Dr Sam, as her friends called her hadn't long graduated from Gottingen University with a PhD in Astronomy. Ever since she could remember she'd been fascinated by sunsets, planets and stars. When Sam's uncle Fredrick, a renowned astronomer had given her a telescope for her seventh birthday, her fascination became an obsession. Looking back she could see her love of the night skies was born of those long September evenings when her uncle and her, wrapped up, warm in their duffel coats and woolly hats, against the chill of autumn, would spend hours staring out into space. She would listen fascinated as her uncle, in his element, pointed out the different heavenly bodies, telling her about the galaxies, and explaining how stars were born and what happened to them when they died. For not only was Sam's uncle an astronomer by profession, but astronomy itself was his passion, his life: little did Sam know, then, that she was destined to follow in his footsteps, his career path.
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Sam had been one of the fortunate ones selected to work at South Africa's Observatory in Sutherland. A rare treat as Sutherland's Astronomical Observatory was by far the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, allowing scientists to scour the universe recording distant stars, or as her uncle put it 'see the flame of a candle on a distant moon'. It truly was a privilege being able to wok as part of an international team in Sutherland's desert region of the Northern Cape.
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The observatory itself had four main telescopes, the largest a mirror some 1,9m in diameter and weighing 1,600kg ! South Africa's Astronomical Observatory, situated in a semi-arid mountainous region of the cape was so different from the bustle of the street and security light polluted cities, which effectively obliterated the beauty of the night skies, of her native Germany. The contrast between he home in Germany and here in Africa, with its quieter more restful pace of life, was vast she thought. Here also, the darkness of night was almost tangible. She often thought people just hadn't a clue as to what they were missing by rushing around and not taking time to gaze into the inky blue darkness of the night skies, quite apart from not being able to see the stars. Light pollution made life so difficult for astronomers like her to view, even relatively near earth objects, let alone distant galaxies.
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Sam was a keen photographer and had been promising herself, and family back home, to take time out to capture on film Sutherland's changing seasons. The weather, though, had been less than promising of late. Indeed, in the semi-arid mountainous region of the Northern Cape the climate was variable, in summer it was really quite hot whilst in winter it could fall well below zero.
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Today, though it was cold the winds had dropped making it an ideal day for Sam to slope of by herself into the Mountains. This had been the first day for several weeks she'd managed to steal some free time. She was used to mountains, but here they tended to be covered in snow for most of the year, making Sutherland one of the coldest spots on the cape. The air itself though was wonderfully fresh and had a haunting stillness about it particularly at that point, that moment in time when evening gave way to night. Here in Africa there was something special, almost, magical about night. The moment, though was fleeting and one had to be ready, watching the sky intently, if there was to be any chance of catching it on film.
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Amidst the beauty of sunset and night skies, was another world, one Sam like many in the west rarely came into contact with. A world of hunger of fear of bloodshed and pain. Strangely, until this moment though, Sam had given no thought to the possibility of danger lurking out amongst the mountains, kokerbome's and fig trees until, faintly in the back of her mind she thought she caught the sound of movement, a scratching- rustling sort of sound, one which made her hold her breath so as to hear better the faint sound of breaking twigs and rustling leafs.
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Certainly, she knew there were Elephants, Lions and other large animals not so far away, as she's been taken on a Safari park trip to Karoo when she first arrived, but then Karoo was a good few miles away from where she was now. What if the rustling wasn't caused by an animal, she thought, maybe it was a tourist a treker or biker, enjoying the criss-crossed mountains, hills and valleys of Sutherland. For that matter it could be poachers she thought, traders in skin and bones, depraved specimens of humanity who stalked,killed and hideously maimed their prey so as to feed the vanity and wants of a, pitiless, fashion conscious world. Sam knew these things happened despite the best efforts of game wardens but the thought of such ugliness happening here in amongst the mountainous beauty of the Northern Cape made her shudder. At that moment, somehow,the thought of meeting up with man seemed less reassuring than facing a wild animal, at least they only killed for food unless cornered. Trying, desperately, to calm her fears Sam turned, slowly, to meet her potential attacker. There gazing at her with deeply soft, fearfully curious eyes, highlighted by brown, tear shaped, face markings contrasting starkly against the paleness of her fawney brown face was the most beautiful springbok Sam had ever seen. How long she had been there was anybody's guess, though Sam thought it might have been some time. Possibly she had been waiting, quietly for Sam to move away but been discovered when her young foal scuffed the undergrowth in her needed to suckle.
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Gently, slowly, Sam reached for her camera, desperate to capture the moment on film as a sense of pure joy swept through her banishing the fear and terror she had felt just moments before at the thought of confronting Africa's wildlife.