We snuck off from the house early one morning while Dad was at work and Mum was too busy with house chores to notice our disappearance. We ambled down the dirt road and across the vlei in front of our house towards the airstrip as if we had all the time in the world. We lived in Hwange National Park and the airstrip was only used for Parks planes and small private ones, as it did not have a long enough runway for anything bigger. We decided it was best to go to the east of the airstrip as it was in an alcove of trees and no-one from the front row of houses would see us.
We were feeling quite chuffed with ourselves for getting this far and no-one seeing us and stopping us. We were eager to get behind cover of the trees and sauntered around the corner only to come face to face with a ‘giant’ Saddle-billed stork. It was taller than either of us! Our bravado was short lived and we took off at a sprint around the next clump of trees. Well you can imagine our fear when we saw an elephant bull standing on the other side of the airstrip. By now our hearts were racing and we were so petrified that we took off along the airstrip in the opposite direction at great speed. Finally, we decided that we were far enough away to start walking again, added to the fact that we were quite breathless from both fear and exertion.
By now our adventurous spirit had deserted us completely and hunger was gnawing at our guts so home didn’t seem like such a bad place to be after all. We strolled down the dirt road back towards the houses with Winnie in tow, when suddenly as Yellow-billed kite started dive bombing us over and over again. Once again we ran as fast as our little legs could carry us but not fast enough for that kite. It picked on the smallest body and actually took a hunk of hair out of Winnie’s coat! Well that was just the final straw. With tears streaming down our faces, voices hoarse from screaming we were desperate to get back to the comfort and safety of home.
All thoughts of running away from home totally out of our little minds!
