ARRBC SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR INFORMATION
Maretha
Botha writes and illustrates children’s books. She likes gardening and finds it
a real pleasure to get stuck into planting things which have a good chance of
growing well and not dying on her because of extreme heat, such as she
experienced in Botswana. She makes a
conscious effort to have a bee and insect friendly garden, avoiding pesticides,
sewing a summer meadow, making her own compost and looking after all manner of
birds, trying her best to keep the neighbourhood
pussy-cats away from young and inexperienced fledglings – not an easy task.
When she was younger, she used to love rock-climbing and
mountaineering. Nowadays she and her
family hike on the moors in all sorts of weather, where the strong breeze
quickly clears cobwebs, and the vistas provide much food for thought and
inspiration.
An excerpt from book 2, “Friends: An African Adventure –
Fauna Park Tales”, Chapter 3.
THE
FIRES WERE WIDESPREAD, BUT Flame kept on herding animals to safety despite the closeness
of the flames. I was amazed – a sheepdog
after all? He stopped suddenly, listening – his left ear stood up – just as
if Cook Katie had starched it like one of her white linen napkins. What else could he possibly have heard
amidst all the commotion? Then I also heard far-off sad cries. Flame dashed
through the burned-out stubble in a westerly direction. Not worrying about his
own safety, he touched the ground just here and there as he ran towards the
Llokodi Hills. It was as if his Kalughari
heritage gave him speed to run faster, and courage not to look back or feel the
heat under his paws. The hills were burning brightly, and huge flames were
everywhere. Dense, grey smoke hid the early morning sun, making breathing
difficult.
Flame
came closer to the spot from where the sounds had come. He saw a chilling sight,
because a young female zebra and her two newborn foals were trapped! When the
rest of their herd had moved to safety, she had waited for the foals to become
stronger, but she had lingered too long.
Fires
on one side and a small cliff on the other, prevented her from escaping. The
flames were about to surround them. Flame had no time to bark advices to the
zebras, so he scrambled up the side of the rock cliff. With a great leap, he
cleared the fires and landed next to the zebras.
Unfortunately,
the mother was so spooked that she kicked him in the ribs. He fell to the
ground, winded. Fear gave her wings and she jumped up and over the flames.
Flame got up, grabbed one of the foals by the back of its neck and dragged him
to safety. Despite the pain in his side, Flame crawled back into the danger
zone. Dense smoke was everywhere, and he coughed, battling to breathe. Still,
he tried to drag the second one out of the fire’s reach, but he fell down.
Flame
heard a loud kleeou-kleeou somewhere
in the sky, but he couldn’t see a lone martial eagle flying above them. The
clouds of smoke were too thick. The martial eagle kept circling lower, just
staying out of the fire’s reach, chanting on and on, ‘Kleeou-kleeou! Remue-toi!
(Get a move on!) Flame, don’t pass out. I’ll get help for you.’
THANK
YOU SO MUCH RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB AND THE BLOG POST HOSTS FOR YOUR WONDERFUL SUPPORT
AND THE PRIVILEGE TO BE THE SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR THIS MONTH!
