Day 9

Jim and I called Bomassa again to confirm what had become of our fall back plan of meeting up with Tina and Richard in Lijombo. It will take us an hour to get to Lijombo over land, but it will be a four hour motorized boat ride for Tina and Richard. At the radio shack (literally), despite having a pre-arranged time, it was often hit and miss whether we actually got through to the desired party. Messages were often left with others. That was the case today - no luck reaching them, so we set up another call at 6:00 p.m. tonight.

Since our arrival in central Africa, we have discovered that just about everything is difficult here: communication (because of both language and method), money exchange (no credit cards accepted, travelers checks only in Bangui if you really insist, they were worthless in Bayanga), dealing with locals when figuring out fees, plans, etc. With the amount of confusion we had encountered in Bangui, it's a wonder anyone came here at all!

After the attempt at the radio, William took us into town so we could get some shots of the village, logging roads, etc. At the marketplace, no one consented to have their picture taken without first being paid. Since we weren't willing to pay we soon discovered this was not going to work. One local did bring over a duiker (a small antelope) to be videoed before being prepared for dinner. Got it-duiker on a dish.

The village itself was much more primitive than I had imagined. Houses were roughly constructed wooden walls and thatched roofs-often with holes in both. Trash was strewn around everywhere and young children, goats, and chickens were sprinkled throughout. Businesses like restaurants, bars and even a movie house were merely larger areas surrounded by boards. Sometimes a few plants could be seen, having been placed to add atmosphere to the area. Other than the few strategically placed plants, the overwhelming color was brown. Light brown wood huts, dried palm leaf brown thatched roofs and sandy brown dirt.

These Bayangans lived very simply. They either hunted, grew much of their own food, or were lucky enough to be employed by WWF or Doli Lodge. A few, like William, were industrious, and built and expanded their own businesses. William has started a beer distributorship, and has plans to open a movie house with a partner. His goal is to save enough to buy a ticket to the U.S. where he hopes to scout additional business opportunities. As we walked, we met a few of his friends - young and happy even as we saw how little they all had. We showed them our video camera and they enjoyed watching the monitor as the camera recorded. They were amazed by the technology. We tried a quick fun segment and they joked and laughed and said, "good bye" but not before posing for a picture with my still camera. I promised to send the prints to William.

On the return trip through town William wanted to take us to see his house and to meet his wife. He had one of the most sturdily built houses in town with a porch overhang, surrounded by a wood fence, landscaped with a few plants and a couple trees in front and a garden in back. In contrast with the rest of the town, William's house and yard were free of litter and well taken care of. His wife was shy but beautiful and they were very proud of their home. William was going places to be sure!

Jim and I returned to Doli to eat lunch and prepare for the afternoon of filming out at Dzanga-Bai one last time. We hoped Peter had had a successful morning of capturing gorillas and perhaps other animals on film.

Unfortunately, after meeting up with Pete, we learned that even after eight hours of sitting, and tracking gorillas, we still didn't have one on film. Pete said he could hear them all around him "making monkey sounds and beating on their chests." He had carried a pack, camera and tripod over a grueling, bug-filled seven miles! It was one of his hardest days of work ever-and nothing to show for it. Pete took it all in stride as that's the life of a cameraman I guess. I had brought some water, bread and cheese for him which he chowed down. We were careful to either share food and drink with the locals or not eat in front of them. They were always hungry. Pete shared the water bottle which was soon empty.

Off to film the elephants again, and the final segments we needed. It seemed that today everyone was a little off, a little tired and we were also rushed by the short amount of time we had left after picking up our gorilla contingency. I felt the segments were not as energetic as usual so I hope they look OK Jim got thirsty and went for the bottle of water. Just as he took a big gulp, Pete warned him that the bottle had been refilled with "river" (to use the best possible term) water. Jim then looked at the particulate suspended in the bottled water and gagged. The "river" was prime virus and bacteria breeding area - not to mention the amount of elephant waste being literally dumped into it daily! The books say never to touch this water much less drink it. Pete and I kept a close watch on Jim for the next couple days. Jim began taking his emergency antibiotics.

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