DAY THIRTY
Up at 5.45am and bed tea at 6.15am. This time we are off for a walking safari. Set off intrepidly, guide carrying a sturdy metal pole, just in case of lively animals. Excitedly we spot leopard paw prints in the sand only a hundred yards or so into the excursion. A few steps on we spot a leopard spat, still gleaming in the sunshine.
We catch sight of wild boar and deer, frequent visitors to the land outside our little cottage. After a few kilometres, we veer off the pleasant sandy track and begin a ferocious machete requiring jungle expedition, without a machete. This is strenuous and exhausting and after 5 kilometres, I’m feeling truly faint and am dreaming of breakfast. It is another 3.5 kilometre uphill to get to the caves (where freedom fighters against the British, used to hide), but I am no longer drawn by the appeal of this sight and ask if we can go back.
Unfortunately, here it is not the large creatures to be feared, but the almost microscopic ones, that seem to have got onto our clothes. We think they may be ticks but I can’t really see them. The guide instructs us to remove all our clothes when we get back to our room and immerse them in very hot water, then to wash ourselves completely, which we duly do , once we have had a bit of breakfast. I wash my hair too in the hope of evading whatever illness these tiny creatures might bring.
5.30pm… We’ve left the forest sanctuary to cycle along the largest earthen dam in the world. 150,000 people were displaced in order to create this huge expanse of water. Needless to say, although these people were compensated for the loss of their land and homes, they saw very little of the money because the crafty middle man got in there, as is the usual story, to line his own pockets. The families were left virtually destitute.
Our guide came with us, but once again, refused to take money for his services. I had to force him to have it. And, at tea time, along with the tiffin, he presents us with yet more food….. a packet of puffed rice snack which he has made himself. Really, with the best will in the world neither of us could manage to force any of it down after all the food we’ve had. We keep it in the hope we might manage to eat it tomorrow.
