Travel with Jacline to the land of the zebras
…where she was called Bowana

Did you know that…

• a male zebra has a harem of about 50 females
• tsetse flies don't attack zebras because their black and white stripes blur their vision
• the baby zebra knows its mother by the stripes on her hindquarters, since the stripes on each animal are unique, like human fingerprints
• a zebra can run 65 km per hour
• a zebra weighs up to 200 kg
• predators attack zebras only by the rear… so to avoid them, zebras run close together to blend their stripes. Everything becomes muddled in the eyes of the predator so that he can no longer tell which end's up!

Instead of listening to Mozart before going to sleep as they do in movies, I allowed myself to be rocked by the rhythm of the tom-toms whose echoes were encircling my hut. I felt both vulnerable and strong, tiny and big. I had succeeded in overcoming my fears and mastering my heart. Since I had felled a lion with my 170 magnum they had called me "Bowana."

The night had seemed to last forever. I hadn't slept much because the elephants had been roaming around not far from my hut for hours. As dawn broke I finally closed my eyes. I was dozing when the houseboy came in with my tea, a ritual to which I had quickly become accustomed, but that morning, instead of lounging in bed as I had done every other morning (asking myself "Have I been dreaming?") this morning I didn't have time.

"Quick, Bowana, quick, the zebras are migrating. Come and see!"

I upset the tea, brusquely threw aside the mosquito net and jumped out of bed without the usual precautions - a snake might decide to share one's quarters during the night - and grabbed my dressing gown since I was naked. My appearance didn't seem to distract the boy.

"You all face," he told me. "I have eight wives."