The next morning was sunny and pleasantly cool, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and the world refreshed by the night's rain. The garden was alive with birds and insects, and there was as yet no sign of the oppressive summer heat that usually descends upon the area later in the day at this time of year.

Everyone was up early too see off Dr. Lawrence, who had to get on the road to go attend his conference in Mozambique. They had a quick breakfast in the kitchen, and then helped him make sure he had everything packed into the station wagon.

"I'll be back in a week to come pick you up, guys," he told the youngsters. "You behave, and be careful now."

"Will do, dad," Francis said on behalf of all three. "And have a nice trip yourself."

"Ach, vot a pity you could not stay mit us a little bit longer, Doktor Lauruntz," lamented Helga. She stuffed a huge bag of snacks for the road into his hands, and then hurried back to her kitchen.

"Well, there he goes," said Uncle Vernon as Dr. Lawrence drove off. "And I suppose you folks will want to go walk around a bit yourself today? Where were you planning on going?"

"Not really sure yet, Uncle," replied Alice. "What would you suggest?"

"Well, Mr. Mabuza said he'd take you as far as the river today. He can stay with you until around twelve, then he has to be on his way to go run a few errands. Ah, here he is now. Ready to go, Frank?"

Mr. Mabuza came striding across the lawn, wearing khaki bush wear, a broad-rimmed hat and carrying a heavy rifle.

"Morning, guys," he greeted brightly.

"It is very kind of you to take us along, Mr. Mabuza," Francis said politely. "We might get quite lost otherwise."

"Oh, please, call me Frank. You make me feel old with all this 'mistering', " Mabuza grinned. "And I doubt whether you'll get lost. But perhaps I can show you a thing or two you have not seen before around here."

Uncle Vernon laughed. "A thing or two! You are all too modest, Frank." Then he added, "Now, as I said, Frank can only stick around until twelve or so, then you are on your own. He'll show you the way to go from the river. You should be perfectly safe; there are no lions in this area. But take Eugene with you as well. He knows the area almost as well as Frank."

"Won't he chase off all the game before we see anything?" asked Laura.

"No, not to worry. Eugene behaves very well in the bush. And I'll feel better knowing you have him along."

With this, they shouldered their light backpacks, and followed Mabuza across the lawn to the back of the house, from where a narrow footpath led down to the river some kilometres away. Eugene excitedly fell in step with them, but as Uncle Vernon predicted, he was quiet and did not chase any animals. Even when a scrub hare broke cover right in front of them and ran off, the dog simply cocked his ears a bit more than usual and then trotted along peacefully.

The morning became an unforgettable experience. When Uncle Vernon claimed that Frank Mabuza knew everything worth knowing about the area, he was not exaggerating. The tall guide had an encyclopaedic knowledge, and seemed to have an uncanny sense of what was going on all around him. He knew every plant, bird, insect, mammal and reptile intimately, like an old friend.

"Ah, look, green pigeons," he said, pointing to a large wild fig tree some way off. The three young people looked and looked, and saw nothing. Alice took the binoculars from Francis and scanned the tree. She still saw nothing. Mabuza smiled and clapped his hands once. From the tree fluttered a small flock of some ten of the large, green, fruit-eating pigeons.

"How do you DO that!?" exclaimed Alice. It seemed to pain her greatly to think that there might be thousands of birds all around that she was missing.

Mabuza simply smiled and shook his head.

They soon learned that he had some more tricks up his sleeve, when he stopped, bent down and said: "Ah, here, a bushbuck."

They first reflexively looked about at the bush surrounding them, and then noticed he was looking at the ground. He pointed to the animal's tracks in the sand on the footpath. "Young female," he murmured. "She is on her way to water, but she'll use the path to our right, in the bushes over there. Hmm, in good condition too, I see."

"You can tell all of this from a track in the sand?" Francis tried not to look too incredulous.

"Ah, my young friend, for those who have lived their lives out here, animal tracks are like books. They tell whole stories. It is not really that incredible once you understand what to look for, but it takes years of practice. And I'm not even particularly good at it. You should have seen my grandfather."

"So what kind of things do you look for?" Alice asked.

"Lots of things really. There is no simple formula, and some of it is kind of hard to describe in words. But I can see from the size of the track, and how deep it is, what size the animal is, and estimate what she weighs. From the length of her strides I can take a guess at how fast she is moving. I know what times the animals like to go drink, and I can take a good guess how old this track is, in other words, when she passed here. And I just happen to know that the bushbuck here prefer to use the path out there to our right. You see? It is a combination of a lot of different things, principles of how tracks weather away over time, as well as simply knowledge of the area built up in my years around here."

They moved on, slowly descending to the dense bush around the river in front of them. The area became more densely wooded, and the day hotter. As they progressed to the water, they saw more tracks of animals on their way to drink, and the bird life became ever richer. They had to wait more and more for Alice to stop and watch yet another of her many feathered friends, but they were in no particular hurry, so they tolerated this patiently.

Eugene trotted ahead around a corner in the footpath, but came running back, whimpering a little, at the same time as they heard loud barking from somewhere ahead of them.

"Baboons," said Mabuza. "They often hang around here by the river. Lots of wild fruits, and lots of trees to hide in. Eugene is right to run away from them. A male baboon's canine teeth are longer than those of a lion, and many a dog has come to grief at the hands of baboons."

They caught a few brief glimpses of the baboons through the dense foliage, headed by a magnificent male who looked at them without alarm as it swaggered off.

Then they reached the river. They sat down next to a broad pool, and enjoyed a drink and a few sandwiches.

"Well," said Mabuza, "It's a pity, but I have to go. I have to go in to town to the police station to go follow up the poaching case. You can go on from here. I suggest you continue on down the river. There's a clearly visible path, and in a few hundred metres there is a ford across the river where you can pass to the other side. Then you continue up the footpath there, and as soon as you get out of the dense riverine bush, you'll see a rocky hill up ahead. I suggest you climb up it. The view is magnificent from up there. You'll also see the house from there, and should have no trouble finding your way back: just get back on the path. It circles back to the house, over a small bridge across the river, and then you are almost home. Watch Eugene carefully: he'll warn you if anything dangerous is in your path, but I don't think you have anything to worry about."

They thanked Mabuza for his trouble, and then stayed a while where they were. The day was getting warmer, and it was pleasant to sit around at the water's edge, watching dragonflies hover like miniature helicopters, and listening to the constant chatter of birds.