Africa 6: The Secret of the Giraffa Rock (1992)

***Africa VI: The Secret of Giraffa Rock*** is a 1992 direct-to-video animated adventure musical film and the sixth film in *Africa* series about five animals who live in the Nature Valley. It is the first film in which Amy Birnbaum is both the singing and speaking voice of Stampy. This was the second *Africa* direct-to-video film to be produced and directed by ???, and the South Korean studio AKOM's last overseas animation work on the franchise, as well as the final film to use traditional cel animation.

## Plot:

One night, Lenny's grandfather tells the children stories, the beginning of their world: in the Universe the smoke created the Milky Way Galaxy, and early life on Earth, even a legend about "The Lone Animal", a legendary Elephant (*Ethiopian Elephant*) who protected the Kupatana Valley from the most ferocious Lion (Masai Lion) to ever live. During the fight, the Lion was killed and the Lone Animal suffered a scar across his right eye. Soon after the battle, a huge monolith resembling a elephant with life-sized Lion teeth arranged around his neck came out of the ground during an earthquake. The Animals called it "Giraffa Rock". The legend also states that if anyone damages the monolith, bad luck would descend upon the Valley.

The next day, while the children are playing, Lenny accidentally falls off a cliff and is saved by a mysterious *Ethiopian Elephant* named Don. Lenny is intrigued by Don, who is scarred across one eye and displays prior knowledge of the Kupatana Valley's topography. This causes him to assume Don is the Lone Animal. He tells his friends this, narrating an apparently extemporaneous legend to support his assumption. Inspired, Cindy's infant niece and nephew, twins Daisy and Darwin, go to Giraffa Rock unnoticed. The next day, a worried Cindy informs Lenny that Daisy and Darwin are missing, and the group deduces where they are headed.

When Lenny and his friends finally reach Giraffa Rock, they see Daisy and Darwin on the top. As they climb up to rescue them, Daisy and Darwin fall off the top and land on one of the stone teeth on the monolith that Cindy is on, and it suddenly breaks off and crumbles upon landing on the ground nearly hitting Stan. Daisy and Darwin start to cry. But Cindy tells Daisy and Darwin that it is not their fault that Giraffa Rock was broken; but Lenny's since if he had not been talking about it and Don, then Daisy and Darwin would not have run away in the first place. The twins point out that it was she who told them to get lost due to what happened at the Bubbling Goo. Suddenly, an *African Black Leopard* chases them. The children cross a gorge via a suspended log, but when the Black Leopard tries to follows them, the log breaks under its weight and it falls to its apparent death. On the way home, they are confronted by Cindy's father; after Lenny tells Cindy that the twins are back and says that Cindy's father never knew that they ran away. Cindy's father comes up and asks Cindy if the twins really ran away. Cindy says, "Sort of. But they didn't go far". Dottie tells Cindy's father that Daisy and Darwin went to Giraffa Rock. Upon hearing that absurd comment from Dottie, he tells Cindy that it was her job to watch the twins but failed. He scolds Cindy for not properly caring for the twins. He says that he is very angry and disappointed and tells her to immediately march herself home. Then as Cindy marches herself home, he continues with his talk on her that she still must be watched herself. That night, Lenny has a nightmare in which he falls off a tooth on Giraffa Rock and the entire monolith collapses. Grandpa Elephant comforts his grandson after he wakes up from the nightmare, but Lenny asks him of what would happen if Giraffa Rock was broken. His Grandpa replies that "bad luck would descend upon the valley".

Over the next few days, incidents of bad luck plague the Valley, starting with the watering hole drying up. Then a tornado hits the valley, causing damage, but Cindy saves the twins and Don also saves Lenny. Daisy and Darwin tell Cindy's father of her courage for saving them, in which he tells his daughter that he is proud of her. Lenny's grandfather finds Don with his grandson. Don protected Lenny from the worst of the storm and his Grandpa thanks him. The adults, however, blame Don, as the misfortunes apparently occurred after his arrival, while Lenny blames himself and his friends, recalling the breaking of Giraffa Rock. Eager to exonerate Don, Lenny attempts to take one of the Leopard's teeth to replace the broken stone. In the process, he discovers the *African Black Leopard* is still alive. After temporarily escaping the *African Black Leopard*, Lenny is attacked by a *Masai Lion*, with his Grandpa intervening, having been led there by Lenny's friends. Soon, the *African Black Leopard* returns and works together with the *Masai Lion* to take down Grandpa Elephant and easily overpower him. However, Don comes to the rescue. The Leopard and Lion charge through and run into the rock spire and fall down. The two elephants work together to pull down the rock tower to crush the carnivores to death. One of the teeth from the *African Black Leopard* falls out, and the children use it to repair Giraffa Rock.

Don departs, remarking that Lenny already has a hero on whom to depend on, referring to his Grandpa. Lenny asks his Grandpa if the bad luck will finally be over. They both agree that while there is no such thing as bad luck, there is also no harm in making sure. Lenny and Cindy later build a legend of their own based on this new paradigm, portraying Grandpa Elephant as a hero and savior called "The Brave, Great Animal".