The Ba’Aka Adventure – Part 3
The plan was for the Ba’Aka men to do a two-day spear hunt into the farthest depths of this forest reserve near the Republic of Congo border and for mzungu folks to join along for the hunt and overnight camping. The idea was to take very little with us and I was not excited about the concept of not taking tents. Mainly, I feared jaku and any other bug attack that could take place. I also think the thought of being unprepared for rain in a rainforest even during dry season is a bit dumb. I was a bit pissy about the whole thing and just said that I would take my tent with me regardless of the plan. I didn’t feel very good about being a jerk about it and just wished it would all go away. By time the day arrived, the plan was changed to make the spear hunt a single day and I was relieved that the issue did just go away. Since this was an experimental trip, it is no wonder that some mistakes were made. While we averted one mistake with the tents, we made a couple of others this day. First, we did not get started until 8:00 AM. Second, we hiked too far for the mzungu team. I thought it was a great day of exercise, rainforest touring and excitement in general, but it was not a good team day.
We ran with the Ba’Aka men in near silence for 4+ hours with a half hour break. During this time, the Ba’Aka men swarmed out in small groups doing their Ba’Aka hunting thing such as looking in every hollowed log for porcupine and under every bush for whatever animal may be hiding as well as their Ba’Aka gathering thing such as looking in every tree for the possibility of honey bee nests. They are never unaware of their surroundings. Never. Their lives depend on it. We were on the trail with four Ba’Aka men in front followed by me, Tali and the rest of the mzungu when suddenly four Ba’Aka screaming and wide-eyed with spears aimed at us came running towards me. I had the same situation occur two years ago where a Ba’Aka turned around and started running and screaming with eyes popping out of his head and let me tell you that it is the scariest moment of my life. You know immediately that something big is ahead and your life is potentially on the line because it is quite likely the Ba’Aka is going to pass you leaving nobody between you and the unseen beast. That unseen beast is probably an elephant that is now just as freaked as the Ba’Aka. The elephant has two choices – run away on the trail or run towards you on the trail. So, although I was very freaked out about four guys who look like head hunters running at me with spears aloft, in a fleeting moment I was able to get a grip and freak out even more because I knew we had an elephant issue once again. I turned and looked at Tali and said “*uck! Run!” As with the experience two years ago, my heart was racing faster than it ever has and I just started running and looking for a big tree. I could not care what everyone else was doing and it was only because Tali is faster than I am that she did not get flattened by me J. I saw a tree off the trail and went bushwhacking right through all kinds of vines and undergrowth in order to get behind it. Forget Jaaku! I turned to see if it was coming and the all clear message was broadcast. My heart rate dropped like a rock and all I could do is laugh.
We made it out to a small river after noon without a single spear being thrown. This was in some very amazing forest of large trees with much less undergrowth than other areas and a network of elephant trails. We saw evidence of elephants every few meters and heard them in the distance, but thankfully we had no close encounters. This area around the water was also full of butterflies of a multitude of colors and sizes. We spent an hour in this area just resting, enjoying the forest and listening to the Ba’Aka discussing hunting, women and whatever Ba’Aka men discuss. The Ba’Aka men smoked cigarettes and marijuana as they do during every break. I don’t bring up the topic very often, but I can tell you that marijuana is smoked in almost every corner of this planet. I ask about it each place I go as a general questioning about the drug use of each culture and I’ll have to write more about it in another blog. I can tell you that all of Latin America, Africa and at least Israel in the Middle East are consuming illegal substances in large quantities. Muslims seem to ignore the spirit of Mohammad’s edict on the ban on alcohol and they stick with the technical part while consuming hashish, tobacco and khat which were not banned. Ineffectual laws especially of a universal nature against something that seems to be human nature such as altering the brain sure do seem silly to me.
I am always looking at my watch timing things especially when a round trip is involved. It got to 1:30 PM when we finally started to head back. We had no idea whether we had taken a direct path or a difficult path so it was hard to say if we had another four hour hike back, but I was concerned because by 5:00 PM the forest starts getting dark and our pace would be slower just based on the energy burned to get out to the destination. The Ba’Aka were asked to slow the pace and that suggestion was rejected and I knew we had an issue. I was not interested in being in this forest in the dark. Also, around 11:30 AM we started to hear thunder in the distance. The thought of rain as I had seen a couple of years ago in this area was positively disconcerting and I chose to have a very fast pace even if it hurt a lot. I sensed concern in Louis and the Ba’Aka as well and this didn’t help my concern. The Ba’Aka started out in the opposite direction than we arrived and this just made the whole idea about where we are and how we have to go that much more confusing. Soon into the hike back, we came across a gorilla. The forward Ba’Aka could see it, but we could not. It was nice to see them communicating silently about the animal and even nicer that we did not have a close encounter with an angry gorilla.
The group started to break up soon after. I chose a Ba’Aka with bright yellow shoes and a bright blue shirt to follow. I stared at his shoes for most of the hike concentrating on staying close and not falling. Louis was right with me. We got to one place where they pointed out the trail that we had been on the way out. I looked at it and it looked like every other elephant trail in the area. It is very strange how they know where they are in this land of everything being green and looking the same. But I did understand where they were talking about and it only confirmed my belief that we were going to take four hours to get back home placing the fastest of us back no earlier than 5:00 PM at the earliest. Yikes!
Louis fell back at one point negotiating shoes at a stream crossing and I was left alone racing after the yellow shoes. A few minutes later we came across a group of Ba’Aka hunters that were out in front. That made me feel better even though I did trust yellow shoes to get me home. I was looking at these men as they started to go and only thirty seconds later the four of them turned to the right, pulled back their spears and one of them let go. Immediately there was a scream. The spear had found its target – a blue duiker – injuring, but not killing it. Another Ba’Aka threw his spear, but missed and then he ran off the trail and grabbed the duiker. I was amazed at the accuracy of the throw since the duiker was in deep between two downed tree limbs. It seemed impossible, but I had seen it with my own eyes. The duiker’s scream was horrible. He seemed to want to keep it alive for mzungu to see and I made gestures telling him to kill it immediately. They did that. While gutting it, I watched the intestines constricting as if they were still processing the latest meal. The Ba’Aka eat every part of the animal except the content of the intestines which is a green goo and is removed by squeezing this organ during the gutting process. As other mzungu arrived on the scene, yellow shoes hit the trail and I decided to press on knowing we had just spent a few minutes at this kill scene. I will say that it was very exciting to see this spear hunt kill as it once again proved just how good the Ba’Aka are at home.
I got back to the campsite very tired and a bit beat up from a couple of falls at 5:30. The last half hour was hard because of the darkening forest, but I knew where we were during this period and knew that the campsite was just over one more hill. Arriving at the time when the good bees were leaving was definitely good. A bath in the stream never felt so good and seeing the rest of the gang make it back was also a relief. I felt like this was one very amazing day, but it was probably playing a bit dangerously considering one problem could have resulted in people being in the forest well after dark and I get the impression the Ba’Aka are a bit more human in a dark forest. I know they definitely fear a dark forest (especially with mzungu in tow!) and anything they fear I fear even more.
We had two more nights before the hike out and this evening after the spear hunt would bring out a lot more fears in me. First, though, it was funny to see that the women had a great day net hunting and they really rubbed it in considering the men only got one kill. I believe the women caught fifteen animals so there would be some good feasting. I am sure the men blamed their poor showing on the mzungu and that would probably be correct. The thunder continued all day, but we had been lucky in that the storm never passed our path. Our luck finally ran out that night at 8:00 PM. We first heard the winds in the tops of the trees. This is what Louis feared the most about a storm because of the danger of falling limbs and whole trees. The drops of rain started to fall and we all scurried for the cover of our tents and huts. I tried to read, but my mind was counting the seconds between lightning and thunder realizing that the storm was headed towards us. The lightning was blinding and the thunder was deafening and it was still a kilometer away. Two years ago we were at Mbeli Bai, Republic of Congo when a storm came through and it was a very intense night of worrying about trees falling. That night was spent in the comfort of a real building, but this evening was in a tiny tent. The rain was pounding only like it does in the tropics when the burst past over us. There was no time between the lightning and thunder and the thrill of the storm was lost even for this person that loves a good lightning show. A few bolts definitely connected nearby. For two hours we were hit. After an hour or so of being curled up in a fetal position, I realized that we were as safe as possible because we were in a ravine between two hills and the hilltops were probably taking every strike. Near the end of the most intense part of the storm, a bolt of lightning struck very close and the light was searing and the ka-boom was earth shattering. I felt very insignificant on this great planet at that moment and I was not embarrassed that I was curled up tight and shaking. The worst of the storm quickly passed after that final shocker and we were left with just a night of rain and distant rumbling. I was very grateful that we were not camping out at the remote site nor were we caught in such a storm when walking back earlier that day.
The next morning started off slow. It became obvious that Ba’Aka were in no hurry and I think we all appreciated that after the long day prior. Louis told us that the forest was too wet for them to hunt early. We did not know that the highlight of the trip was about to unfold. The Ba’Aka lazed about until about 8:00 when someone started a chant. Soon others joined in and men began playing their jerrijug and pan drums and harp-zither. Other men started to dance and then a leaf-covered forest spirit paid us a visit. The energy of the songs, dance and laughs continued to build all morning. The women then decided to entertain the men. As they went off into the forest, Louis told us that they would be doing some provocative dance and the men would probably try to ignore them. We gathered near the edge of the camp as the women started to sing and parade out of the woods. Their spirit was low to the ground dressed in a sheet while many of the women were decorated with some tree branches. The women performed a ritual in front of us surrounding their spirit. They then sat down and sang and one woman at a time performed a dance. The men did ignore them for a bit, but they came around and joined in. Each woman that danced tied some material to her behind as well as some tree branches and they shook their booties like we had not seen so far. One woman from Congo was exceptionally good having the Congo ability to move her rear end as if it was not connected to the rest of her body. I have seen this with women of the Congo as well as Brazilians and I love it every time I see it happen. The festivities went on for five hours until 1:00 PM and the Ba’Aka once again proved to have amazing stamina and a strong love of life.
While most of the Ba’Aka went off on another net hunt, we spent the last afternoon with a group of men trying to gather honey. One of the men had found a tree with honey bees and they wanted to show us how they collect it. As with most humans, honey is very special to the Ba’Aka although I did not understand what lengths they would go to satisfy their craving for it. We hiked a half hour over the hill behind the camp until we got to the location of the tree. It was a large half-dead tree full of epiphytes overhanging a small stream. When they pointed out the bees, we realized how crazy this honey gathering would be because the hole in the tree swarming with bees was about 20 meters in the air and it may have been even higher considering we were on the hill and it overhung the streambed. The men prepared fire and made a basket from plant material. They packed the embers from the fire into leaves and made a bundle that they attached to the main gatherer’s back. It was hilarious to see him smoking away. The first man then approached the tree with an axe slung over his shoulder. Instead of climbing the trunk, he climbed an attached liana vine like a chimpanzee. I’ve never seen someone climb so far on such a difficult plant as quickly as he did. He reported that he was already getting stung when he was meters from the hole that contained the beehive. Even from our distance we could see the swarm and it only got denser. He started to chop the hole with the axe as the second man went up with a rope attached to the basket that would be used to hold the honey. The whole scene was insane given how badly they were getting attacked by the bees and how far from the ground this was taking place. One mistake would result in a death. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they were doing this just to impress us. The second gatherer finally gave up reporting that the stings were too much. The first guy stuck it out a bit longer, but he eventually gave up, too. They told us that it is the wrong time to do this collection and they would come back another day early in the morning when the bees are more docile. I have no doubt that they will collect that honey soon.
The Ba’Aka were surprisingly quiet during the last night. Their last net hunt went well and they ate well and retired early. I guess the lack of sleep during the storm, the activities of the day and week had caught up with them. They smoked a lot of meat to bring back to the Ba’Aka that did not join us on this trip into the forest. After a good night’s sleep we woke up and ate and prepared to go back. The Ba’Aka went from lounging around to totally ready to evacuate in the blink of an eye and we found them once again staring at the mzungu as we did all of our packing. We gave them quite a few containers and other objects that had no further purpose in our lives and they happily tucked them away. The Ba’Aka carry everything into the forest in large baskets made from forest materials. The baskets are strapped to their foreheads and lie against their backs quite differently than the rest of Africans who would place them on top of their heads. The overhanging branches on the tight trails make head carrying impossible. The Ba’Aka loaded up the kids – some had one on their back and one on their shoulders as well as other things in their arms – and started to guide us out. For part of the trip, I followed an older woman with more weight on her back than I would carry across my lawn and I had to run to keep up with her. One of the funnier incidents occurred just out of camp when we stopped past the stream. Rod being the class clown started to sing and dance the hokey-pokey to a group of Ba’Aka women. Being the great mimics that they are, they followed his lead dancing and singing words of a language they did not know. We all laughed hard before we got serious about the final trek. We encountered a downed tree during that hike out making the previous storm’s strength that much more real. We met up with Jean Pierre and three drivers with three vehicles on a park road. Their progress meeting us had been halted by a very large downed tree across the road. They brought a Toyota pickup, a Land Cruiser and a Nissan SUV. Let’s see, there was the four of them plus six mzungu plus Louis and Anisee (park ranger assigned to our adventure) plus 39 Ba’Aka adults, eight Ba’Aka infants and a handful of Ba’Aka kids for a total of about 60-65 people. How many Ba’Aka can you pack into and onto three vehicles? The answer is all of them! The Nissan that I was in only had a driver, four mzungu, a kid on my lap and two or three Ba’Aka men standing on the back bumper. So, that left over fifty others crammed like sardines into the Land Cruiser and pickup and on the back of the pickup and Land Cruiser. We all made it out safely and the village erupted when we arrived.
The Ba’Aka had a big celebration that evening which we did not attend. Our team limped out of the forest with Heath having infection in his leg, Torben having a stomach ailment and the rest of us feeling very tired. That first evening back at Ndoli Lodge had me coming down with the same ailment as Torben and it affected Katharina and Rod by the end of the week as well. Tali seemed to be the only very healthy one of us and I guess that is fitting since she is the youngest. Our week was to continue with visits to the Dzangha Bai, a bai walk and a gorilla trek all in the national park so I jumped on Cipro right away (the illness met my definition of needing an anti-biotic since my stomach wanted to send everything up and down). I did miss the bai walk, but the other activities went off well and are saved for another blog entry.
Tags: Africa, central african republic
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