"Mike Resnick - Between the Sunlight and Thunder" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

fish eagle went through his paces about a dozen times and we all got some fabulous footage. That
night I went to the ablution block at about midnight. While I was there, a hippo came out of the
swamp and began rubbing his sides against the reed wall. Hippos have killed more tourists in Africa
during the past quarter century than any other animal, and the reason is simple: they panic when they
are cut off from water...and the very best time to photograph a hippo is when he goes inland to eat,
as otherwise all you're likely to see are his eyes, ears, and nostrils. (They stay in the water to protect
their sensitive skins from the sun all day, but at night they leave the water and consume up to 300
pounds of vegetation.) Stand between a hippo and water and his first inclination is to run through --
not around -- you to get back to the safety of his pond or river. Now, Jedibe is a very small island,
perhaps 300 yards in diameter. So I reasoned it out and concluded that if I left the ablution block, all
the hippo had to do was turn around and he could make a beeline to the water. Then I got to
thinking, and decided that if he was an exceptionally stupid hippo, then no matter where I stood, he
would conclude that I was between him and the water (and in a way, he'd be right). So I stayed
another half hour until he want away, and promptly bumped into a bushbuck on the way back to the
tent. Bushbucks are much more intelligent than hippos; he took one look and me and ran like hell.

September 3: Our bush pilot, Lee, picked us up in mid-morning and flew us to Tsaro Lodge in the
Moremi Reserve. (Pam remarked that Lee had stuck it out much longer than most bush pilots --
something like seven years now -- because he liked the social life in Maun. I am still mulling over this
remark, because to my way of thinking, Maun is the kind of place you leave in order to have a social
life. Oh, well...) Tsaro is a luxurious camp nestled on the Khwai River, composed of eight large,
spotlessly-clean chalets, each equipped with beds, chairs, couches, fireplaces, tiled bathrooms, and
electricity -- all rarities in the bush. The current manager, Jack, used to be a game warden in
Zimbabwe, and I gather the place has undergone massive renovations since he arrived. There were
three couples from Cape Town there when we arrived, and they turned out to be the friendliest and
most interesting people we met on the entire safari; in fact, when we go to South Africa, which we
plan to do in a couple of years, each of them has insisted that we stay with them and let them show us
around. We took a game run (a three-hour drive through the reserve in a 4-wheel-drive vehicle) in
the afternoon, and were actually charged by an irate cow elephant, a hell of an exciting ten seconds
that I managed to capture on videotape.

September 4: After a morning game run, Carol and I and two of our Cape Town friends decided to
take a walk through the hunting concession that borders the reserve. We saw some birds, and a herd
of red lewche, and some bushbuck -- and then we walked around a heavy stand of trees and
damned near bumped into a lone elephant. It's difficult to say who was more surprised; it is not
difficult to say who retreated more rapidly. A German couple showed up in late afternoon. It turns
out that this was their 25th wedding anniversary, and they had brought along champagne for the
whole camp. It's amazing what you can have in the bush if your timing is right.

September 5: We took a morning game run, then got picked up by our social lion pilot and flown to
the Linyanti Channel, where we were met and driven to Linyanti Camp, another primitive bush camp
with tents and outdoor bathrooms. This one was run by Ron, a devoted birder, and his wife, Hillary.
They had a 6-month-old baby who was so quiet we didn't know he was there until bedtime, when
Ron picked up his rifle and led the way to his rather distant cabin, while Hillary followed him, pushing
a baby carriage. Not quite your everyday African sight. We arrived just as a large party (well, as
large a party as a seven-tent camp can handle, anyway) was leaving, and had the camp all to
ourselves for a day. In the afternoon we went out on the channel in a double-decker pontoon, drifted
into Namibia for an hour, and saw a bunch of birds and a handful of elephants. Still, the Linyanti area
was a disappointment: the camp backs up to the river, and is surrounded on three sides by a hunting
concession, and the place is pretty much shot out. The top of the food chain, both in mammals and