Welcome to Day 20 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme
is:
'Wildlife Encounters'
This is an edited version of a piece of flash fiction I wrote for an online competition. It is loosely based on a real experience:
The tigress sat high on the ridge washing her face. She
pricked her ears. The humans were stirring.
‘Hurry, hurry,’ said Ashok.
In the watery-grey dawn his guests bundled into the jeep.
‘Let’s go.’ Ashok threw the vehicle into gear and they were
away, bumping along the rutted road at bone-rattling speed. The stinging winter
wind snatched at their clothes.
They slid to a halt at a waterhole. Ashok examined the sandy
soil.
‘Look.’ He pointed at fresh pug marks. ‘The tiger was here
last night.’
They raced on. A second waterhole yielded more evidence.
Spotted deer barked in alarm. Ashok's head snapped up. He shot off in the
direction of the barks, bouncing onto a corrugated track.
Ashok braked. ‘Shh!’
The deer called again. They scanned the ridge with their
binoculars and the tigress sat quietly in the impenetrable vegetation.
Ashok wobbled his head. 'Tiger's up there, laying still.'
The jeep wove up a steep track, negotiating fallen rocks,
swaying tortuously. Ashok paused to listen for the alarm calls, pinpointing the
cat’s position. As they closed in, she languidly rose and melted into the
jungle.
See you on Monday – I’m heading south west. Can you guess where
and what the next animal will be?
