National Geographic: Flight Over Africa Page #6

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She might survive

these wounds

but to a poacher,

her life is worth far less

than the sad stump at

he end of her nose.

Four days later,

Claytor receives a wire

from Janet Rachlow.

Despite all their efforts

Zola has died.

Back on his way,

Claytor returns to the

explorer's life.

He has decided to pay a visit

to an orphanage

for chimpanzees in Burundi.

Claytor heads north

toward Burundi.

But first he'll

cross Zambia,

and an area called

the Kafue Flats.

I'm now somewhere

over the Kafue swamps,

and as far as you can

see in every direction,

it's absolutely flat.

And it's this green patina

over dark blue water.

If you didn't see the

sun reflecting, you know

that it's just a green patina

of growth on top of

this vast swamp.

I think if you lost

your engine here

I'm not sure

how deep it is

but you'd probably just

mush into this green gunk

and just sit on top of the

wing and then try

to call someone.

You just can't crash here.

If he did crash here,

Claytor's tiny plane would be

almost impossible

to spot from the air.

The orange stripes on the tail

and wings are a safety measure.

If he goes down, the right

color might make it

easier to find him

in the empty terrain he frequents

Claytor hopes

he'll never have to

find out if it works.

And crashing isn't the

only thing a pilot

has to worry about.

I've had a couple

of close calls.

When I got to Algeria,

it was right after the

military took over.

And they thought that

a bush pilot

was a pilot for George Bush.

And right after

the gulf war,

George Bush was not a

very popular person.

I tried to quickly explain

that a bush pilot

had nothing at all

to do with George Bush.

Claytor decides to make

a brief stop in Zambia

to refuel and chart his course to Burundi.

Bueno Bungee.

How's everything here?

I am from Ndola,

but I needed to refuel.

Hello.

How are you?

Nice to meet you.

I'm Claytor...

We are just from

around here.

The lanky American is

an unusual sight

wherever he lands

and his grasp of African

languages is often

a crowd pleaser.

This is my first time

ever to come here.

It's nice to meet you.

Oh, it's very nice

to meet you.

When landing,

you're suppose to pay

something - a landing fee.

I can pay it.

How much should

I pay you?

I want to pay...

How much?

How many kilograms?

It's one ton.

U.S. dollars is that?

It's about

one U.S. dollar.

I understand that

Can I pay you

two U.S. dollars?

So is that okay?

This is more than okay.

Okay

no but please

the change is for you guys

You can have it.

Because landing

fees here are very reasonable...

so it's one cent.

These are for you to do

as you wish to improve your airport.

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