Impressum

c/o Barbara’s Autorenservice

Tüttendorfer Weg 3

24214 Gettorf

Germany

Text and illustrations by Doris Thomas

Translated from German to English by Christine Sawinski

Cover by Doris Thomas (with kind permission of Verlag an der ESTE)

www.Doris-T.de

ISBN: 9783754651018

Acknowledgements

Without mentioning individual names, I would like to thank the following (everyone will know if they are meant):

For every support, for the interest, for the respect of my work, for the motivation, for any kind of encouragement and especially to the many children for their sincere enthusiasm.

I am grateful to my editor at the time for a pleasant and effective collaboration.

To the publishing house at ESTE I owe the great success of the Zabu adventures and the courage I gained through them to tackle many more book projects.

The Journey Begins

The sea had been very calm for a few days now. There was hardly any wind and only small waves moved the water surface. Zabu and his family were swimming in a small bay. They were swimming because they lived in the water. They were orcas. Mighty, big mammals that spend all their lives in the water and still have to surface for breathing. Zabu was the first son of Mira, their leader. He had been living with her and other close relatives since his birth. Zabu had two younger siblings; his entire family consisted of 17 orcas.

Many years ago Zabu had once been separated from his family. He only found them again after some exciting adventures. Now he was grown up. He was big and strong, and his dorsal fin rose from the water almost two meters high. When the sunbeams fell on his wet, black skin, the fin glistened like the giant sword of a knight. This is the reason why orcas are called “sword whales” (Schwertwale) in German. But only fully grown males have such an impressive, large fin. The female fin is smaller and shaped like a sickle.

Zabu was the oldest and biggest male in the family. It was about time for him to separate from his mother for a while and go his own ways. This was an old tradition amongst orcas. When a male orca was grown up he wandered about on his own for some time and visited other orca groups. Zabu was not afraid because he had learned during his adventurous journey how easy it was to find new friends. During the time of separation from his family he had even met some other whale species and made friends with them.

Thus it was a beautiful day for Zabu, when he said good-bye to his mother and the other relatives to turn his back on the quiet bay. Mira gazed after him for a long time. She was neither sad nor worried even though Zabu was leaving the shelter of his family. Her son was quite safe because orcas have no natural enemies in the sea. Only humans represent a danger to orcas. But Zabu had learned to avoid them.

The longing for old friends and new adventures tempted Zabu to go far away. With strong up-and-down movements of his tail fin he propelled himself forward and shot through the water as fast as a motor boat. Nothing could hold Zabu back now.

Danger in the Ice

Zabu swam in a northerly direction for a few days. The surrounding water became colder and colder during his journey. Zabu was hoping to meet his amusing friend Gal in this area. This time he would take care not to be fooled by the beluga’s spooky white appearance. He listened to the sounds of the sea attentively. It was never quiet. There were many different things to be heard. Natural sounds like the roar of the breakers on the shore or the far-away rumbling of a volcano. Various sounds made by fish under water and the occasional hissing of underwater currents.

Then there were also unnatural sounds. Amongst others there were the humming of the engines of the many boats and freighters, the buzzing of ships’ turbines or the banging near oil platforms. This unpleasant and sometimes painful noise was caused by humans.