He had come to know Bonny's body in the most intimate way over the past weeks. He knew that there was no fat on her and that her limbs were clad in sleek hard muscle. She was in the prime physical condition of a trained athlete. In their playful wrestling contests he had been forced to extend his full strength to subdue her and get her to the bed when she challenged him outrageously to do so. She enjoyed her lovemaking with plenty of rough and tumble.
Still, he was surprised at the ease with which she lifted the camera and her lightness and agility on her feet even in the heat of the acacia forest and over the broken ground. The earth was studded with the spoor of rhino and buffalo that had been deeply trodden into the wet clay of the rainy season and was now baked hard as terracotta. It could turn an unwary ankle and the wait-a-bit thorns were viciously hooked to catch in flesh or cloth. Bonny avoided these snares with ease.
The bull rhino was displaying aggressively for the benefit of the female who had wandered into his territory and who he was now holding captive to his lust. Every time she at-tempted to reach the boundary of his territory he headed her off, snorting and blowing-like a steam engine, raising gales of dust from under his high stamping feet.
The female swished her great grey backside from side to side in flirtatious refusal of his advances, affording him fleeting whiffs of her heady oestrus odours which drove him into further ecstasies of excitement. Every few minutes he rushed away to scent mark the borders of his territory and warn off any possible rivals who might be tempted to trespass on this ardent courtship.
As soon as he reached the boundary, he pointed his rump at one of the trees or shrubs which were his signposts, curled his tail up on to his back, unsheathed his massive pink penis from the scabbard of grey wrinkled skin and, aiming backwards between his rear legs, released a cloud of urine with the force of a fire hose that almost flattened the target. Honour satisfied, he rushed back, grunting with passion to the bashful female, who immediately fled towards the furthest boundary of his domain with him in full pursuit.
At the best of times the rhino is afflicted with poor eyesight, but now these two were almost completely blinded by singleminded passion.
Daniel and Bonny had to be alert and ready to run or dodge at any instant, for the rushes of the two inflamed creatures were wild and erratic. Unless they were quick on their feet, they could be trampled by those horny pads or gutted by a random thrust of one of the long polished nose horns.
It was hard dangerous work with death only an instant or a foot away, but Bonny showed no fear at all. Rather she seemed elated and excited by the danger. Her eyes shone and the sweat soaked her flaming hair and darkened the back of her shirt as they ran side by side through the forest or ducked behind one of the acacia trunks to avoid a sudden random rush by one of the animals.
Apart from her lack of fear, Bonny showed a physical stamina that impressed Daniel. He was unburdened by the equipment which she carried, and yet he was tiring in the heat and the dust while she seemed quite unaffected.
Suddenly the bull swirled without warning. Perhaps he had detected a breath of their body smell through the clouds of love perfume with which the female was filling his wide flaring nostrils. He charged straight at them and Daniel grabbed her arm. Freeze! he whispered urgently, and they sank to their knees and froze into utter stillness.
From a distance of twenty feet the big, creature confronted them, blowing and buffing and snorting. His piggy eyes bloodshot with passion and fury, he peered myopically at them, waiting for some small movement that would convince him that they were neither a rock nor a bush, and thus worthy of the full weight of his jealous wrath.
Daniel tried to hold his breath, but his lungs were scalding from his exertions and he choked to breathe. Suddenly he was aware of a faint electric whirring sound close to his left Ear, and he swivelled his eyes in their sockets without moving his head.
To his astonishment and incredulity, Bonny was still filming.
The lens of the Sony was only feet from the rhino's nose. They could see right up his wide nostrils to the shiny wet pinkness of his nasal mucosa, and she was filming it. That impressed Daniel as nothing before had done.
I've got myself one hell of a camera jockey, he thought. Jock would have been on the next plane home by now.
Suddenly the rhino switched around, a movement so quick and agile that it seemed impossible in such a massive creature.
Love had triumphed over aggression. He rushed back to his paramour, buffing and puffing with eagerness.
Bonny was laughing. Daniel could not believe what he was hearing.
Come on! She was on her feet again with a lithe bound.
By the time they caught up with the couple in a glade of pale grass beside the rocky watercourse, the cow had at last succumbed to the bull's persistent courtship. She allowed him to place his chin on her rump, and she stood quiescent and submissive under this significant caress. Get ready, Daniel warned Bonny. It's going to happen at any moment.
Suddenly the bull reared up over the female.
Bonny captured every titanic convulse on, every straining, thrusting drive of the enormous bodies. And then very swiftly it was over, and the bull -dropped off the cow and stood heaving and blowing from the effort.
You got it, and we've taken too many risks already, Daniel whispered.
Let's get out of here. He took her arm and drew her away.
They retreated carefully, a pace at a time, watching the bull all the way.
A hundred yards from the two rhino, Daniel deemed them well out of harm's way and they set off towards the combi, still elated by the thrill and the danger, laughing and chatting, not bothering to look backwards, until Daniel snapped abruptly, Look out!
He's coming again. The bull was charging straight at them, an ungainly gallop that did not swerve or deviate, glaring malevolently at them over the wickedly curved horn. I think he's got our wind. Daniel grabbed Bonny's arm. He looked about them quickly. The nearest cover was a small thorn bush twenty paces ahead. Come on. They ran for it together and crawled under the outstretched branches. The hooked thorns raked their shirts and exposed skin.
He's still coming. Bonny's voice was hoarse with dust and exertion.
Get down. Keep still. They crouched on the stony ground and watched in helpless horror as the rhino rushed straight at their hiding-place.
This time, he's not going to stop. For the first time Bonny showed signs of fear.
Four tons of prehistoric monster, horned and menacing, towered over them.
