This series of pics goes with a story by Fernin.

Part 1:
Claire shifted uncomfortably in her sweat-soaked seat and glanced up at the merciless sun for the thousandth time. Yyyyeep, it was still hot as an oven out here. Even the breeze from the movement of the open-roofed land rover was like the sensual caress of a blast furnace. She pulled off her red baseball cap for a minute to wipe the sweat from her brow, but quickly replaced it—without its dubious shade, her pale skin would be as red as IT was.

Maritza grinned at her friend from under the shady brim of her pith helmet. “Hahaha, bet these things don’t look so stupid now, eh?” She chuckled at Claire’s discomfort, but not unkindly. “Do you want some more of my water? You look like you could use it.” She brushed a few errant drops of sweat off her own face. Unlike her pale safari partner, she was a shorter, deeply tanned girl—and had also dressed sensibly for the trip. Still, no reason for Maritza to make the poor girl suffer just because she hadn’t thought ahead when packing.

“What I could use,” Claire complained, “is a bath.” She waved one hand vaguely at the brown, baked grassland. “Know where we can find one around here?”

“Act-ually…” Maritza glanced at her map, then turned the wheel sharply and sped up, driving in a new direction.

Five minutes later—an eternity to the outdoors-adverse Claire—the two girls were parked in the shade of a large tree. “Ta-daaaa!” exclaimed Maritza as she leaped out of the rover. Below them was a drab, muddy little watering hole perhaps a dozen feet across.

Claire hesitantly climbed out of the dust-covered vehicle and surveyed her ‘bath.’ “It’s very… brown.” Her pants were already caked with dust, dirt, and gods new what from their ill-advised trek so far, but Claire could see that at a dip in that pool would add at least two rinse cycles.

“I know, isn’t it great?” skidding down the bank, Maritza plopped down on a bare spot of ground near the pool and started pulling her shoes off. “Come on, Claire, you city-slicker,” she laughed. “Give Africa a chance; it could grow on you.”

With a sigh, Claire ed her friend. Why she’d let the girl talk her into this trip, she’d never know. As far as Claire was concerned, nature was all very pretty as long as it stayed where it belonged—in National Geographic specials and beyond the suburbs. But she didn’t say so. If Maritza’s tomboyish enthusiasm wasn’t contagious, it at least made you feel like you’d kicked a playful little puppy if you told her ‘no.’

Claire groaned in relief as her bony posterior hit the soft earth next to Maritza. She pulled off her grimy shoes and salt-caked socks and massaged some life back into her toes. Her feet felt like they’d been through a belt-sander, and her toenails looked dark and misshapen. Many a pedicure would be needed to fix the day’s casualties. A quick glance over to her partner showed that Maritza’s feet looked a bit worse for wear too. Her toes were twisted and swollen, and her painted nails were practically claws! But for now, some easy relief. Claire dangled her toes in the water for a moment. It was heavenly. She shifted, putting her feet more fully in the cooling water.

Maritza coughed. Claire’s eyes snapped open again. She knew that cough, it meant that Maritza was up to something. But before she could react, a muddy tidal wave smacked her in the face.

TL;DR