Not all of these happenings have been negative. For instance, Betty in tow, Shane attended the grand openings of the newly expanded Nairobi and Mombasa airports. Our country is on the brink of becoming the aviation hub for Africa. Betty cut the ceremonial ribbons at both locations. Added to this event, the Vice President Daniel Lyon will head the Pan African forum which will be held in Nairobi.

    Lucy Cougar sat pertly on a stool next to the lab table in the temporary headquarters set up for tackling the new fever. Dr. Trevor Tau stood examining a microscope in front of him. His eyes were placed over the lenses where active viral forms were plentiful when Lucy popped the question.

“Have you ever thought of having sex with me, Dr. Tau?”

He jerked his head up abruptly, the khaki lion eyes filled with amusement.

“No, Lucy, quite frankly it hasn‘t occurred to me. You haven’t graduated from nursing school yet. Maybe I’ll fuck you on graduation night. Would that be pleasant?”

Lucy was so taken aback by his candid and rather eccentric answer, she almost fell off her perch.

Shane called his lioness lover, Jane, on her cell phone. She answered.

“Janie, I have to go to Addis Ababa and see the President again. It’s about the raids from Ethiopia that are taking place in our border lands. The people there are starving with all their cattle being stolen. Will you cover the trip? It won’t be highly publicized until I meet with the president. We’ll be going in a small aircraft.”

“You know I will, Luv,” she told him.

“Good. We leave tomorrow morning from the Mara airport.”

    Bertram Baboon and I had lunched several weeks ago at Chez Margaux in the mall. Over the best Merlot in Africa, he waxed sentimental in regard to his recent marriage to Gloria Chimpo.

“It is I so heavenly being companionable and at peace with another animal, even if she doesn’t fulfill my occasional sexual needs, that I feel almost like retiring from film work and becoming a gentleman farmer in the bush,” he allowed, popping a radish in his mouth and crunching noisily.

I was quite amazed. After having been Bertram’s lover and companion for several years, it was so strange to see him in such a and warm and fuzzy mood. Possibly it was impending age  - who really knows. As a younger baboon, I had found him endlessly fascinating but emotionally a remote island bound by rocky shores. Now, here he was, sans the gender he preferred, and bubbling over with cream.

    Three days after that luncheon, I was on the back porch having my morning coffee with Lachlan when a commotion caught my ear. I looked to see a small building crew setting to work in Bertram’s back yard which is in full view of ours past the trees in Betty Simba‘s former home. A week later, Bertram called to invite Lachlan and me for drinks. Lachlan, being on rounds at the new medical facility, was unable to attend so I walked to his home alone. After one of the strongest martinis I have drunk to date, we made our way to the building project which turned out to be a very complex greenhouse. When we stepped into the fetid, humid interior, there were orchids of every variety lining the tables. Bertram picked up a bottle with a spray bulb attached and began to spritz his brood.

“So ’gentleman farming’ went its merry way, eh?” I laughingly inquired.

“Oh much too much upheaval,” he stated, zapping another orchid. “I decided that I would only dabble in agricultural endeavors.”

“Good move,” I agreed, placing a finger on an orchid of lavender and very delicate petals.

“Nooooo,” he almost squealed. “Must not touch. The petals are very easily bruised.”

“Sorry,” I barked, swiftly placing the offending hand behind my back.

    Jane accompanied the President on a small aircraft to Addis Ababa where Shane was to meet with the Ethiopian president in regard to the raiders and cattle rustlers who were crossing Kenya’s border and stealing the people’s livelihood. Starvation was the result of their thievery. They booked in the luxurious presidential suite at the Sheraton. That night, after a brief initial meeting with President Girma Woldegiorgis, Jane and Shane sat in the hotel suite drinking Scotch.

Presidential suite at the Sheraton in  Addis Ababa

“Africa is such a shaky place for humans,” said Jane, lighting a cigarette. “There’s nothing that can be counted on here - life is lived on the edge of starvation, political upheavals, wars and extinction.”

“Not only for humans, Janie. We animals have suffered too with the trophy hunting and the bush meat trade. Africa is a festering sore in many ways.”

“But I wouldn’t live elsewhere for any reason on earth, Shane.”

“I hated it when I was in school in England. I never wanted to return. I thought I would possibly die of boredom when Roy Lee summoned me back to the Mara and Simba Brothers. I managed by screwing my brains out, obsessing about Catherine, marrying her and continuing to fornicate within and outside of marriage. It was on a night when I was just made vice president that Ralph Lyon held what he referred to as a ‘roaring’. A huge fire had been set by the Masai and many lions of importance gathered on the State House grounds. I joined them and participated with the other male lions in roaring. That night, I felt Africa surge into my very being - my legs, loins, guts and finally my heart. Cathy was still alive then and I went home and spent the entire night trying to describe to her my epiphany.”

    Three days later, Shane’s small plane put down in the Tana River area to speak with Trevor Tau about the Rift Valley fever raging there. Jane made notes and recordings as Shane spoke with his recently hired lion doctor.

"Sir, I believe this fever’s source may be the recent floods that invaded this area. I am not positive of that yet without further research," Trevor told the President.