In tonight's bedtime story for kids, we join Hector and Sunny as they set of on vacation once again! This time, they're going on Safari! They arrive at their destination in Kenya at the perfect time for a moonlit safari, and luckily, their new meerkat friend Mira knows the best spots to visit. Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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The No1 kids bedtime stories & sleep meditations podcast that helps children sleep like a dream. Hosted by the world's biggest fan of bedtime stories, Abbe Opher! All episodes are safe for babies, children and really big kids 0 to 100, so settle down tonight and get sleepy with the world's greatest bedtime stories & sleep meditations for kids.
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Luke Prendergast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:20
Speaker 1: a dream. Before we get started on our safari adventure,
00:00:25
Speaker 1: I want to wish a very happy birthday to Sage
00:00:28
Speaker 1: from Ohio, and I also want to welcome into the
00:00:31
Speaker 1: Coco Club Sella from New York City, August, Oliver and
00:00:36
Speaker 1: Porter in Guam, Ivy love from I Beitha Kobe from
00:00:41
Speaker 1: Bridge End, and Andrew in Morgantown. We're delighted to hear
00:00:45
Speaker 1: from so many of you. I love all your names too, Coco,
00:00:49
Speaker 1: and I think you'll agree that our stories are just
00:00:52
Speaker 1: getting better and better, and that's all thanks to your support. Tonight,
00:00:58
Speaker 1: you're in for a two course.
00:01:02
Speaker 2: Tail wagging treat.
00:01:03
Speaker 1: In fact, yes, we are about to catch up with
00:01:07
Speaker 1: our best bouncy doggie duo Hector and Sonny as they
00:01:11
Speaker 1: head off on holiday, but not to New York this time,
00:01:14
Speaker 1: all the way to Africa, to Kenya, to be precise.
00:01:19
Speaker 1: They cannot wait to see all the animals there, so
00:01:23
Speaker 1: their new friend mir the Mirka takes them out straight
00:01:26
Speaker 1: away on a moonlit safari. As I was saying, this
00:01:31
Speaker 1: story is part one of a two parter. To listen
00:01:35
Speaker 1: to the rest of Hector and Sonny's Kenyan adventures, go
00:01:38
Speaker 1: to Koala, Shine and Hit follow the new episode. Will
00:01:43
Speaker 1: be ready for you first thing on Saturday morning, and
00:01:46
Speaker 1: apparently our doggy duo get into all sorts of sticky
00:01:50
Speaker 1: situations in our story tonight. However, you'll be happy to
00:01:55
Speaker 1: know that everything stays calm and sleepy. So let's get
00:02:00
Speaker 1: ready by lying back in bed and relaxing your body
00:02:04
Speaker 1: as much as you can. Close your eyes if you wish,
00:02:09
Speaker 1: and your mouth and breathe in through your nose, feeling
00:02:13
Speaker 1: your chest fill up and then let all the air
00:02:19
Speaker 1: out again. Breathe in again.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: And sighet out.
00:02:30
Speaker 1: Keep breathing in and out whilst gently moving around and
00:02:35
Speaker 1: letting the different parts of your body relax and melt
00:02:38
Speaker 1: into the mattress beneath you. Lovely, I think you're ready
00:02:45
Speaker 1: and it's time to be reunited with our pals. Let's begin.
00:02:49
Speaker 1: Hector and Sunny's Moonlit Safari by Luke Prendergast.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: Several months had.
00:03:03
Speaker 1: Passed since Hector the Golden Retriever and Sonny the Spaniel
00:03:07
Speaker 1: had gone on holiday to New York City. They still
00:03:10
Speaker 1: dreamt about it now, packing their bags, traveling with Hector's
00:03:15
Speaker 1: dad to the airport, looking out of the plane window
00:03:20
Speaker 1: at all the puffy white marshmallow clouds, and then of course,
00:03:26
Speaker 1: discovering beneath the city the topsy turvy dog's paradise of
00:03:31
Speaker 1: chew York City, where absolutely everything was a chewy toy.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: Hector and Sonny found themselves drooling just.
00:03:42
Speaker 2: Thinking about it. Yep, it was heaven.
00:03:48
Speaker 1: Their trip to New York City might have been the
00:03:50
Speaker 1: only real holiday the dogs had ever been on, but
00:03:53
Speaker 1: there was no doubt about it. It was the best
00:03:56
Speaker 1: holiday that had ever happened ever up and now they
00:04:02
Speaker 1: were ready for another adventure. Whenever Hector's dad asked them
00:04:08
Speaker 1: playfully if they fancied going on holiday again, they would
00:04:12
Speaker 1: bark and yip and run around the kitchen to let
00:04:15
Speaker 1: him know that yes, they absolutely did, But no plan
00:04:20
Speaker 1: ever actually materialized. Then one afternoon, Hector and Sonny came
00:04:27
Speaker 1: in from the garden, where they'd spent a good few
00:04:30
Speaker 1: hours chasing their own tails in circles and getting into knots,
00:04:35
Speaker 1: to discover that Hector's dad had taken the suitcases out
00:04:39
Speaker 1: of the big cupboard where he stored them. We're going
00:04:43
Speaker 1: on holiday again, he told them, a big beaming smile
00:04:48
Speaker 1: breaking out across his face. Your owner's coming along too, Sonny.
00:04:54
Speaker 1: Our old friend Sylvie's from Kenya and she's invited us
00:04:58
Speaker 1: out to visit, So we're going on safari.
00:05:03
Speaker 2: Safari.
00:05:05
Speaker 1: Hector and Sunny exchanged curious looks. They'd never heard that
00:05:10
Speaker 1: word before, safari, and they didn't know what it meant,
00:05:15
Speaker 1: but they sure were looking forward to finding out. So
00:05:19
Speaker 1: they packed their bags, each making sure to remember their sunglasses.
00:05:24
Speaker 1: Hector's dad told them it would be hot where they
00:05:27
Speaker 1: were going, their doggie brushes and plenty of chew toys
00:05:32
Speaker 1: just in case they found a few minutes of time
00:05:35
Speaker 1: to spare here and there. Then they all got an
00:05:39
Speaker 1: early night, squeezing their eyes tightly shut and willing themselves
00:05:45
Speaker 1: to sleep. In spite of all the excitement they were feeling.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: That night, their dreams were filled with airplanes zigzagging across
00:05:56
Speaker 1: a tiny earth. The flight took almost ten hours, so
00:06:02
Speaker 1: even though they left first thing in the morning, before
00:06:05
Speaker 1: the dawn sun had even broken over the horizon, it
00:06:09
Speaker 1: was late afternoon when they landed in Nairobi, the capital
00:06:13
Speaker 1: city of Kenya. As soon as Hector and Sonny stepped
00:06:18
Speaker 1: down off the plane, they got hit by a wall
00:06:21
Speaker 1: of heat. The air seemed to vibrate thickly with it.
00:06:28
Speaker 1: When they picked up their suitcases from the giant conveyor belt,
00:06:32
Speaker 1: Hector loved, grabbing hold of the handles with his teeth
00:06:36
Speaker 1: and dragging them off. They jumped in a car. They
00:06:39
Speaker 1: were heading. Hector's dad told them for a town an
00:06:43
Speaker 1: hour or so away called Naivasha, which was where his
00:06:46
Speaker 1: friend Sylvie lived. We're going to be driving through the
00:06:51
Speaker 1: Great Rift Valley, Hector's dad said from the front seat.
00:06:57
Speaker 1: Hector and Sonny glanced at each other, the Great Rift Valley?
00:07:03
Speaker 2: What was that?
00:07:06
Speaker 1: Soon enough they found out. The car left the busy
00:07:10
Speaker 1: road and began to climb up a big hill. When
00:07:15
Speaker 1: they reached the crest of it, the land on the
00:07:18
Speaker 1: other side fell away into the hugest valley they could
00:07:22
Speaker 1: ever have imagined. For miles and miles and miles, As
00:07:28
Speaker 1: far as the eye could see, green savannah unrolled beside them,
00:07:34
Speaker 1: punctuated here and there by solitary mountains, flat topped hills,
00:07:40
Speaker 1: clumps of trees. They could even see a storm in
00:07:44
Speaker 1: the distance. A black mass of clouds with ribbons of
00:07:49
Speaker 1: rain falling out from beneath it, traveling on the winds.
00:07:53
Speaker 2: Through the valley.
00:07:56
Speaker 1: The Great Rift Valley, Sonny's mum told them, was created
00:08:00
Speaker 1: millions of years ago when tectonic plates deep beneath the
00:08:04
Speaker 1: Earth's surface rumbled and drifted apart. Back then, the drift
00:08:11
Speaker 1: caused earthquakes and volcanoes to form, which became the mountains
00:08:16
Speaker 1: they could still see, and also caused a huge valley
00:08:20
Speaker 1: to be created.
00:08:23
Speaker 2: The valley stretched all the.
00:08:24
Speaker 1: Way from Egypt way up north to Mozambique, far in
00:08:30
Speaker 1: the south. Now it had grown so lush with trees
00:08:35
Speaker 1: and grasses that it was home to many of the
00:08:38
Speaker 1: world's most wonderful wildlife, which was why she said they
00:08:44
Speaker 1: were coming here to go on safari. Occasionally, as they drove,
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Hector and Sunny thought they could see little shapes moving
00:08:54
Speaker 1: across the valley, but they were far too far away
00:08:57
Speaker 1: to see properly. Here we are, Hector's dad announced. As
00:09:03
Speaker 1: they pulled up to a house on the outskirts of
00:09:06
Speaker 1: a town. The sun was just setting. The sky had
00:09:12
Speaker 1: dipped from blue to lilac and was filled with puffy,
00:09:16
Speaker 1: pink clouds. When Hector and Sonny hopped out of the car,
00:09:22
Speaker 1: they could hear the sounds of insects buzzing in the
00:09:26
Speaker 1: big leafy trees that sprung up around the house. Just then,
00:09:32
Speaker 1: a woman in blue jeans and white t shirt stepped
00:09:35
Speaker 1: out of the house. This must be their friend, Sylvie.
00:09:42
Speaker 1: She gave Sonny's mum and Hector's dad a big hug,
00:09:46
Speaker 1: and then from behind her stepped a creature that neither
00:09:50
Speaker 1: Hector nor Sunny had ever seen before. She looked kind
00:09:56
Speaker 1: of like a weasel, they supposed, or an otter, except
00:10:01
Speaker 1: she walked on her two back legs. Hullo, she said,
00:10:08
Speaker 1: giving the dogs a wave. I'm Mera the Merekat. I
00:10:13
Speaker 1: live here with Sylvie. You two must be Hector and Sonny.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: Hector and Sonnie told Mira it was good to meet her,
00:10:23
Speaker 1: and Mira replied that it was nice to meet them too.
00:10:28
Speaker 1: Their owners had already climbed the steps to the verandah
00:10:32
Speaker 1: that circled Sylvie's house. The two of them stepped inside
00:10:37
Speaker 1: and the door hung open behind them, But instead of
00:10:41
Speaker 1: following them inside, Mira the Merekhat gave the two dogs
00:10:46
Speaker 1: a big grin. I know it's almost night time, she said,
00:10:53
Speaker 1: But I was wondering if, as it's your first evening
00:10:57
Speaker 1: in Kenya, you two wanted to join me on a
00:11:01
Speaker 1: little bit of an adventure. Both Hector and Sonny's ears pricked.
00:11:08
Speaker 1: Neither of them could ever resist the suggestion of an adventure.
00:11:14
Speaker 1: What kind of adventure? Sonny asked, Have you ever heard
00:11:21
Speaker 1: of Lake Knivasha? Mira asked Sonny, shook her head and
00:11:26
Speaker 1: looked at Hector inquisitively. He shook his head too, No,
00:11:32
Speaker 1: they said, what's that? Lake Naivasha is what gives its
00:11:39
Speaker 1: name to this town. It's a huge lake, as big
00:11:43
Speaker 1: as a sea, and it's not very far away. We
00:11:47
Speaker 1: can take a walk there. There are so many wonderful
00:11:51
Speaker 1: things to see and call animals to meet. So she
00:11:55
Speaker 1: concluded with a little wink and a twitch of her nose.
00:11:59
Speaker 2: What do you say?
00:12:01
Speaker 1: Hector and Sonny answered in a flash, we say yes.
00:12:06
Speaker 1: Mira clicked her fingers and time froze for their owners.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: That way, they wouldn't even notice that they were gone.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: It seemed Mira had a little bit of magic around her.
00:12:20
Speaker 1: Sonny was beginning to think she was Kenya's version a
00:12:24
Speaker 1: Sydney the squirrel. Mira beckoned the two dogs with her
00:12:28
Speaker 1: little black paw.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: This way, she said.
00:12:34
Speaker 1: Hector and Sonny followed Mira through some dense hedges until
00:12:39
Speaker 1: they broke out into a big field on the other side.
00:12:43
Speaker 1: Here and there, across the meadow grew clumps of huge trees,
00:12:49
Speaker 1: their yellow trunks spent in jagged angles so that it
00:12:54
Speaker 1: looked like they were leaning over. Their branches fanned out
00:12:59
Speaker 1: on top into a flat canopy of leaves, so that
00:13:03
Speaker 1: they looked like palms raised flat to the sky. What
00:13:09
Speaker 1: are those trees called, asked Hector. We don't have any
00:13:14
Speaker 1: trees anything like that at home. Those are called acacia trees,
00:13:21
Speaker 1: Mira said. They're all over Kenya. But I suppose that
00:13:26
Speaker 1: the trees back at your home would look completely strange
00:13:30
Speaker 1: to me. Hector frowned and then nodded his head. They'd
00:13:36
Speaker 1: never thought about it like that before. They were walking
00:13:41
Speaker 1: towards one such group of acacia trees when all of
00:13:45
Speaker 1: a sudden, Sonny jumped and grabbed hold of Hector. What's
00:13:50
Speaker 1: the matter, Hector asked her. Well, the thing is, Sonny said,
00:13:57
Speaker 1: her voice quivering a little countries and can you move?
00:14:03
Speaker 1: Hector wrinkled his nose. What do you mean, why are
00:14:09
Speaker 1: you asking a question like that, because, Sonny said, pointing
00:14:15
Speaker 1: ahead of her.
00:14:17
Speaker 2: That tree there, it seems to be moving. Hector looked
00:14:23
Speaker 2: and saw that.
00:14:24
Speaker 1: Sonny was right. One of the trees had dislodged itself
00:14:28
Speaker 1: from the ground and appeared to be walking in rolling
00:14:33
Speaker 1: gate across to another tree beside them. Mirror the merecat
00:14:39
Speaker 1: descended into ripples of laughter. No, no, no, no, she said,
00:14:46
Speaker 1: that's not a tree, that's a giraffe. But you're right,
00:14:53
Speaker 1: she added, from a distance, their long necks and brown
00:14:58
Speaker 1: and yellow coat do make them look a bit like
00:15:02
Speaker 1: acacia trees. Sonny, who had recovered herself, gave a little smile.
00:15:10
Speaker 1: Had some good camouflage. She said, Can we go and
00:15:15
Speaker 1: meet the giraffe? We sure can, said Mirah. Mirah led
00:15:22
Speaker 1: them up to the giraffe, who was now stretching his
00:15:26
Speaker 1: long neck to pluck some leaves from the acacia tree.
00:15:30
Speaker 1: Mira cleared her throat and said, n hey, there, twigger,
00:15:37
Speaker 1: from way way up high. The giraffe looked down at
00:15:42
Speaker 1: the noise. He continued to chew the leaf he'd plucked
00:15:47
Speaker 1: from the tree, his jaw swinging back and forth. Then
00:15:53
Speaker 1: he took a big gulp. Hector thought he could see
00:15:58
Speaker 1: the leaf travel all all the way down the giraffe's
00:16:03
Speaker 1: long neck, and began to speak to them. Oh, hello, Mirah,
00:16:13
Speaker 1: I didn't see you the way down there. I guess
00:16:19
Speaker 1: my eyesight isn't quite as good as it used to be.
00:16:26
Speaker 1: Mira pointed up at the sky. Or it's just getting dark,
00:16:32
Speaker 1: she said. Twigger the giraffe blinked at the sky, then
00:16:38
Speaker 1: nodded at her.
00:16:40
Speaker 2: You're right, that must be it. And who are these two?
00:16:49
Speaker 1: He asked, now blinking at Hector and Sonny. These are
00:16:55
Speaker 1: my new pals from England, Mira explained and Sonny. Hector
00:17:03
Speaker 1: and Sonny introduced themselves to Twiger and told him that
00:17:07
Speaker 1: they'd never met a giraffe before on all of their
00:17:10
Speaker 1: exciting travels. Tweiger told them that he'd never met dogs
00:17:16
Speaker 1: like them before either, jackals, yes, and spotted hyenas, but
00:17:22
Speaker 1: never any dogs with coats such as gleaming and Golden
00:17:26
Speaker 1: as theirs. This made Hector and Sonny both feel very chuffed. Indeed,
00:17:34
Speaker 1: then Tweger looked up into the acacia tree and.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: Sighed, Oh, I'm trying to.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: Reach that leaf, he said, but I just can't get it,
00:17:53
Speaker 1: And as though to demonstrate, the extra tall giraffe went
00:17:58
Speaker 1: up on the tips of his hoof hooves and stretched
00:18:01
Speaker 1: his long neck as long as it would go and
00:18:05
Speaker 1: stuck his long, rough tongue out as far as he could,
00:18:10
Speaker 1: but still he could not reach the leaf. Twigger gave
00:18:16
Speaker 1: a big sigh. See, Hector gave a little yip.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: We can help.
00:18:24
Speaker 1: We were that, he said, You can, asked Twiger. And
00:18:32
Speaker 1: then Hector explained how once upon a time he and
00:18:36
Speaker 1: Sonny had gone on an adventure to the Amazon rainforest,
00:18:40
Speaker 1: where they'd met a friendly jaguar called Claws, and Claws
00:18:44
Speaker 1: had taught them how to climb trees, which was usually
00:18:48
Speaker 1: the kind of thing only cats and not dogs could do. Look,
00:18:54
Speaker 1: said Hector, and he extended the claws of his foot,
00:18:58
Speaker 1: and in a moment he'd climbed all the way up
00:19:02
Speaker 1: the acacia tree, plucked the succulent looking leaf from the
00:19:05
Speaker 1: branch and dropped it into Twiger's open mouth. Wow, said Tweger,
00:19:13
Speaker 1: as Hector resumed his place back on solid ground. Thank you,
00:19:20
Speaker 1: You're very welcome, Hector said. Mirah told Twiger that she
00:19:26
Speaker 1: was going to show Hector and Sunny the lake before
00:19:29
Speaker 1: true darkness fell, and so they waved goodbye to the
00:19:33
Speaker 1: giraffe and went on their way. The sky had faded
00:19:38
Speaker 1: from lilac to a deep dark blue, and the cicaders
00:19:43
Speaker 1: were making their chirruping sounds all around them. They walked
00:19:48
Speaker 1: through the meadow where herds of in parlor an antelope
00:19:53
Speaker 1: with their beautiful curved horns, folded their legs and laid
00:19:57
Speaker 1: their heads down to rest for the night. They passed
00:20:01
Speaker 1: a couple of zebras, who swished their tails to say hello.
00:20:06
Speaker 1: Then at last they saw it. The lake mirror was right.
00:20:14
Speaker 1: It was huge, a broad, glittering disk of water in
00:20:20
Speaker 1: which the purple clouds were reflected and wabbled back and
00:20:25
Speaker 1: forth all along the water's edge. Small trees bowed down
00:20:32
Speaker 1: as if to drink from the surface, and in the distance,
00:20:38
Speaker 1: far away, on the other side of the lake, they
00:20:41
Speaker 1: could see the dark silhouettes of mountains. Welcome to Lake Naivasha, Mira,
00:20:51
Speaker 1: said Hector and Sunny, who for a moment were left speechless,
00:20:58
Speaker 1: finally managed to find their and told her it was
00:21:02
Speaker 1: one of the most beautiful they had ever seen. Do
00:21:06
Speaker 1: you fancy a dip, Mirror asked them.
00:21:11
Speaker 2: Well, they sure did.
00:21:14
Speaker 1: Come on, then, mir said, scurrying towards the water. Just
00:21:19
Speaker 1: watch out for any hippos. Hippos, Sonny repeated. Just then
00:21:27
Speaker 1: a noise came from the water. A huge dark shape
00:21:33
Speaker 1: was rising out of the surface. They could see big nostrils,
00:21:38
Speaker 1: gray skin, and two little beady eyes. It was a
00:21:44
Speaker 1: humongous hippopotamus. The hippo gave a big snort, which sprayed
00:21:51
Speaker 1: water up into the air, and then yawned a big yawn,
00:21:56
Speaker 1: showing them all its huge set of teeth. Here up,
00:22:01
Speaker 1: said Mirah, laughing. Hippos, they can be pretty grumpy, she explained,
00:22:09
Speaker 1: so it's best not to get in their way.
00:22:12
Speaker 2: Come this way.
00:22:15
Speaker 1: Mira led them along the lakeside, away from where the
00:22:19
Speaker 1: hippo was bathing in the muddy shallows. Here's good, she said,
00:22:25
Speaker 1: and then she performed a graceful little dive and slipped
00:22:29
Speaker 1: beneath the surface of the silvery water. It didn't take
00:22:35
Speaker 1: Hector and Sunny long to follow after, and soon enough
00:22:39
Speaker 1: they were all swimming and splashing about in Lake Naivasha.
00:22:45
Speaker 1: Mira showed them how she liked to dive down and
00:22:49
Speaker 1: run her fingers through the dense reeds that grew at
00:22:52
Speaker 1: the bottom of the lake, and Hector and Sonny taught
00:22:56
Speaker 1: her their favorite swimming stroke, doggie paddle. At last, they
00:23:04
Speaker 1: simply lay on their backs, floating on the warm water,
00:23:09
Speaker 1: looking up at the stars twinkling in the sky. The
00:23:14
Speaker 1: moon was out now, a milky crescent moon that looked
00:23:19
Speaker 1: like a smile, and which spilled its light down onto
00:23:23
Speaker 1: the water. So it seemed that the lake had been
00:23:27
Speaker 1: transformed into liquid silver. It was so utterly tranquil, with
00:23:35
Speaker 1: the strange sounds of unknown birds twittering and cooing unseen
00:23:41
Speaker 1: in the trees, and the water lapping gently against the shore,
00:23:47
Speaker 1: that Hector and Sunny began to feel very tired. Indeed,
00:23:55
Speaker 1: come on, then, you two, Mira said, as she heard
00:23:59
Speaker 1: the dogs begin to yawn. Time to get you back
00:24:04
Speaker 1: home and to bed. They clambered out of Late Naivasha,
00:24:11
Speaker 1: shook the water off their coats, and headed back the
00:24:15
Speaker 1: way they came. It was almost completely dark now. The
00:24:21
Speaker 1: acacia trees were shadowy shapes that only appeared when you
00:24:25
Speaker 1: got near them, And every now and then they'd come
00:24:29
Speaker 1: across a sleeping herd of animals, and they'd have to
00:24:33
Speaker 1: creep around them very carefully. Indeed, Finally they reached the
00:24:39
Speaker 1: end of the meadow where they could pass back through
00:24:43
Speaker 1: to Sylvie's house. But just as they were passing beneath
00:24:48
Speaker 1: an acacia tree, they heard a low growling voice. Well,
00:24:55
Speaker 1: good evening there. Hector, Sonny and Mirah looked up into
00:25:02
Speaker 1: the acacia tree and were a little surprised to see
00:25:05
Speaker 1: a huge cat lying on one of the branches, with
00:25:09
Speaker 1: its long tail hanging down and curling into a little point. Well, hello, Lyra,
00:25:18
Speaker 1: Mira said, I didn't see there. Lyra the leopard gave
00:25:24
Speaker 1: a twist of her tail that she said is rather
00:25:32
Speaker 1: the intention. Leopards, she told them, were shy and solitary creatures.
00:25:39
Speaker 1: They preferred to keep out of sight, hidden in shadowy
00:25:43
Speaker 1: places and up in the secret boughs of trees. But
00:25:49
Speaker 1: you know, she added, it's rather peaceful up here. Would
00:25:56
Speaker 1: you like to come and see. Hector, Sonny and Mirah
00:26:02
Speaker 1: said that they would indeed, and up they climbed to
00:26:06
Speaker 1: perch in the branches next to Lyra the Leopard. She
00:26:11
Speaker 1: was right, it was very peaceful up here, where they
00:26:16
Speaker 1: could see the night time savannah stretching out before them.
00:26:22
Speaker 1: Mira told Lyra that she'd just taken Hector and Sonny
00:26:26
Speaker 1: on their first little safari before their proper one the
00:26:30
Speaker 1: next day. Safari, Sonny said, remembering the word from when
00:26:36
Speaker 1: Hector's dad had used it back home.
00:26:39
Speaker 2: What does that mean, safari, ah, Lyra pairred.
00:26:49
Speaker 1: Safari is a Swahili word meaning journey. So whenever you're
00:26:58
Speaker 1: moving through the sava here going on a journey through
00:27:04
Speaker 1: the landscape, well you're going on safari. Hector and Sonny
00:27:13
Speaker 1: were both very pleased to have learnt the meaning of
00:27:16
Speaker 1: this new word. To thank Lyra for teaching them, Hector
00:27:21
Speaker 1: poured out a bag of dog treats, which he had
00:27:23
Speaker 1: tucked beneath his collar just in case he got peckish.
00:27:28
Speaker 2: He passed the.
00:27:29
Speaker 1: Bag around and all four of them chewed merrily on
00:27:33
Speaker 1: the treats as they watched the big pale moon hang
00:27:37
Speaker 1: in the sky like a lantern. My my, Lyra paird
00:27:45
Speaker 1: let me tell you, these treats are some of the
00:27:51
Speaker 1: most delicious things I have ever tasted.
00:27:56
Speaker 2: I don't think there's a big.
00:27:59
Speaker 1: Cat in all of Kenya who wouldn't like the taste
00:28:04
Speaker 1: of these. Thank you. Hector said that she was very welcome.
00:28:12
Speaker 1: They sat in the acacia tree for a few minutes longer,
00:28:16
Speaker 1: nibbling on treats and chatting to their new friend, Lyra
00:28:21
Speaker 1: the leopard. Then Sonny let.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: Out a very large.
00:28:28
Speaker 1: Yawn indeed, and they knew it was time to go
00:28:32
Speaker 1: back home. They said their goodbyes and climbed down the tree.
00:28:39
Speaker 1: As they walked back to Sylvie's house, they felt like
00:28:43
Speaker 1: they were falling asleep on their feet. It had been
00:28:47
Speaker 1: a very long day, indeed, flying all the way from
00:28:53
Speaker 1: England to Kenya and being taken on their first ever
00:28:59
Speaker 1: minuture safari. Hector and Sunny were ever so grateful to
00:29:05
Speaker 1: Mirror for that. The pleasure is all mine, Mira said.
00:29:14
Speaker 1: And when they got back to Sylvie's house and time unfroze,
00:29:19
Speaker 1: their owners were amused by the animal's sleepy yawns and
00:29:23
Speaker 1: tired blinks. They commented that the dogs must have been
00:29:28
Speaker 1: tied out from the plane journey. Knowing nothing about the
00:29:33
Speaker 1: late night safari, they just enjoyed As their owners chatted. Hector,
00:29:41
Speaker 1: Sonny and Mirror tucked themselves up on the verandah outside
00:29:47
Speaker 1: in the warm Naivasha air. Good Night Sonny, good night Mirror.
00:29:55
Speaker 1: Hector said, stretching his toes and letting out a yawn.
00:30:00
Speaker 1: And good night, Hector Sonny said, Sleep well, both of you,
00:30:07
Speaker 1: Mira told them, for tomorrow we go on an adventure safari,
00:30:13
Speaker 1: and it is important that you're both well rested. And
00:30:19
Speaker 1: so the three of them close their eyes, the smell
00:30:25
Speaker 1: of honeysuckle drifting over the verandah, and with the sound
00:30:30
Speaker 1: of the cicadas as their bedtime lullaby, they drifted off
00:30:37
Speaker 1: into a deep and peaceful sleep. Anything