of her pants in at the top and tying the bandages in two tight knots. ‘There we go. Not very attractive, but it does the job.’
‘Goodness, I’m sweating like a pig in all these clothes,’ Cecily muttered. The heat was something else and she felt dizzy and sick.
‘You’ll get used to it, don’t worry. Right, let’s be off.’
They left the shack and walked around the side of it, where Bill was sitting behind the wheel of his old pick-up, with Bobby in his next to it. Cecily’s eyes widened as she saw what could only be described as a real-life version of one of the drawings of a Maasai warrior she’d seen in the books she’d taken out of the library in Manhattan. The Maasai man, who was sitting at the back on the flat area loaded with supplies, nodded at her regally. He clutched a long spear by his side and was dressed in deep red robes that were knotted around his shoulders. His long neck was adorned with multi-coloured bead necklaces and his ears were pierced by several large rings. His face was angular, the dark skin barely lined, and his hair was cropped closely to his scalp and dusted with a reddish powder. Cecily could only guess at his age – he might have been anywhere between twenty and forty.
‘This is Nygasi, a friend of mine,’ said Bill. ‘Climb aboard, ladies.’ Bill indicated that Cecily should sit next to him in the front as Katherine climbed onto the rear seat with Nygasi perched just behind her. She shielded her eyes against the glare of the sun bouncing off Nygasi’s spear, and wondered if he had ever had cause to use it.
‘All ready to go?’ called Bobby from the pick-up beside them. Two more Maasai men were sitting on the rear of his vehicle, also holding spears.
‘Absolutely,’ said Katherine gaily, passing Cecily a flask of water.
‘Only drink what you need. Water is precious out in the Bush at this time of year,’ she advised, which did nothing to calm Cecily’s jangling nerves.
The pick-up’s engine rumbled to life and Cecily clutched onto the seat, praying she wouldn’t be sick, as Bill pushed down on the accelerator and they set off with a lurch.
Driving for what felt like hours through the dusty grassland, eventually the terrain began to subtly alter and grow lusher. It was a wide-open landscape, the vast blue sky skimming the tops of the fever trees on which giraffes nibbled, their tongues curling out as they pulled the branches towards them. The pick-up swerved suddenly, and Cecily could see that they had narrowly avoided running over two hyenas that had dashed past their wheels.
‘Bloody pests!’ Bill swore above the engine noise.
‘Look, Cecily, those are wildebeest – the ones with the manes on their backs. And there’s Nygasi’s enkang – his settlement where his wives and children live.’ Katherine pointed to the left.
Cecily looked at what appeared to be a grey circular hedge made up of branches. Women in deep red robes were strolling towards it with bundles of wood under their arms and goats at their heels. Some had makeshift papooses containing babies slung over their shoulders. At the sound of the passing pick-ups, the women stopped to wave and smile.
‘Did she say wives in the plural? You mean Nygasi has more than one?’
‘It’s the Maasai way,’ Bill answered. ‘The more cattle and women and children you have, the more respect you command within the tribe. And Nygasi commands quite a lot of respect.’
‘Look over there!’ Katherine shouted to her half an hour later, pointing into the distance where Cecily could see animals gathered around a hazy silver shimmer. ‘Do you see those Thomson’s gazelles there, the little ones with the straight horns? They’re very brave drinking the water, you never know when a croc will come out and snap at them! But that’s life here on the plains.’
Cecily was awfully glad when Bill eventually pulled the pick-up to a halt by a copse of fever trees, and Bobby pulled up beside them. The sun was beating down on the open-topped pick-up and she’d felt horribly sick the whole journey.
‘Are we stopping here?’ Bobby called to them.
‘Yes, Nygasi says it’s the best spot for today,’ Bill nodded and climbed down from his vehicle.
‘Time to set up camp,’ Katherine said cheerfully as she began to help Bobby unload the equipment and supplies. Cecily made a move to assist her, but Bill laid a hand on her shoulder and