African Pursuit (4 page)

Soon a secure observation hut was built near the favourite haunt of the apes and Neema started to spend time after school, and at the weekends and holidays, observing the bonobos. At first she always accompanied one of the scientists, but she soon learnt the observation and recording routines and eventually persuaded her grandfather that she could sit alone in the hut in perfect safety.

On her first day alone in the hut Neema was very excited. At last she could wander out into the glade to speak to the bonobos without interruption!

Jambo, the female she had first spoken to, turned out to be the senior female in the tribe and she too was eager to resume their conversation. She explained that Neema was a human being whom the chimps had been expecting to come for a very long time. The chimp found it difficult to express lengths of time, but Neema was astonished to learn that she seemed to be referring to a period of thousands of years, or even longer.

‘But who has been expecting me?
’ she asked.
‘Is it just your kin or is it other animals too?’

‘It is all the junglekin
,’ said Jambo simply. On further enquiry Neema learnt that “the junglekin” were all the animals inhabiting the forest – not just the Salonga reserve but the entire extent of the tropical rainforest.

Jambo then tried to explain to Neema how the legend of her being expected had come about:

‘Long, long ago, before the time of my mother’s mother and many other mothers back in time, it is said that some hairy tailless ones left the junglekin and joined those animals in the Lesser World. It seems that over many, many moons those Tailless Ones outside became as thyself, without fur, and our legend says that one such would some day return and speak our tongue, and reunite those outside with the junglekin they had deserted long ago. I understand not all that this means but it seems as though thou art the one who returns, and to thee we owe our homage.’

Neema was astonished by these words. She had learnt theories about the possible evolution of mankind on the plains of Africa, and here was a creature who seemed to be referring to a time in prehistory
when
Homo sapiens
and fellow hominids were developing from remote primate ancestors. It seemed impossible that such knowledge could have persisted in chimpanzee folk-legend over untold millennia, yet there seemed no other explanation for Jambo’s words.

The bonobos made frequent references to “the junglekin”, and Neema soon realised that the junglekin regarded themselves as being separate from, and superior to, the animals of the swamps and deserts to the north, and the savannahs to the east and south. The great apes – the gorillas and chimpanzees – had become, through their intelligence, the natural leaders of the junglekin and jealously guarded the status of the forest over which they held sway. The junglekin saw the rainforest as being the centre of all things. They referred to it as the Greater World and remained aloof from the animals of the plains and the rest of the Lesser World with which they had little or no communication.

Over the next two years Neema spent more and more time with the animals, and the UNESCO scientists were astonished and thrilled at the detailed information with which she was able to provide them.

‘It’s almost as if she could
talk
to these animals,’ one of them said to Ulindaji during one of their scientific discussions. ‘On our own we could never have acquired a fraction of the information she has provided us with.’

Ulindaji, naturally, imagined that Neema spent her observation periods sitting safely in the hut with a notepad, camera and radio, looking out with a pair of binoculars. In reality, of course, she spent the time roaming free with the bonobos learning everything about the way they lived and becoming skilled at climbing and swinging her way with lianas and creepers along their favourite jungle routes.

J
ambo was keen that Neema should meet as many of the junglekin as possible, and contrived that many animals made special journeys across the rainforest, sometimes hundreds of miles from their regular haunts, to meet Neema whom she referred to as “the Special One”. In this way Neema met most of the principal rainforest animals: the massive gorillas who journeyed from afar to see her; the common chimpanzees; leopards; red-river hogs; hippos; forest elephants; pygmy buffalos; many different kinds of monkey; the shy and rare okapi; the beautiful bongo; and countless other fascinating animals and birds such as the potto, the pangolin, the golden cat, the bustard and the Congo peafowl.

Neema was fascinated by the interaction between the pygmy chimpanzees – the bonobos – and their larger cousins, the common chimpanzees. The latter were larger and heavier than the bonobos, and much more aggressive. Jambo explained that the common chimpanzees lived mostly on the other side of the great river and, as neither species liked swimming very much, they hardly ever met. Neema thought the bonobos seemed a bit frightened of the big chimps, but both groups still felt themselves to be superior to the even larger and coarser gorillas, and all the other creatures of the rainforest.
Neema was interested to meet the larger species of chimpanzee but was secretly relieved that it was the bonobos by whom she had been “adopted”. In later years she was to learn that these gentle creatures were the closest genetic relatives to human beings in the animal kingdom, having about 99% of their genetic material in common with
Homo sapiens.

One exciting day Jambo told Neema she was going to see two very special creatures.

‘
They live in the densest jungle and swamp,’
she explained, ‘
and are but rarely seen beyond where they dwell. But they have now heard tell of thee through the fledgiquills and the Dreadful Ones and desire to see thee. We must go as near to them as we can, for they never venture far.’
Neema was fascinated and wondered what on earth they were about to see. Jambo and her sons took Neema to the farthest corner of their usual territory and then along tree paths she had never traversed before into the heart of the densest jungle she had ever encountered. Eventually they came to the edge of a swamp and the bonobos moved cautiously along the bank, peering nervously ahead at frequent intervals.

‘
Hist!’
said Jambo suddenly, taking Neema’s arm and pointing through the undergrowth. There, rising above the swampside bushes, was an enormous nest. It appeared to be constructed of whitened branches but, as they drew nearer, Neema realised with amazement that it was composed entirely of interwoven elephant tusks. Beyond it, at the edge of the swamp, stood a huge creature the like of which she had never seen before, even in picture books. It was larger than an elephant and brownish-grey in colour. It had a long tail like a crocodile and a long neck like a dinosaur. As it slowly turned its head to inspect the visitors Neema was astonished to see that it had a single giant horn, larger by far than the horns she had seen in pictures of
rhinos. She detected a primitive and unformed greeting emanating from the animal, which she acknowledged with a bow, but it became apparent that the bonobos were completely unaware that the creature had communicated with her.

‘The Greathorn uses not the common tongue,’
Jambo said quietly to Neema. As far as she was concerned the creature had just made a meaningless grunt.
‘It speaks only to the Dreadful Ones.’
The bonobos were clearly terrified of the great beast, and the entire group withdrew with Neema as soon as possible. Neema was disappointed: she wanted to see if she could speak back to the extraordinary creature, but felt she had to follow Jambo and her family. Soon they were making their way back along the side of the swamp, the bonobos occasionally casting nervous glances behind them. Whatever the animal was, thought Neema, it certainly had a fearsome reputation.

They had travelled about a mile from the Greathorn and the chimps were looking considerably more relaxed when Jambo pointed across the grey-green water.

‘Lo!,’
she said,
‘the other who seeks thee comes nigh.’
Then, over the swamp came a harsh and eerie cry. Neema looked out across the forbidding quagmire to see a black creature like a giant bat come flapping slowly across the swamp. The amazing creature had membranous wings spanning about two metres and a long black beak containing rows of vicious-looking teeth. It passed close to the girl and the apes, muttering a raucous rasping sound as it passed by and disappeared across the swamp.

‘It’s a pterodactyl!’ Neema gasped aloud. Once again she had clearly been aware of a primitive greeting being emitted.

‘I think the Great Flitterkin pays thee homage,’
said Jambo.
‘I cannot be certain, for he speaks only in a strange and ancient tongue,’
she added
by way of explanation. Before Neema had recovered from the shock of seeing a creature supposed to have been extinct for millions of years, she had another surprise. This time so, apparently, did Jambo. The chimp suddenly pointed across the swamp and said:

‘The Ancient Ones come. I knew not that they were aware of thee’.

Neema gazed in fascination as two massive, long-necked shapes emerged through the surface of the swamp. From her school books she knew they could only be plesiosaurs and realised that the swamp she had been brought to contained several species that had survived since prehistory.The creatures gazed in silence for a few minutes at Neema then sank below the surface once again. A massive swirl of the waters as they disappeared gave Neema some idea of the true bulk of the monsters.

‘It is said they speak but slowly and often not at all,’ said Jambo, ‘but they came to see thee. I have heard tell of them but never before have I seen them.’

As they made their way back to the hut Neema wondered what she should say to her grandfather. She knew he would be particularly interested in these creatures, but could hardly admit she had travelled through the depths of the jungle to a swamp when she was meant to be sitting quietly in her hut. In the end she decided to mention only two of the animals she had seen, on the grounds that they were both species she could conceivably have seen from her observation post.

That night she told him first about the giant horned creature. To her surprise he showed no scepticism whatsoever, only giving a smile of quiet satisfaction.

‘So it
does
exist!’ he said. ‘The BaAka pygmies in the north speak in their legends of a giant unicorn who lives in the remote swamps of Ndoki. The creature is called mokèlé-mbèmbé, which means “The
one who stops the flow of rivers” in the Lingala language. I once thought I saw one in the reserve here but never told anyone for fear of being called a fool or of being accused of trying to attract tourists with a “Loch Ness Monster” type of story. Your sighting proves that the creature exists and that there is a population here as well as at Ndoki. They say that the unicorn lies on a bed of elephant tusks, but I suspect that that part of the story is an embellishment to the original legend.’ Neema smiled to herself but said nothing; she could hardly admit to having seen the creature’s nest from a seat in her little hut.

Encouraged by her grandfather’s response she then told him of the pterodactyl.

‘Good heavens!’ he said, in great excitement.’ In one day, sitting quietly in your cabin, you’ve solved two of the greatest mysteries of the Congo basin!’

‘Why, what did I see this time?’ Neema asked innocently.

‘From your description this is almost certainly the “flying demon of the swamps” – known to tribes in Zambia as Kongamato. The creature is most probably a living relic from the Cretaceous Period and has been seen by several respected scientists over the last hundred years in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, West Africa and Zaire. I think we can now submit an official report about these creatures in your notes. What a pity about the camera!’ Neema had already explained that her sightings of the unicorn and the pterodactyl had been so fleeting, and she had been so excited to see them, that she hadn’t had time to photograph either creature. She felt the white lie was justified in the circumstances.

‘It’s quite amazing, your seeing these Cretaceous Period creatures,’ her grandpa continued. ‘There have always been reports of mysterious creatures in the deep interior of the continent. Nobody believed even in the existence of the gorilla at first and the other “unicorn”, the
okapi, was only identified with certainty comparatively recently. Many other explorers have reported Loch Ness-type monsters in the remote jungle swamps and I see no good reason why some of these accounts might not also turn out to be true.’ Neema had to bite her tongue not to tell grandpa of her other experience that day, but decided that it would be better to go on a swamp expedition with him on a future occasion when they might “discover” the plesiosaurs together.

The worst day in Neema’s life dawned bright and clear. She was thirteen years old. After school she went as usual to the reserve to do a couple of hours observation. She thought her grandpa looked thoughtful as she left him in the park office to set off with a ranger to go to her cabin. She recalled that he had had a series of phone calls in the last few days that had left him preoccupied and tense, and had led to long discussions into the night between him and grandma and Mzuri. It seemed as though some politicians were becoming jealous of his prominence in zoological circles and of his close relationship with UNESCO officials. They were accusing him of fomenting unrest and having allies in anti-governent circles.

She was chatting to the bonobos when suddenly a grey parrot flew into the group and spoke quietly to Jambo. The little chimp turned to Neema.

‘There is trouble,’
she said.
‘Tailless Ones with thundersticks have taken thy kin. Even now they are in a house that moves and travel to where the Brilliant One rises.’

‘
Are they all gone?’
asked Neema.

‘
Yes,’
said the ape.
‘Your mother and the two old ones have all been taken. Only she with the ears of silver remains. Other Tailless Ones with thundersticks stand near the place you dwell and it is not safe for you to return.’

‘Have my kin been hurt?’
asked Neema, desperately upset and frightened.

‘
No, they seem to be unharmed. The fledgiquills say they sit talking together in the back of the house that moves. They have water to drink.’

Neema sat down to think. Her grandpa’s political enemies must have arrested the family and they were obviously in a lorry, heading east. Her grandpa had repeatedly said that they wouldn’t dare to execute him because of his links with the UN, so perhaps the plan was to exile him to Rwanda or Burundi. There were obviously guards keeping watch over the house so she clearly couldn’t return there. The problem was, where could she go? The rest of her schoolfriends’ parents were friendly with grandpa and grandma and she didn’t know who else might be targeted in this political move. There was no-one she could really trust or, at least, there was no-one with whom she could be sure she would be safe. She might even bring trouble to an innocent family by staying with them.

She decided without further thought what she must do. She pulled her notepad towards her and scribbled a note to Chakula, the girl who helped the family with cooking and housework. She was seventeen, loved bangles and brooches and was particularly proud of her large silver earrings. She had obviously been spared as being unimportant by whoever was targeting the family.

“Dear Chakula,

I know what has happened to the others but I am safe. Please can you put some bottles of water, some matches and some clothes in a small bag and leave it near my bedroom window. I may send you more notes when I know what I need.

Thank you,

Love from Neema

P.S. Destroy this note immediately and tell no-one about it.

P.P.S. Don’t forget my spare glasses!”

She folded the note into a tight wad and turned to Jambo.

‘Jambo. I wish to come and stay with thee and thy kin.’

‘That will be a great honour and privilege for us, O Special One,’
was the immediate reply. ‘
We shall be held in high esteem by all the junglekin. No harm shall befall thee whilst thou art in our care.’
Neema was relieved to hear this reply.

‘
There are things I shall need from the place I dwell.’
She handed Jambo the note she had just scribbled.
‘Canst thou take this to the one with the silver ears? Those with the thundersticks must not see thee.’

‘
My kin cannot be seen in the village,’
said Jambo,
‘for we never leave our own place. The leaf thou hast scratched on is small. A mimicquill shall take it.’

She turned and called up to the canopy and within a few seconds a grey parrot fluttered down. Jambo spoke to it and soon it grasped the note in a powerful claw and flew off towards the village.

‘Another must also go,’
said Neema. ‘
Maybe one of the arborikin? One who can carry a burden.’
She gestured with her hands to indicate the size of a small bag. Jambo turned again to the canopy and soon a black and white colobus monkey swung effortlessly to the ground. Neema explained what he must do and soon he scampered away on his journey to Neema’s bedroom window.

The next few days were both stressful and enthralling for Neema. She was in a state of constant concern for her family and could not see a satisfactory way out of her current situation that would enable her to resume a normal life. On the other hand she found life in the rainforest intensely liberating. The bonobos were gentle and kind and did their utmost to help her in every way. They brought her all manner
of food: things with which she was familiar such as pineapples, peaches, avocados, bananas, papayas and coconuts, but also many kinds of succulent fruits and vegetables that were unfamiliar to her. They were terrified when she first lit a fire, but after a while got used to it and brought her fish and crustaceans to cook, and she baked eggs, yams and plantains in the ashes. She roamed far and wide in the vast jungle and was taken to regions so remote and impenetrable that they had never before been visited by any human being. After some days, to her great relief, the animals reported to her that her family were now in a land far to the east, and were no longer under guard. Neema correctly assumed that they had been exiled, and as the animals said that there were gorillas in that land, she guessed that they were probably in Rwanda. After much thought she used the birds to send them a message assuring them that she was safe and that would one day join them. She knew that they would be utterly bewildered by getting a message apparently out of nowhere (a crumpled note on a table near an open window), but decided that this was better by far than having them constantly wondering whether or not she was alive.