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thought I saw one in the reserve here but never told anyone for fear of being called a fool or of being accused of trying to attract tourists with a “Loch Ness Monster” type of story. Your sighting proves that the creature exists and that there is a population here as well as at Ndoki. They say that the unicorn lies on a bed of elephant tusks, but I suspect that that part of the story is an embellishment to the original legend.’ Neema smiled to herself but said nothing; she could hardly admit to having seen the creature’s nest from a seat in her little hut.
    Encouraged by her grandfather’s response she then told him of the pterodactyl.
    ‘Good heavens!’ he said, in great excitement.’ In one day, sitting quietly in your cabin, you’ve solved two of the greatest mysteries of the Congo basin!’
    ‘Why, what did I see this time?’ Neema asked innocently.
    ‘From your description this is almost certainly the “flying demon of the swamps” – known to tribes in Zambia as Kongamato. The creature is most probably a living relic from the Cretaceous Period and has been seen by several respected scientists over the last hundred years in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, West Africa and Zaire. I think we can now submit an official report about these creatures in your notes. What a pity about the camera!’ Neema had already explained that her sightings of the unicorn and the pterodactyl had been so fleeting, and she had been so excited to see them, that she hadn’t had time to photograph either creature. She felt the white lie was justified in the circumstances.
    ‘It’s quite amazing, your seeing these Cretaceous Period creatures,’ her grandpa continued. ‘There have always been reports of mysterious creatures in the deep interior of the continent. Nobody believed even in the existence of the gorilla at first and the other “unicorn”, theokapi, was only identified with certainty comparatively recently. Many other explorers have reported Loch Ness-type monsters in the remote jungle swamps and I see no good reason why some of these accounts might not also turn out to be true.’ Neema had to bite her tongue not to tell grandpa of her other experience that day, but decided that it would be better to go on a swamp expedition with him on a future occasion when they might “discover” the plesiosaurs together.
    The worst day in Neema’s life dawned bright and clear. She was thirteen years old. After school she went as usual to the reserve to do a couple of hours observation. She thought her grandpa looked thoughtful as she left him in the park office to set off with a ranger to go to her cabin. She recalled that he had had a series of phone calls in the last few days that had left him preoccupied and tense, and had led to long discussions into the night between him and grandma and Mzuri. It seemed as though some politicians were becoming jealous of his prominence in zoological circles and of his close relationship with UNESCO officials. They were accusing him of fomenting unrest and having allies in anti-governent circles.
    She was chatting to the bonobos when suddenly a grey parrot flew into the group and spoke quietly to Jambo. The little chimp turned to Neema.
    ‘There is trouble,’ she said. ‘Tailless Ones with thundersticks have taken thy kin. Even now they are in a house that moves and travel to where the Brilliant One rises.’
    ‘ Are they all gone?’ asked Neema.
    ‘ Yes,’ said the ape. ‘Your mother and the two old ones have all been taken. Only she with the ears of silver remains. Other Tailless Ones with thundersticks stand near the place you dwell and it is not safe for you to return.’
    ‘Have my kin been hurt?’ asked Neema, desperately upset and frightened.
    ‘ No, they seem to be unharmed. The fledgiquills say they sit talking together in the back of the house that moves. They have water to drink.’
    Neema sat down to think. Her grandpa’s political enemies must have arrested the