Moises and the ghost trap. Ines Schumann

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      Absolutely exhausted, at some point the little elephant had detected the unmistakable smell of water. Water meant life – Ololoo already knew that. And there it was: the Tsavo River. Or at least, what was left of it.

      The herd had only crossed the Tsavo a few days ago, further up at the Lugards Falls, where hippos lived. Ololoo remembered it well because he had made friends with Jasiri there. He was a small hippopotamus, who at first had showed off to Ololoo because his parents had named him Jasiri, which in Swahili means ‘brave’. Ololoo had asked him about the brave deeds he had done so far in his life. After some thought, Jasiri had dipped his head underwater, breathed big air bubbles, and finally climbed up to Ololoo on the river bank.

      „Well, I’m very brave for example when I come ashore to you by myself“, he had replied. Ololoo could appreciate this because he was already a head taller than Jasiri.

      But now Ololoo dragged himself with the last ounce of his strength into the mud of the Tsavo riverbed. The mud would cool his skin and deter biting insects. Exhausted, Ololoo tried to trumpet through his trunk. But only a miserable ‘olooo’ came out before he collapsed and his little trunk remained in the shallow water.

      „Mum? Dad?“ Ololoo whispered as he felt the warmth of a body. Only it wasn’t the familiar greasy-sweet milk odour of his Mum’s belly. The sounds he heard were different. More like a gurgling, splashing, snorting. Not the familiar rumbling of old elephants.

      „Open your eyes, Ololoo. Go on!“ a distant voice urged him behind a grey dust cloud that held Ololoo captive.

      „Where am I?“ whispered the little elephant, trying to lift his head. Water wetted his skin.

      „Jasiri!“ Tears of joy were visible under Ololoo’s long black eyelashes as he opened his eyes painfully. „You found me!“

      „Jasiri the Brave, yes, that’s right“, replied the little hippo with concern. „What happened to you, Ololoo? Where’s your herd?“

      While Ololoo told Jasiri all the bad things that had happened to him, Jasiri’s family, a herd of zebras, impalas and giraffes, listened intently on the banks of the Tsavo River.

      And the wind carried this story across the land, just as all important news is mysteriously transmitted across Africa.

      The small elephant remained in the care of the hippopotamuses for some time. He often trembled with fear whenever crocodiles or lions appeared nearby. Then he wished he was guarded by the big elephants.