Grand Theft Safari Read online

  © 2016 Rourke Educational Media

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

  www.rourkeeducationalmedia.com

  Edited by: Keli Sipperley

  Cover layout by: Tara Raymo

  Interior layout by: Jen Thomas

  Cover and Interior Illustrations by: Becka Moore

  Library of Congress PCN Data

  Grand Theft Safari / Precious McKenzie

  (Rourke's World Adventures Chapter Books)

  ISBN (hard cover)(alk. paper) 978-1-63430-391-0

  ISBN (soft cover) 978-1-63430-491-7

  ISBN (e-Book) 978-1-63430-585-3

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2015933786

  Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota

  Dear Parents and Teachers:

  Rourke’s Adventure Chapter Books engage readers immediately by grabbing their attention with exciting plots and adventurous characters.

  Our Adventure Chapter Books offer longer, more complex sentences and chapters. With minimal illustrations, readers must rely on the descriptive text to understand the setting, characters, and plot of the book. Each book contains several detailed episodes all centered on a single plot that will challenge the reader.

  Each adventure book dives into a country. Readers are not only invited to tag along for the adventure but will encounter the most memorable monuments and places, culture, and history. As the characters venture throughout the country, they address topics of family, friendship, and growing up in a way that the reader can relate to.

  Whether readers are reading the books independently or you are reading with them, engaging with them after they have read the book is still important. We’ve included several activities at the end of each book to make this both fun and educational.

  Are you ready for this adventure?

  Enjoy,

  Rourke Educational Media

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Hello Africa

  Welcome to Maasai Mara

  Hot Air Balloon

  Zebras!

  Giraffe Encounter

  Elephant Stampede

  The Maasai

  Lake Bogoria

  Goodbye Africa

  Chapter One

  HELLO AFRICA

  “Who’s coming to Africa with me? Tomas? Marisol?” Mom asked excitedly. She was selected to research the lesser flamingo in Kenya. As a bird biologist, Mom has had the chance to travel all over the world but never to Africa. This was a chance of a lifetime for her.

  Tomas, my twin brother, jumped up and down, waving his hands in the air. “I’m in, I’m in!” he shouted. Tomas loves animals and he’s dreamed about going on safari for most of his life.

  “Oh, you’re not leaving me behind,” I said. Visiting Africa and watching lions and zebras in the wild was something I wasn’t going to miss, either.

  “Fantastic! We’ll all go. Alberto,” Mom said as she glanced at Dad, “I’ll go book the flights.”

  Dad cleared his throat. “You kids need to calm down. Before we go, you’ll both have to go to the doctor.”

  I looked at Tomas nervously. I wasn’t a fan of doctor’s offices. “Why?” I asked.

  “You’ll need all your vaccinations updated and we’ll need to see about anti-malaria protection,” Dad said. “Marisol, it’s no big deal.”

  I shrugged it off. “Sure, no big deal,” I repeated, trying to convince myself it was true.

  The next few weeks were a flurry of activity. We had doctor’s appointments for our vaccinations. It wasn’t so bad. Mom took us shopping for outdoor gear and new hiking boots. Dad mapped out our homeschool work and loaded books onto our tablets. Just because we were going to Africa didn’t mean our studies stopped.

  With our bags packed, we headed to the airport. It would take us a full day to get to Nairobi, Kenya. From our airport in Chicago, we’d fly to Atlanta, then cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Netherlands, and from the Netherlands, we would fly south to Africa.

  As we boarded the airplane, Mom said, “I hope they don’t lose our suitcases.”

  Dad joked, “Oh well, you’ll just have to shop some more in Nairobi.”

  Mom rolled her eyes at Dad. “Very funny, sweetheart. You know I don’t like to shop,” Mom said.

  “Really?” Dad laughed as he pointed at all of us decked out in our new hiking boots and khaki pants. We looked like tacky tourists decked out in our safari costumes.

  “That was enough shopping for a lifetime,” Mom laughed. “It will take me a year to pay off the credit card bill for all these outfits.” I couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious. I knew going on safari was expensive, an unreachable dream vacation for many people around the world. We were very fortunate. Since this trip was part of Mom’s job, some of our expenses were paid for by the university.

  “You don’t have to remind me,” Dad said. “When we get back to the States, I’ll need to find a second job to pay for this trip. I could be a historian by day and a waiter by night.”

  The full day wasted on planes was the most boring time of my life. I read a few books, took a few naps, and ate all of the snacks in my carry-on bag. Tomas did exactly the same thing. The planes didn’t even have any decent movies for us to watch, just old kids’ movies that we’d seen years ago.

  When we landed in Nairobi the next day, we were sweaty and tired. It had been a very long trip.

  Mom pulled out her map. “Let’s find our hotel. I think we could all use hot showers and a nap in a real bed.” Mom flagged down a taxi and gave the driver instructions to our hotel.

  Nairobi is a modern city, with shopping malls, hotels, and apartment buildings. Our hotel had stone lions by the front doors and mahogany floors and leather chairs in the lobby.

  “This is nice,” Dad said as we walked inside.

  After we checked in, we took the elevator to the fifth floor. Our room had dark wood panels on the walls, crisp white blankets, and African art above the beds.

  “This feels like Africa,” Tomas said as he rolled on the soft bed.

  “Really?” Dad laughed. “A big soft bed feels like Africa? You’ll be surprised when we get out to the bush in a few days.”

  “No,” Tomas answered, “The artwork, the dark wood. It looks exotic, like Africa.”

  Mom read through the hotel brochure on the desk. “We have twenty-four hour electricity here, room service, a pool and a spa.”

  “Sweet!” I exclaimed. We could escape the heat in a nice, cool swimming pool.

  “Wait a minute,” Tomas interrupted. “What do you mean by twenty-four hour electricity? Is there any other kind of electricity?”

  Mom explained, “Not all parts of the world have electricity all of the time. They might have limited power supplies or outdated equipment. Electricity is a luxury. You should be thankful you have such a comfy life in America.”

  “Enjoy it,” Mom continued. “In four days, we’ll be in tents in the bush surrounded by insects and wild animals.” Mom was used to camping in rough country. It was part of her job as a biologist. She always joked that biologists don’t study pigeons in a city next to a luxury hotel. She liked being out in nature. I liked being out in nature, but I also liked a nice, soft bed and a warm shower too. I guess I wasn’t as tough as Mom.

  “Tomorrow I need to stop by the university, to meet the research team and help load the trucks. But the three of you are welcome to explore Nairobi,” Mom said.

  “Sounds like a plan, Carolina.” Dad smiled and patted
Mom on the back affectionately. “We’ll be tourists while you work.”

  “Honey,” Mom said to Dad, “Be sure to hire a driver. Don’t wander around without a guide or a driver.”

  Dad gave Mom a frustrated face.

  “I’m serious,” Mom said. “Nairobi is a huge city. There are lots of criminals that will take advantage of tourists. There are many very dangerous neighborhoods.”

  “I want to go swimming,” Tomas demanded. He unzipped his suitcase and tossed his clothes all over the floor.

  “I’ll take them to the pool,” Dad told Mom. “You look like you could use a nap.”

  Mom did look exhausted. Weeks of planning for this trip, shopping, and packing had worn her out. Mom stretched out on one of the beds and was asleep before we had our swimsuits on.

  The next day, after breakfast, Mom hired a cab to go to the university to meet the research team. Dad sat with me and Tomas in the hotel room. He spread out travel guides in front of us.

  “What do you kids want to do?” he asked.

  “I want to hunt a lion,” Tomas said fiercely.

  “That’s gross,” I scolded him. Sometimes Tomas could be so immature for a twelve year old.

  “Here’s what I found.” Dad broke up our argument. “We could tour a coffee plantation. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?” Dad smiled. He really looked excited about visiting a coffee plantation.

  Tomas, under his breath, said, “Whoop-teedoo.”

  It was settled, though. Dad hired a driver and we went to the coffee plantation. Or rather, it was the Karen Blixen Museum. Dad is a history professor. We should have known history would be part of our field trip.

  Located just outside of Nairobi, the museum is really the old home of a Danish baroness, Karen Blixen. She and her husband moved to Kenya in 1917 to start a coffee plantation. The coffee plantation didn’t do so well because of a factory fire and bad harvests. By 1931, the baroness moved back to Denmark.

  “Isn’t this fascinating?” Dad asked as we walked through the Blixen bungalow. “Just imagine how difficult it must have been to try to run a 600-acre coffee farm in 1920. And, they weren’t even Africans, they were foreigners. They had no clue what Africa would be like.” Dad stopped talking to admire the Blixen’s dining room and veranda.

  “What a life to wake up every morning, to see the Ngong Hills and lions.” Dad closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, like he was trying to breathe in the experience.

  “I don’t know why they made this place a museum,” Tomas said rather grumpily.

  “Karen Blixen was also an author. When you get older, you should read her books. Or, see the classic movie Out of Africa with Robert Redford. Your mom loves that movie. It’s so romantic. And it’s about Karen Blixen’s life,” Dad said.

  “I’m not watching a kissing, mushy movie,” Tomas said.

  “Good. It is a movie for grownups,” Dad said.

  “Let’s head to the garden,” I suggested. I wanted to see the yard surrounding the plantation house.

  As we walked through the gardens, Dad felt the need to teach us a history lesson.

  “When Karen Blixen lived here, Kenya was controlled by Great Britain. It was a colony. The British government opened the lands to white settlers to farm. Karen Blixen was part of that. White settlers had a voice in the government but Africans did not. But, by 1963, Kenya gained independence and was no longer a colony.”

  “So Kenya was kind of like America? A colony of Great Britain?” I asked Dad.

  “Yes, sort of. Only it was not a colony for as long as America was,” he said.

  This caught Tomas’s attention. He liked to talk about wars and military history.

  “Was Kenya’s fight for independence bloody?” Tomas asked.

  “Of course,” Dad answered. “They had rebellions against the British as they fought for their freedom.”

  Impressed by Kenya’s history, Tomas took a new interest in the coffee plantation.

  “So, this is a colonial plantation,” Tomas said. “Like one from the American South where there were slaves.”

  “I guess you could say that, especially since Karen Blixen was European, not African. She would have been part of the colonial ruling class,” Dad said.

  I had strange feelings after learning this. Part of me thought the home was beautiful and the idea of moving to a foreign land to farm sounded kind of romantic and adventurous. Until I thought about it from the African perspective. Europeans coming to take your land, farm, and make money, and you had no power to stop them. That didn’t seem very fair to me.

  “Don’t look so worried, Mari,” Dad reassured me. “Kenya is free and independent now. Some people think that Kenya is getting stronger each and every year.”

  We walked around the gardens a little longer. The sun was setting. Many of the other tourists were heading out for the day. The Ngong hills in the distance looked peaceful.

  Chapter Two

  WELCOME TO MAASAI MARA

  With her science gear loaded on a Land Rover, Mom whistled to us to hop in.

  “Time to go to Maasai Mara!” Mom said as she revved the engine. “We’ve got a four hour drive and I’d like to reach camp before sunset.”

  I knew Mom was in a hurry. The roads into Maasai Mara, a national reserve, were said to be rough. Mom wanted to drive during daylight. She didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere at night with lions prowling around. Tomas and I stuffed our backpacks behind our seats, buckled up, and got ready to see more of Kenya.

  Rains had washed out many of the roads in Maasai Mara National Reserve. The truck rumbled through muddy ruts across the grassy savannah. Inside the truck, we rocked from left to right as Mom steered the truck through the rough terrain. Six hours later, we arrived at camp.

  Our askari, or guard, was waiting for us at camp. Nigel led groups of people into the reserve every day. He was trained to track animals and protect tourists from wild animals and poachers.

  “Welcome to Maasai Mara, Perez family! Make yourself at home,” Nigel said. He gestured grandly toward the camp, his arms wide.

  Five small tents circled a fire pit. Off to the far side of the campsite, a taller, narrow tent stood next to a table. Nigel caught my gaze. “That’s your shower and toilet,” he said. It certainly wasn’t very private and not very roomy. Mom must have noticed the shocked look on my face. “It will be just fine,” she whispered to me.

  Nigel had a food storage area set up too. “lion-proof containers,” he said, chuckling.

  “Do we need to worry about lions?” Dad asked.

  “Mr. Perez, this is a wildlife reserve. In Africa. Yes, we need to be aware of lions,” Nigel said, then whistled. I turned and saw the savannah grasses parting. From the tall grass, a large brown dog loped toward us. The dog looked like it had a smile on its face. Running up to Nigel, the dog circled around behind him, then sat on his left. The dog looked up at Nigel, waiting for his next command. Nigel reached down and patted the dog’s head. “Good, girl, Elea.” Elea looked at us, studying us as if she was trying to decide if she could trust us. Her tail soon started to wag.

  “I think she approves of you.” Nigel laughed.

  Tomas asked, “What kind of dog is Elea? She has a funny dark stripe down her back.”

  “She is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. The Ridgebacks were bred to hunt lions,” Nigel said.

  “Extra protection for us?” Dad asked, obviously he was still worried about the lions.

  “Most definitely,” Nigel replied. He looked at the dog, his face beaming. “Elea is a lovely girl but she will do anything to protect me.”

  “Nigel, do you have any plans for us tonight?” Mom asked. I could tell Mom wanted to unload our luggage and get settled in.

  “I will have dinner cooked by seven o’clock. You are welcome to unpack and relax.”

  “Thank you, Nigel,” Mom said. “Kids, let’s unload the gear from the truck. Afterward, you can set up your sleeping bags in your tent.�
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  “Do I have to sleep in a tent with Tomas?” I asked. Now that I’m twelve, I like privacy and I didn’t want to share my space with my brother.

  “I’m afraid so,” Dad answered. “We’re all in one tent, to be safe.”

  “Then what are the other four tents for?” I asked. I sounded angry. I was, a little.

  “Medical supplies, toiletries, your mother’s research gear,” Nigel answered. “And one tent for me.”

  “Mari, relax. Grab your things and settle in your tent,” Mom told me. She didn’t look like she was in the mood to squabble.

  I was hot, tired, and hungry. Traveling by truck over rough roads for most of the day, then finding camp, and learning I’d have to sleep in the same tent as my entire family, bugged me. Mom made a sly comment that I heard when I walked back to the truck. I wasn’t supposed to hear her but I did. Mom whispered to Dad and Nigel, “Teenage girls can be so moody.” That made me even grumpier. I’m not a teenager. I won’t be thirteen for almost a whole year!

  Tomas thought all of this was a wild adventure. He practically danced around the campsite. He didn’t care where he slept.

  “Mari, what’s wrong? You used to like to have fun,” Tomas asked me.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m just tired and sweaty. I’m ready for bed.”

  Dad came over to talk to me and Tomas. “Mari, if you’re tired, go to bed right after dinner. It’s okay. We just planned to sit around the campfire tonight and get to know Nigel better.” Dad paused and rubbed my shoulders, trying to get me to relax. “Tomorrow, we’ll have fun. We’ll find zebras and giraffes.”

  Nigel cooked up roasted beef and rice. Starving, I devoured three plates of food. With my belly full, I decided to go to bed.

  “Goodnight,” I said as I trudged off to the tent. I was exhausted and ready to crawl into my sleeping bag. Elea trotted along behind me, licking at my hands.

  “Go lay down,” I whispered to Elea. She stopped and didn’t follow me into the tent. Instead, Elea sat just outside the tent’s door, sniffing the air. I felt safer with Elea nearby, watching for lions.