Series 8 Episode 3: Cholera Chaos Part 2
The sun began to rise over the Leopard's Den and Mara estate. Everyone lay in their beds, nervous of the big day they all had ahead of them.
At Leopard's Den, Danny was the first to awake, as his mind was working overtime. He hesitantly walked to the kitchen, as if he was trying to avoid what lay ahead of him. He sat down at his usual spot at the head of the table and stared into space.
Over at Mara, Fiona had been up since the crack of dawn and was working in the clinic on samples from the watering hole. A rather sleepy looking Ed walked into the clinic in his pj's and dressing gown. He asked her "What are you doing? You were up awfully early today, were you not?"
"Well today is a big day, remember?! And if you hadn't forgotten most of the animals on the reserve have cholera? So I am working on samples of the water to see if I can find a solution to our problem." Fiona replied.
"Yes, I do realise all of these things, don't be so snappy. Well any luck on a solution then?" Ed asked with hope.
"We may be in luck. There is something that we can do to prevent the problem from happening ever again." Fiona answered.
Ed's face lit up. "You mean you have a solution?! Come one don't leave me hanging in suspense! TELL ME WHAT YOU'VE FOUND OUT?!" he exclaimed.
"Well for a start, it's a long term solution, which may take a few days to put in place. But what we need to do is block off the current watering hole and find another place for the animals to drink from." Was Fiona's response.
Ed looked at her slightly disappointed and said "Well if that's what it takes then we shall do it, but the inspection is today! Were you not just emphasising that to me?!"
"Yes, but if we explain to them clearly what we are going to do things should be fine. Leave the explaining to me as the project's pharmacologist, I know what I'm talking about." She told him.
"Well that's fine, after breakfast we shall head over the Leopard's Den and inform the others. Just please don't mess up this for us like you did our last source of funding, okay?" Ed insisted.
"What will be, will be." Was all Fiona had to say before she left the clinic to go and get ready.
Back at Leopard's Den almost everybody was up now. Danny was pacing around the kitchen table frantically muttering away to himself.
"Danny, I think you should take a seat and have some breakfast?" Nomsa suggested.
"Nomsa, please food is the last thing on my mind right now!" Danny snapped.
"Danny, please listen to her, you need food. You simply can't work on an empty stomach. Sit down or I shan't let you leave the house." Caroline declared.
Danny reluctantly say back down whilst Nomsa put some bacon and eggs in a frying pan for him. Caroline contributed by giving him a mug of tea. "Get that down you." She calmly spoke.
Just as Danny was served his breakfast, baby Robert started to wail. "I'd better see to that" Danny said.
"No you will not, I am in a fit state to handle it, you're not, Mr Trevanion." Alice told her husband.
Alice went to the bedroom and tended to her son. All that was needing done was for his nappy to be changed. She did it with motherly care and thought that maybe Robert could detect the panic and stress going on within the house, which was maybe what left him crying?
"Was he okay?" Danny asked, when Alice returned to the kitchen.
"Just a nappy change, that was all. Ah the joys of motherhood." Alice sighed.
"We've all been there darling." Caroline stated, as she left the kitchen to head out of the house.
Dup was sitting on the bench beside the front door, leaning forward with his grubby, unwashed hands clasped tightly. He was worried that if the family did not get the funding today then there would be no future for them and they would end up losing Leopard's Den again, except this time they would also lose Mara.
Caroline was out on the other side of the house talking with Rosie. "You trying to avoid all the pandemonium that's going on in there are you?" Caroline laughed.
"I suppose you could say that, yeah. It's just this place means so much to all of us. I mean so much has happened here, we've lost it once before, to that fool Peeter's, I just don't want the family to go through it all again." Rosie replied.
"You really think that we won't be able to pull through?" Caroline queried.
"I don't know what's gonna happen if we don't get National Park status today, Caroline. I really don't. Me Dad will be so broken." Rosie stated.
Rosie started to well up and Caroline, comforted her with a hug, which was interrupted by the surprise arrival of Ed and Fiona.
They slammed shut the doors on Ed's jeep and headed straight into the house.
"We have a solution!" Ed yelled excitedly.
"We do?!" Alice questioned.
"Yeah from the tests I've ran it appears to only be that specific supply of water that is dangerous to the animals, so we need to find a new place for a new watering hole." Fiona explained her research.
"That would take a few days though?" Danny said.
"Yes you're right but I have a presentation here to explain to the inspectors today what we intend to do, all I need now to finish it off is the new location for the watering hole." Fiona further explained.
With that in mind Danny, Fiona, Rosie and Dup headed off to explore the estate for where the best place would be for the new watering hole. Meanwhile Ed and Alice went to check up on the sick animals.
"They don't appear to be any better than last night." Ed told Alice.
"I think you're right there Ed. If anything I think their condition has worsened." Alice said in a sad tone.
They checked up on all the other animals and came to the conclusion that, yes all of them had become worse.
"Right I think we need make sure they are further hydrated, plus I feel as if a full internal clean would do them some good." Ed suggested.
"You mean the animal version of colonic irrigation?!" Alice asked.
"Yes, exactly that." Ed replied.
About an hour later Danny, Fiona, Dup and Rosie returned. They had found an ideal spot for the new watering hole and that it would be situated about 5 miles behind Leopard's Den, closer than the current one is.
"Ah well thank god for that, no more worry's then eh?!" Ed implied.
"Well I need to get back to Mara to finish of my presentation, you guys best get to work on trying to heal some of the animals before the inspectors arrive." Fiona stated.
"Yes, that's an idea. Alice and I already have a plan of action and we need you and Rosie's help Danny, if you wouldn't mind?" asked Ed.
"Yeah of course, we need to get things up and running sooner rather than later." Danny replied.
"Dup I need you to go and check on all the other animals to see if they have caught the disease, just to be on the safe side." Ed said to Dup.
"Right I shall get on it straight away." Dup answered.
Just as he replied Fatani and Olivia arrived. "Ah Fatani, just the man I need! We have some animals to be checking up on!" exclaimed Dup.
So Dup and Fatani headed off on their rounds. Olivia approached Danny and asked him what she could do to help.
"Well, Liv, Nomsa and Caroline are taking care of refreshments over here at Leopard's Den. So once Fiona has finished her presentation for the inspectors you could help her set up the refreshments and other stuff at Mara that would be great!" Danny proposed.
"Sure I'll head over there right now!" agreed Olivia.
No sooner had she set off to Mara, than did the inspectors arrive. Two black Range Rovers pulled up at the doorsteps of Leopard's Den. One of the inspectors was Dr Bloom who had previously been to the reserve.
"Hello Danny, it is a pleasure to see that you have managed to regain your land!" Dr Bloom smiled.
"How lovely to see you too Dr Bloom! Yes isn't it just great! Except as you know, we do need an alternate source of funding, and we would also love National Park Status." Danny pointed out.
The first visit was to the animal hospital, where Rosie, Alice and Ed were busy treating the sick animals. Danny sheepishly explained to the group of 7 stern looking inspectors and Dr Bloom what was going on. They took notes on the issue whilst Danny reassured them, there was a plan in place to combat the situation.
"Oh my god, Ed look the warthog has just gone unconscious!" Alice cried.
The inspectors let out a loud gasp, while Ed tried to deal with the situation. "You go and make sure the lioness I was operating on is okay, I can handle this" Ed told her.
Danny's face became ghost like. "Dad you just continue with the inspection and we can take care of things here."
Out in the bush Dup and Fatani were checking up on the animals and had already found a few giraffe and zebra corpses. "Oh bloody hell, Fatani we better clear them up!" Dup declared.
"What us? Move animal corpes?" Fatani asked disgusted.
"No, we are going start a fire and BBQ them for lunch you blithering idiot! OF COURSE WE ARE GOING TO MOVE THEM FATANI, THE BLOODY INSPECTORS CAN'T POSSIBLY SEE THIS! There are rubber gloves in the back of the truck, put them on and stop you're blathering!" Dup cried.
"And with this being the new location for the watering hole, there should be no risk to our eco-system or our animals, making the reserve safe and cholera free." Fiona reassured the inspectors as she concluded her presentation.
Danny's radio went off with Rosie's voice on the other end. "Dad come quick it's the black rhino that Ed and I darted yesterday, it's not looking good!" Rosie pled.
"Hold on love we're on our way!" Danny replied.
The men left the inspectors in the care of Fiona and Olivia but being inspectors they wanted to see what was going on. They took off back into their vehicles and followed Danny and Ed with gusto.
When they got the animal hospital they saw all four of the vets racing around frantically. Danny and Ed were dealing with the rhino whilst Rosie and Alice were now treating a zebra.
"Ed up the dosage of antibiotics please. He's gonna need them to pull through." Danny stated.
"On it." Ed answered.
Once Ed had finished that and was back on his knees treating the rhino he said to Danny. "Now you see if I had an animal hospital at Mara it would have been easier to treat this rhino because their patch of land on the reserve is closer to Mara than Leopard's Den!"
Danny's face went red with rage! "How dare you! How dare you! Here we are operating and trying to help an endangered species! One of our most treasured animals and all you care about is a damn animal hospital over at Mara. We haven't got the funds Ed, so shut your mouth and stay focused!" Danny shouted as loud as he could.
The inspectors all looked at each other, with blank expressions on their faces.
"He's stable again, looks as though he'll be just fine in a few days with the increase in medication." Danny said, having composed himself.
The inspectors gave a rapturous round of applause for the men. Cheering them and congratulating them on what they had just done.
A short while later everybody was in the living room of Leopard's Den, anxiously awaiting the inspectors verdict.
Dr Bloom came into the room and said "On behalf of everyone who came to inspect the Leopard's Den and Mara endangered species project we would like to congratulate you all on achieving National Park Status."
Everyone's faces lit up with glee! They were thrilled.
Dr Bloom continued "This is a much more driven and enthusiastic place now. You are equipped with the best possible staff and you are all very efficient in what you do and strive for. We have awarded you extra funding as we would like you to also offer accommodation at both Leopard's Den and Mara Lodge once again and also run this place as a joint game reserve like they both were once before. It has been a pleasure seeing you all again and meeting some new people. I look forward to seeing you at the official opening of the project and game reserve when everything that needs to be done has been completed!"