National Park

Chapter 11

"The park has a very long history, but the biggest changes occurred not too long ago, sparked by a group of unique animals with amazing foresight. They believed that the animals of the park were as intelligent as humans, and that, running alongside the laws of nature, a secondary set of laws and structure could be created. This would govern how the animals interacted, fairly and without fear of rejection, and would be of benefit to all within the park. These founding members included members of the Big Five animals: Panthera, the lion, Dhinoo, the rhino, Folafub, the buffalo, Pathi, the elephant, and Draepol, the leopard. It was not purely by chance that these five came together. It had always been known that the Big Five were the biggest draw card for human tourists.

"One of the issues to discuss was how they could improve the system of making themselves visible to the humans. The challenge for the Big Five had always been to create situations where they would be difficult to spot, yet have enough sightings by humans to keep them interested. This had always happened individually amongst the different groups and it was generally disorganised. Regular human visitors would sometimes spot all of the Big Five three times during a single drive. However, it was obvious that the humans really enjoyed the thrill of the search, and rumour had it that many human tourists had stopped visiting the park, as this thrill was no longer a strong reason to return; many of them simply became bored, because it was so easy. This change had been noticed by my father, Panthera. He was an amazing animal and was loved by all other animals in the park. He was actually one of the few that got along with all the other animals. This might not seem like a big deal now, but, back then, things were very different; one animal species did not befriend another species! The time was right, the moment was now, and Cronilot would later say that the universe conspired for these five animals to come together!

"Panthera thought long and hard about this problem, and began sharing his thoughts with other animals, suggesting that at least the Big Five should work together to attract back the nature lovers who had been coming as well as what he called 'the new breed of visitors'. At that time, an autocratic structure existed whereby each of the Big Five had a single leader who dictated to his group. The Big Five animals did not speak to each other, so each of them conducted themselves differently, yet they all had a common goal: to gain the attention of the humans.

"Panthera's ideas were radically different. He proposed that the Big Five work together! Each take a turn at being spotted in a given day; in other words, the buffalo and elephant would be seen, but the others would stay away. This would keep the humans keen, determined to spot the others on their list another day. Panthera, realising that the humans seemed very interested in their carnivorous nature, also proposed that the cats were more elusive than the others."

Niol chuckled slightly as he paused for breath, his yellow eyes glinting as he surveyed his rapt audience.

"These talks were not quite as defined and structured as I have made them out to be, but Panthera kept speaking about the change that the park needed. He did not receive much attention until he met Dhinoo. Dhinoo truly believed in Panthera's vision and the two animals formed a bond very quickly. Soon, Panthera and Dhinoo were moving around the park, spreading the ideology and attempting to influence the other animals. My dad used to tell me many stories of the different interactions they had; some humorous and others quite odd."

Niol looked into the distance, sadness in his eyes at the thought of his father.

"One thing for sure, these two were possibly the most persistent animals that ever walked this land. They did not give up, even when almost every animal thought they were crazy. I guess it was their persistence that finally got Folafub to join their cause. And, once Folafub was on board, getting the elephants was quite easy. The greatest difficulty was the leopards. They had always been an elusive bunch and they just did not want anything to do with the other animals. In their minds, there was no 'Big Five'; it was just only a 'Big One' and, of course, that was them. The pack of four spent many weeks searching for the leopards, and, each time one was found, they would spend all their efforts at explaining their plans.