind, Niol, I would like to sit and listen too?" asked Busi.

Niol looked at his audience and scanned the environment to ensure there were no more surprise guests planning on joining, then let out a long yawn. "Humblest apologies, I did not sleep well last night. Of course I don't mind, Busi. You are most welcome to join and you can keep me honest in maintaining the truth of our history and structure."

With a final cautious scan of the area, Niol took a deep breath and began with the lecture.