Chapter 249 Ivory
A local guide familiar with the language of the Maasai translated them: "There are about one hundred and fifty people in this Maasai village, and thirty young people have joined the anti-poaching activities, and private hunting grounds and national parks have given them work. They are about an hour away."
"What animals are they going to deal with?" Matthew asked.
The guide asked the leader and then translated: "He said that two injured hippos appeared near the village, which threatened the safety of his people and herds of cattle and was expelled, so he needed to summon young warriors to kill the hippos. He also said that this was the legal counterattack power given to them by the government."
Because hippos are timid and have a temper, the probability of hurting people is very high, even higher than beasts such as lions and leopards. The lions are even far away from humans, especially the Maasai people. However, hippos think they are the best in the world, and not only invade other people's territory, but also attack humans.
The Maasai people are not powerful, and the hippos really treat them as sick cats.
Everyone chatted under the translation of the guide. 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 charge money every time, they have indeed learned the essence of a civilized society. However, there are also some very traditional places, such as polygamy.
Polygamy is very common in Africa. How many wives can a Maasai marry depends on how many cows there are in the family. Generally, ten cows can marry a wife, and the leader Zama has forty cows, so he has four wives. He also proudly took them to visit the house he built with cow dung and soil. It was very dark and depressing. If you want to take a photo, you have to turn on a flash. It is hard to imagine how tall Maasai people can tolerate such an environment.
During the chat, the warriors from the village returned.
The Marseilles gave An Feng the impression that they were all very tall. It is said that they were 1.9 meters tall and their legs were particularly long, not those sissy long-legged Oppas. The Marseilles were covered with dark muscles, demonstrating their courage and toughness. Before the hunting ceremony, they first "draw strength".
Commonly known as drinking cow blood.
The cow is a live cow, and the blood is warm. They stabbed the cow with their sharp knife, kneeling beside the cow and sucking the blood. They thought it was a sacred way to gain power, and the leader Zama also recommended that they take a sip, but everyone politely refused. How many bacteria does this thing have?
More than 20 warriors changed into casual clothes and brought about hundreds of "javelins". They were cut from wood, and the sharp end was sharp iron sheets. This was their most commonly used and traditional weapon. Each person set out with two javelins, and the hippo invaded was two kilometers away from the village.
To be on the safe side, An Feng and the others drove there.
I heard from Zama that several hippos had been driven away a few days ago, but two of them had been occupying this place and could not drive them away, leaving them with nowhere to fetch water, so they had no choice but to return to their old business. An Feng and the others were indeed lucky. Not everyone can see the Maasai hunting in this era.
The two kilometers journey is soon completed.
Zama pointed out the pool where hippos were moving. Surrounded by grass with green legs, the mud pond that was blackened by hippos appeared in front of them. They stopped close. Everyone climbed onto the roof of the car, sat on it with a telescope and a camera, waiting for the original scene.
The Marseille Warriors are developing plans. Hippos are a dangerous creature no less than lions. What's more terrifying is that they have to face many changes in the water, so it took a few minutes to formulate the plan. The Marseille people walked side by side and slowly walked towards the pond, with the javelin in their hands shining coldly.
Both hippos floated on the water. They were basking in the sun leisurely, but did not realize the danger was coming. Almost in an instant, the first Marseille warrior threw the javelin in his hand. He was very powerful - the javelin was directly inserted on the hippo's back! Then it was like an explosion. The Marseille instantly surrounded him, and more than a dozen javelins threw at the floating hippo. Some fell to the hippo's back and bounced away, and some successfully inserted it on it... The hippos were furious and tumbling, and the mud and water around him splashed like rain. The empty-handed Marseille immediately retreated, followed someone holding the javelin to fill it up, and when the angle was right, he threw the javelin onto the hippo again.
The scene was extremely intense and thrilling! The hippos in the mud pool were rolling and roaring, opening their terrifying bloody mouth. The bold Marseilles stepped forward at close range and threw the javelins, almost one or two meters apart. Any mistake would turn into minced meat under the hippo's mouth.
They retreated after throwing the javelin. They were very agile. No matter how the hippo rolled, it would be useless to open their mouths and bite people. The number of javelins on it exceeded ten. Except for the initial outbreak, the bleeding and physical exhaustion gradually made it unable to hold on. Two javelins were shot on the body, and the hippo sank.
But the hippo on the other side was obviously much more violent. Faced with the dense javelin offensive, it climbed up from the mud pond and rushed towards the crowd. Everyone retreated, holding the javelin high and shouting, and its momentum was not inferior to the hippo. The movement ability of the hippo after it came ashore was slowed down, and what puts pressure on people was its big mouth that was enough to swallow a person and those thick teeth.
The Maasai cooperated tacitly and withdrew empty-handedly. He stepped forward with a javelin in his hand, and they were all inserted into the hippo at close range. The giant opened his mouth to bite, but was stabbed into the mouth by the javelin, and he couldn't close it. More javelins stabbed it, and even more bold Maasai grabbed the javelin on its body, poked it hard, and then a group of people surrounded it and pointed it at its head. After a few moments, the hippo died.
Then the Maasai cheered, sang and danced around their prey. After four or five minutes, two beasts that were incomparable to ordinary people died under the intensive javelin attack. An Feng felt that if this group of people went to the Olympics, the javelin throwing event would be very strong.
There is also running, the horses are long legs, flexible and fast.
The hunting ended in cheers and dances.
The hunting methods of the Maasai are very bloody, which has brought a lot of public pressure. However, An Feng feels that this is Africa, their way of survival for hundreds of years. If Africans also stand on the moral high ground and attack the Western diet, such as the French taking foie gras, it will be very interesting.
The tribal leader also invited them to stay and share the food, but given that the previous cow blood was said to be a sacred power, the food was probably not much better, so they refused. While it was still early, they bid farewell to this primitive and fierce village and returned to a civilized society.
...
The next morning, the local government informed Bazer of a message.
The group of poachers were taken over in a nest.
An Feng heard what the black officials said, these guys were very fierce, with armed poachers, and there were quite a few people. The last time they were sniped by An Feng, they often operated in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. They not only poached, but also killed several soldiers who discovered them.
After a raid, they destroyed the poachers' homes and confiscated more than 700 ivory pieces, with a total weight of more than 2.5 tons. In terms of black market value, it is more than two million US dollars, but this is just the "factory price" to go out of Africa. Poachers sell an ivory weighing thirty or forty kilograms, which can usually be exchanged for 500 to 2,000 US dollars. By smuggling away from Africa, they are sold to Asia, which is the region with the largest demand for ivory. Its value may be dozens or hundreds of times. Oriental people cannot resist these snow-white and delicate temptations.
Orientals like ivory, just as Westerners cannot resist the charm of diamonds, countless bloody deaths occurred in order to make profits. For diamonds, Africa suffered heavy casualties in the last century. The "leave long sleeves and short sleeves" in Lion Mountain (Sierra Leone) is famous all over the world with blood diamonds; while ivory also caused the lives of Africa to suffer.
Black officials said a lot about the foreign tourists who discovered poachers and captured them, namely An Feng and others, specially invited them to visit the government's display event, which will show the world the ivory obtained by these poachers massacre elephants, in order to call on more people to join the anti-poaching operation.
Anyway, the distance is not too far, and Bazer also had friendship with senior local government officials, so he participated in the exhibition. The location was in the Serengeti National Park. Government soldiers gathered the confiscated ivory in a small village, and there were reporters, news media, as well as officials from the country.
There were some gun-carrying security guards behind them, and the president of Tanzania also appeared. Everyone looked at the ivory all over the ground. Due to the blood and soil, they could no longer see that it was originally pure and flawless, but seeing so many numbers still makes people feel indignant.
The event lasted for a long time, and An Feng asked Bazer beside him curiously: "How did the government deal with these ivory?"
"Usually, after registration, it is sold in a centralized manner. These things are useless. Sales can be exchanged for some money and used in the protection of wild animals." Bazer said, looking at An Feng, "Bruce, are you interested in these ivory?"
An Feng nodded. Anyway, everyone sold it, and a lot of the money he got was spent on anti-poaching work. It can be regarded as the contributions of these dead elephants to their compatriots.
Bazer said: "It's okay. I also want to collect one or two large ivory pieces. We will talk to the president later and discuss with him."
Bazer was very important. After the special interview and report were over, the president returned to stay in the hotel in Serengeti, and they followed and arranged a private meeting. President Hassan had no airs and was approachable, and he also thanked them for their contributions.
Hassan said: "We wouldn't have tracked down this group of poachers without your actions. Thank you, Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Ann."
Both Sinclairs and an Andyn were smiling.
Chapter completed!