A Tall Perch

I strode out from the lodge onto the dirt path, feeling the morning sun warm the soil. Before me rose a sun-baked earthen termite mound, tall and silent. I surveyed its textured flanks before taking deliberate strides upward. Reaching the summit, I paused. Spread out below were golden grasses swaying toward the distant acacia trees. A lone dry twig lay balanced near the mound's tip; with one calm tap of my toe, I set it rolling safely into the dust. From here, the entire plain is in clear view.