At The Watering Hole

The hot sun beat down on hard baked landscape as the three tourists struggled after their sure-footed guide. Every couple hundred yards he would turn and his deep tanned face would break into a cheerful grin that created deep leathery creases in his dark face. With hair bleached the color of straw by the sun and a white safari hat pushed back on his forehead he looked the part of the tuff African guide. A man who spent his life under the hot sun, who lived easy and loved his work, he was a man of endless energy and perpetual good humor. Stopping under a tree at the edge of a clearing he turned to his three struggling tourists, and shouted an encouraging “almost there”. His cheerful call was met with gasps and grimaces as the three-sunburned people struggled after him. The guide sat down under a tree and looked out over the open space before him with his back to the weary clients, his shirt wet with sweat and muddy with dust. When the three travelers finally caught up with him they collapsed on the ground with moans and sighs, the two men wandered off to relieve themselves and the girl sat down close to the guide. He looked at her with a grin and, looking away, he pointed out over the clearing. There by the water was a group of elephant’s young and old drinking form the cool water of the modest puddle in the middle of the hot dry dusty earth. She gasped and reached for his binoculars and taking them in her dusty hands she trained them on the group of elephants. The girl was silent for some time watching the elephants standing in the water drinking trumpeting and splashing about. Beautiful she whispered, and then she lowered the binoculars and turned to the guide. Her face twisted, “are you really going to let them shoot the elephants” she asked in a whisper. “That’s what they paid for he said that’s what I do”. She was silent for a minute and then she said “when Alfi asked me to come here he said it was to view the animals of Africa he did not say that he was going to kill them I think this killing is all beastly.” He looked at her as she gazed out over the Serengeti a tear ran down her face creating a muddy streak in its path. He looked at the elephants and then away off into the horizon and he sighed.