‘An elephant can do terrible things to trees,’ Dan said. ‘If there are too many of them in one area they can destroy a whole region, turn the place into a dustbowl. So there are problems of protection, and peaceful coexistence with the local people, and conservation of the habitat. That’s what our research is aimed at. We want to indicate some way that man and beast can live together peacefully off the land. But with the human population growing all the time, there’s less space for the game. It’s not easy.’

They stayed with the herd for several hours, watching and recording their movements. Then the rain began to fall, sprinkling them lightly at first, building up to a torrent that sent them scrambling to wind up the windows and to pull down and fasten the roof hatches. The light faded quickly and the camera could no longer be used, so they drove away.

For Sarah it had been an extraordinary day. It was beyond belief that she could spend her days observing these complex and glorious miracles of creation, in the company of such learned people as Dan and Allie. And she would even be paid for it! The road had turned into a quagmire by the time they saw the lights of the camp blinking at them through the trees. They were mud-spattered and weary as they waited for their shower buckets to be filled, and after dinner Dan and Allie retired immediately. In the rounded space of her hut Sarah sat up and wrote letters by the light of her paraffin lamp. She wanted to capture the magic of this first day in words, to share with her family the excitement that filled her. She wrote to Piet, and to Hannah and Lars, and when she found herself nodding over the page she climbed into bed and was instantly asleep, heedless of the possibility of scorpions or other venomous lodgers.