IT was a picture postcard evening. We were holidaying in Kenya, and after dinner, were seated on low, comfy sofas in front of a glass window overlooking a salt lick, waiting for the animals.

COME they did, through the night. Buffaloes, whole herds of them, with a belligerent papa guarding his harem and his heirs, deer, some startled, some brave, rhinos, a curious, pesky hyena and a rogue elephant which took serious umbrage to the fact that Papa Buffalo challenged him, and worked out his ire by sulking in the bushes and chasing the baby buffaloes instead.

AND while all this happened with the almost clockwork precision of a troupe of varying players coming and doing their bits on a lit stage, my attention was grabbed incessantly by a family of Egyptian geese. Papa Goose, bright of feather and sharp of eye, stood prouder and taller than the more boringly-feathered Mama, and Baby Goose was so tiny as to be almost a speck in the distance. Yet did he have the energy of the very young!

BUT let me begin at the beginning. When the first herd of buffalo decided to start moving around the salt lick, Papa Goose quickly took position. He stepped out and stood with his feet squarely on either side of the baby, with a step-on-me-first attitude, while Mama stood frozen into a watchful stance nearby.

WHEN the imminent danger passed, the family disbanded and relaxed. Slowly, the parents decided to sleep, taking turns of course. That was when Junior decided it was playtime. At a speed incredible for such tiny feet, Junior decided to take a swim. Off he went with the smoothness of a rocket to the little pond. Papa and Mama were awakened. Papa stopped short of the water and paced the bank, keeping in line with Junior who swam merrily along, followed by Mama at beak-touching distance. Swim over, Junior scrambled up the bank and went to roost at a distance from his original perch, at the far end of the lake.

THE buffaloes came and went, the elephant completed his act, and just as the stage emptied for a bit of quiet, Junior jumped into the water again.

REPEAT performance. Finally when Junior decided to sleep, the family gathered around and seemed to be done for the night.

EXCEPT for the hyena. It came sniffing around. Papa Goose spied him just in time. One tiny squawk of alarm and the three hurried on webbed feet into the water.

BEHIND glass, I sent up a hope and a prayer that hyenas were averse to water. Someone up there was listening as the buffaloes came back to distract the hyena, who went across to hassle them a bit. The geese stepped back onto land and hidden, watched the drama. Every time the hyena moved into their space, the trio would move toward the water; his retreat would have them walking back to the underbrush... almost like a weighted pulley of cause and effect.

IF it were not a matter of life and death, it could have been a fun pantomime from a Disney cartoon.

ALL night I watched this drama of almost human dimensions, anxious parents very aware of the lurking dangers, trying to keep a hyperactive ward safe from harm. They told me that this was a daily performance; I wondered when the parents got to sleep.

I NEED not have worried; a quick peek at 6 am found the salt lick almost empty except for a few grazing deer. In the distance was my pet family, asleep in comparative safety.