Zambezi Seduction by Tamara Cape Page A

following the debacle in the lodge. Next morning, Chad had offered a brief apology, saying he’d drunk too much during their talk. It had sounded somewhat half-hearted to Kerry. Nor had he improved her mood by insisting they leave at once on a game spotting drive – before she’d had a chance to get the sleep out of her system.
    That first day was difficult, with few words exchanged.
    Yesterday had been better, almost back to normal. Kerry noticed that on both evenings Chad had drunk a single night-cap before withdrawing to his room early. He seemed intent on punishing them both in an effort to lessen any chance of a repeat humiliation.
    To Kerry, the episode and its aftermath was a bitter twist that had cast a shadow over everything. She had racked her brain trying to decide on her best response. She had come up with a simple plan – wait a few days. They were not yet a third of the way through their three weeks. Let time heal the wound – so far pride had been the only casualty.
    “The tree should be close,” Chad said.
    Now, since they had spotted the vultures, he seemed his old self again. There was adventure ahead; something was bringing the scavengers down. Kerry felt a new excitement: part adrenaline, part fear. It had her on the edge of her seat, eyes straining, searching the surrounding bush. The road was no more than a rough track which here snaked through thick bush country. In spite of it being the end of the dry season, the months without rain seemed to have had little effect on the trees. They were in leaf – shades of brown and yellow – making it difficult for her untrained eye to see any distance.
    Sometimes through gaps in the trees Kerry saw open spaces of grassland. The nature of the country strengthened her feelings about lions. From what Chad had told her and her own reading, she knew they favoured open country where they could stalk and run down their prey.
    There was movement in the sky ahead. The vulture was in view for only a second – but, by following its flight direction, through a gap they saw the dead tree. It was cracked and grey and naked below, and its upper branches were alive with a moving mass of large squabbling birds.
    Aerial scavengers waiting patiently – for what?
    Chad stopped the car. He kept his voice low. “We’re in luck – the road passes close. Hold my camera ready.”
    Kerry lifted the camera off the back seat. It was already fitted with a zoom lens. Resting it on her lap she viewed the ground near the dead tree through the binoculars. Her body was tense, all her senses heightened. This wasn’t like a zoo where signs pointed to Lion Enclosure and Elephant House. There were no signposts in the wild: this was mystery, the unknown – a drama unfolding moment by moment.
    “Nothing yet,” she whispered. “Move on a little.”
    It was the whiteness she saw first, the white belly. Then the head, neck and forelegs – and further back the torn red flesh. In a shaded area under an umbrella acacia a zebra lay, its lips curled back from the juice-stained teeth in the shocked, final grimace of death.
    Lions! Bodies rippling with muscle, two tawny forms – blending perfectly with the tinder-dry grass – tore at the carcass. One had its head and neck buried in the ribcage, the other fed on the hindquarters.
    As if on a signal, both stopped eating and raised their heads and looked towards the car. Both were lionesses. The foremost one’s face was totally blood-soaked. The other was a smaller animal. Kerry could see the row of prominent teats along its pale belly and the cruel, fearless look in the large slanted eyes. Both lionesses panted in the heat, wickedly long canines showing between bloodied black lips.
    Alerted by Kerry ’s reaction, Chad had seen the kill and switched off the car’s engine. He grabbed the camera. The Canon was fitted with a 400mm lens, quite sufficient for most wildlife shots. He rested the camera on the open window and began snapping