A few months ago, in the heart of the savanna in Central Africa, on a river bank, there met a rhino called Kubwa, meaning 'large' in Swahili, and an elephant shrew named Mwepesi. The rhinoceros was large and heavy, and when she walked the earth trembled. Kubwa was beautiful, with a big horn she proudly displayed. Her eyesight was rather poor though, and she nearly stepped on the little sengi by the water hole. Mwepesi shrieked with terror seeing a big foot approaching her and the rhino froze not to step on him.
'Who are you that you shriek so unpleasantly, hurting my ears?' asked Kubwa.
'I'm Mwepesi, which means swift in Swahili.'
'I know what it means,' responded a slightly offended rhino, 'What I don't know is why you scream so loud and where are you?'
'I'm here,' responded the elephant shrew jumping in front of the rhino's horn on its head. 'I'm small but my eyes and my ears are very sharp! I forgive you for nearly stepping on me because I realise you can't see really well.'
'Let me look at you!' replied Kubwa with interest, adding after a moment 'You are a strange creature, but I like you so I think we should become friends,' proposed the rhino.
'I've never had such a big friend as you! That could be really cool. I'm in!' agreed the sengi happily.
'I've never seen a mouse with an elephant's trunk! So we are even, I guess,' laughed Kubwa. 'Well, next time I'm here, I will watch out for you. See you soon my strange hairy friend!' concluded the rhino and she jumped into water making a big splash.
'Phew, that was close!' Mwepesi sighed, jumping off the rhino just in time not to land in water with her.
'I'm here! I'm here! Don't make a move,' shouted the little elephant shrew seeing her friend Kubwa approaching.
And lucky that moment was, because, to Mwepesi's utter horror, a lizard jumped at him that very moment but ran away seeing the huge rhino about to step on both.
'Phew, that was close!' called the little elephant shrew to her huge friend. 'You just saved my life, you know!'
'Jump on my head,' suggested Kubwa.
And as soon as little Mwepesi did so, the big rhino started stomping her legs so so heavily that all the animals in the vicinity ran away, led by the terrified lizard.
'Hahaha! that was fun!' the little sengi laughed squeakily.
'It sure was!' Kubwa joined in with a hearty deep laughter nearly blowing her friend off her shaking face.
The unlikely friendship flourished and the two friends spent a fun afternoon together around the river. When Kubwa was swimming, Mwepesi sat in front of the horn on her friend's head enjoying the cool air coming from the water. The little sengi tickled the rhino with her tail in return.
Days passed and whenever the two met they always had a great time together. One day, there was a bit of a commotion and some animals scattered in uncertainty and others hid in fear; all observing the vehicle approaching in the distance. The little sengi had a very sharp eyesight and he noticed hunters with big guns driving towards the river. He ran, he ran as fast as he could! And he could run three times as fast as a cheetah! Mwepesi knew Kubwa's life was in danger and he was not going to allow them to hurt her. But what could he do?
'Hide, hide my friend!' shouted the elephant shrew from a distance before he even reached the rhino. 'Humans are coming to get you!' he exclaimed out of breath, reaching Kubwa at last.
'How can I hide? I'm too big to hide!' replied the terrified rhino in a trembling voice.
'Oh, that's true! I didn't think of it,' whispered Mwepesi, realising this method worked for him because he was tiny. 'So what shall we do?' he asked her friend with fear and expectation in his eyes.
'Nothing, I can run but they'll get me anyway. They already killed most of my family. They are cruel and they do it just for fun, you know! They won't eat my meat or use my skins. All they want is my horn and a bit of fun. They call it safari...' concluded the rhino with resignation.
'No, I won't let you give up just yet. Please run my friend and I will think of something. I promise!' said the tiny sengi bravely.
Mwepesi jumped into the nearby bush and soon enough he caught a locust too busy devouring the leaves of the plant to notice him.
'I will let you go free and I will promise never to catch another locust again in my life if you help me and my friend,' offered the sengi to her prospective victim.
'What do you want me to do in return?' asked the surprised insect.
'I would like you and all your friends in the swarm to scare away the humans. Eat everything they have, surround them and their car, and buzz so loud that their ears will hurt!' concluded the shrewd little sengi. 'Can you promise me that?'
'It will be my pleasure! Humans spray so many toxic pesticides around that not only we die of them, all other insects including bees, beetles and even birds perish in agony. Many plants and soil suffer, too. It's payback time!!' laughed the locust flying away not to waste a minute.
'Fly my friend! Fly and be swift because my rhino friend's life depends on you!' encouraged Mwepesi but the locust couldn't hear him moving away at a great speed.
The locust disappeared swiftly and when Mwepesi was starting to regret letting the insect go thinking the locust tricked him, a swarm appeared on the horizon. It was so huge and dark that it nearly covered the sky and the sun. They surrounded the car of the hunters and one could hear the terror of the humans screaming, packing and fleeing as quickly as they could. A few minutes passed and humans were nowhere to be seen.
'It worked!' whispered the elephant shrew to himself in silence. He couldn't believe that he managed to save his friend and outsmart the biggest predator on Earth. The brave little sengi found her friend after a long afternoon of searching and they've been celebrating their weird, beautiful and successful friendship ever since.
