A local guide who is familiar with the Maasai language translates for them: "There are about 150 people in this Maasai village, and 30 of them are young people who have joined the anti-poaching campaign, and they have been given jobs in private game grounds and national parks. I'll be back in about an hour. ”

"What animals are they going to deal with?" Matthew asked.

The guide asked the chief, and then translated: "He said that there were two wounded hippos near the village, threatening the safety of his people and the cattle, and they could not be driven out, so he needed to gather young warriors to kill the hippos." He also said it was a legitimate power of the government to give them the right to fight back. ”

Because the hippopotamus is timid and short-tempered, the probability of it hurting people is very high, even higher than lions and leopards and other fierce beasts, lions will stay away from humans, especially Maasai people, but hippos think that they are the first in the world, not to mention invading other people's territory, but also attacking humans.

The Maasai people are not powerful, and the hippos really treat them like sick cats.

Everyone chatted under the interpretation of the guide, and the Maasai people in this village are still relatively able to integrate into civilization - judging from the fact that they accept tourists to visit and collect money every time, they have indeed learned some of the essence of civilized society. However, there are also some very traditional places, such as polygamy.

Polygamy is very common in Africa, and the number of wives that the Maasai can marry depends on how many cows there are in the family, generally ten cows can marry one wife, and the chieftain Zama has forty cows, so he has four wives. He proudly showed them around his house made of cow dung and mud, which was so dark and oppressive that you had to flash to take a picture, and it was hard to imagine how a tall Maasai could endure such an environment.

During the chat, the warriors of the village returned.

The impression given to An Feng by the Maasai people is that they are all very tall, it is said that the average height is 1.9 meters, and the legs are particularly long, not the long-legged Oba of those sissies. The Maasai are full of dark muscles, showing their bravery and fierceness, and they "draw strength" before the hunting ceremony.

It is commonly known as drinking cow blood.

Cattle are live cattle and their blood is warm. They stabbed the ox with their sharp knives and knelt beside the cow to suck the blood. Thinking that it was a sacred way to obtain the amount of power, the leader Zama also recommended that they also take a sip, but everyone politely refused. How many germs this thing gets!

More than two dozen warriors changed into civilian clothes and brought about 100 "javelins" with them. It is cut from wood, and the pointed end is a sharp piece of iron. This is their most common and traditional weapon, each with two javelins, and the hippopotamus invades just two kilometers from the village.

To be on the safe side, An Feng and they drove there.

Listen to Zama. A few days ago, several hippos had been driven away, but two of them had been occupying the place, and they couldn't get rid of it, so they had nowhere to get water, so they had no choice but to return to their old business. An Feng: They are indeed lucky, not everyone can see the Maasai hunting in this era.

The two-kilometer journey was completed quickly.

Zama pointed out to them the pool where the hippos were active, and surrounded by a calf-green grass, a muddy pond turned black by the hippos appeared before them. Close parking. Everyone climbed onto the roof of the car and sat on it with binoculars and cameras. A primitive scene awaits.

The Marseille warriors are working on a plan. Hippos are no less dangerous than lions, and what is even more terrifying is that they need to face a lot of changes in the water, so it took a few minutes to make a plan. The Maasai walked side by side, slowly towards the pond, their javelins glowing with cold light.

Both hippos float on the water. Basking in the sun leisurely, not realizing the danger coming, almost instantly, the first Marseille warrior threw the javelin in his hand, and he had a lot of power - the javelin was directly inserted into the hippopotamus's back! It was like an explosion. The Maasai instantly surrounded him, and more than a dozen javelins were thrown at the floating hippos, some missed, some were bounced off the hippopotamus's back, and some were successfully inserted into it...... The hippopotamus was instantly furious, churning, and the muddy water around it splashed like rain, and the empty-handed Maasai immediately retreated, followed by someone holding a javelin to make up for it, and when the angle was right, he threw the javelin at the hippopotamus again.

The scene is extremely intense and thrilling! The hippos in the muddy pool rolled, roared, and opened their terrible bloody mouths, and the daring Maasai stepped forward to throw javelins at close range, almost a meter or two apart, and any one of them would turn into minced meat under the hippopotamus's mouth.

They retreated after throwing the javelin, very dexterous, no matter how the hippopotamus rolled, opening its mouth to bite to no avail, the number of javelins on its body exceeded ten, except for the initial outburst, the bleeding and physical exertion gradually made it unable to support, and two more javelins were shot on the body, and the hippopotamus sank.

But the hippopotamus on the other side was obviously much more furious, and in the face of the dense javelin attack, it got up from the mud pond and rushed towards the crowd, and everyone retreated in unison, holding their javelins high and shouting, and the momentum was not inferior to that of the hippopotamus at all. The hippopotamus's ability to move slowed as it landed, and the pressure was its large mouth large enough to swallow a man, and its thick teeth.

The Maasai cooperated tacitly, withdrawing empty-handed, and stepped forward with a javelin, all of which were inserted into the hippopotamus at close range, and the behemoth opened its mouth to bite, but was stabbed into the mouth by the javelin, and the result was not closed. More javelins stabbed at it, and even more daring Maasai grabbed the javelins on it, poked hard, and then a group of people surrounded it, aimed at the head and stabbed it, and in a few moments, the hippopotamus whimpered.

Then the Maasai cheered, sang and danced around their prey, and after four or five minutes, two fierce beasts that were invincible to ordinary people died under the dense javelin attack, and An Feng felt that if this group went to the Olympics, the javelin throwing event must be very strong.

There is also running, where the Maasai have long legs, are flexible and fast.

Amidst cheers and dancing, the hunt ends.

The hunting methods of the Maasai people are very bloody, which has also brought a lot of public opinion pressure, but An Feng feels that this is Africa, their way of living for hundreds of years, if Africans also stand on the moral high ground and attack the Western way of eating, such as the French taking foie gras, it will also be very interesting.

The tribal leader also invited them to stay and share the food, but given that the blood of the ox in front of them was said to be a divine power, it was estimated that the food was not much better, so they refused. While it was still early, he bid farewell to this primitive and fierce village and returned to civilized society.

……

The next morning, the local government informed Bazel of the news.

The poachers were taken in a litter.

An Feng listened to what the black officials said, these guys are very fierce, armed poachers, there are a lot of them, and the last time An Feng sniped was only a part, they often operate in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, not only poaching, but also killing several soldiers who found them.

After a raid, they destroyed the poachers' dens and seized more than 700 tusks, weighing more than 2.5 tons, more than two million dollars in terms of black market value, but this is only the "factory price" out of Africa, poachers sell a thirty or forty kilogram of ivory, which can usually be exchanged for 500 to 2,000 dollars, and through smuggling out of Africa, sold to Asia, which is the region with the greatest demand for ivory, its value may be tens or hundreds of times higher, and the Oriental people cannot resist these snow-white and delicate temptations=temptations.

Orientals love ivory, just as Westerners can't resist the allure of diamonds, and countless bloodshed and deaths have occurred for profit. For diamonds, Africa suffered heavy casualties in the last century, and the "long sleeves and short sleeves" of Lion Rock (Sierra Leone) followed by blood diamonds are famous all over the world; And for ivory, it has also devastated the lives of the African land.

Black officials have said a lot about the foreign tourists who have spotted the poachers and captured them, namely Anfeng, and invited them to visit the government's display of the ivory that these poachers have slaughtered to gather in order to call for more people to join the anti-poaching campaign.

Anyway, the distance is not too far, and Bazel also has a relationship with senior local government officials, so he participated in this exhibition. The seized ivory was gathered in a small village by government soldiers in the Serengeti National Park, along with journalists and news media, as well as officials from the country.

There were more security guards with guns in the back, followed by the president of Tanzania, and everyone looked at the ivory all over the place, because it was stained with blood and mud, it was no longer clear that it was white and flawless, but it was still indignant to see so many of them.

The activity lasted for a long time, and An Feng asked Bazel beside him curiously: "How does the government deal with this batch of ivory?" ”

"Under normal circumstances, after registration, they are sold in a centralized manner, and these things do not work if they are left alone, and they can be exchanged for some money to be used in the protection of wild animals." Bazel said, glancing at An Feng, "Bruce, you're also interested in these ivory?" ”

An Feng nodded, anyway, whoever sells is sold, and a lot of the money obtained is used for anti-poaching work, which can be regarded as the contribution of these dead elephants to their compatriots.

"That's fine, I'd like to collect one or two large tusks, and we'll talk to the president and talk to him later," Bazel said. ”

Bazel was so generous that after the special interview, the president and his entourage returned to their hotel in the Serengeti, and they followed to arrange a private meeting. President Hassan was unpretentious and approachable, and thanked them in particular for their contributions.

"We wouldn't have tracked down this group of poachers without your help, thank you, Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Ann," Hassan said. ”

Two Sinclair and one Ann were smiling.

They talked about some ways to dispose of the ivory, and Bazel promised to buy it at the market price, and will also pay an additional fee to donate it to the Anti-Poaching Foundation, so that the government can devote more energy to anti-poaching activities in Africa to save endangered wild elephant herds. (To be continued......)