Adventure is a path...

 “Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – 
Mark Jenkins

Images from the rainy season in Abuja!

The Rainforest Part Two (Village Life)

Iko Esai is a village of around 5000 people and is also one of three villages to speak the IKO language. It is mostly a farming community but also doubles as the host village for CERCOPAN. This means that the rainforest area that CERCOPAN uses for their primate research and conservation efforts historically belongs to the people of Esai.

It is a wonderful village full of very welcoming people. So welcoming, in fact, that at any point in the day you will probably be invited in to say hello and drink massive amounts of Kai-Kai -- the locally distilled liquor. I suppose it can best be described as a VERY distant cousin to Tequila. At least that's what it's taste most resembles. It feels like your drinking  liquid fire though. I went to a distillery to see how it's made. In short, its 3 day old palm wine that is then boiled in a large pot. The condensation is then sent into large bamboo chutes chilled by river water and the end result is this alcoholic concoction. I can say now, that i think I have thoroughly enjoyed my life's quota of this stuff and don't feel the need to find it ever again.

One day, I went with Cary to a village down the road known as Agoi. We interviewed hunter's on their previous weeks catch and looked into the livelihood projects that CERCOPAN had initiated. Later that day, I stumbled across one the local butchers. After almost two week's of not eating meat, I jumped at the opportunity to buy what he had. It was Porcupine meat, and it was damn good. I'm told female porcupine is the best bush meat around.

I was also lucky enough to attend a few occasions  in the village, ranging from a traditional wedding to a motorcycle union party. I even managed to stay the night at my friend Mansons compound before I left.  Iko Esai really is a party village and the villagers showed me a great time! To really top things off, I came at a time when the contract between CERCOPAN and Iko Esai was being renewed. This only happens once every ten years and was a huge deal to be a part of. To further cement Iko Esai's party persona, here is a list of some of the things that was included in the agreement.

-1 Live Cow (to be slaughtered)
- Many Crates of Beer (Star and Guiness)
-25 liters of Palm Wine
- Many Crates of Minerals (sodas)
-A massive jug of Kai Kai
-Kola Nuts

I mentioned earlier that Calabar Airport conveniently decided to shut down the day after I arrived. I ended up having to get up at 4:30 in the morning to catch a bus to the next state, Akwa Ibom. The bus was supposed to have an armed escort but instead was packed full of people and the driver was insane. Although, he did get us there in incredible time, effectively shaving 45 minutes off of our drive. I arrived at the airport in Uyo and returned to my home in Abuja!

Cross, Jeremiah, and Manson

The one random street light in town

Manson and his family!

Manson's son Richard

I stayed in the room to the very right of the picture!

The Rainforest Part One (Bush Life)

The past two weeks have been such an incredible and intense experience that it's hard to express what I experienced in a few words and pictures. I will try my best to highlight the main things and the rest will come out upon my return. 

I suppose my adventure really began in Lagos around May 4th. I took an early morning flight out with my father to attend an event, geared at promoting commercial trade between the UK and Nigeria. On the 5th, I took a boat ride in and around Lagos and Victoria Island. The ports were massive and the hustle & bustle of Lagos gave it real character. That night we attended the party. It was a great evening and I was able to see new products from Land/Range Rover, Jaguar, British Airways, JCB, and Penderlyn Whiskey. The next morning I woke up around 5 a.m. and set out on my own for Cross River state to start my rainforest adventure. 

I arrived at Calabar airport around 9:30 a.m. and met up with Graham from CERCOPAN. Everything that was normal stopped existing at that point. We met up with CERCOPAN director, Claire Coulson, and set out for their field site. It's about a 2.5 hour drive, about 1.5 hours of it is driving off-road through the bush. We ran head on into a heavy thunderstorm and a steep hill that proved to be the demise of our truck. After about 2 hours of trying to dig out the truck we decided to hop on the back of some local boys motorcycles and get to Iko Esai, the host village for CERCOPAN. I was riding 3 deep on a cheap chinese motorcycle, over off-road terrain, and in the middle of a termite hatch. Not only were we speeding through the bush in slick mud over treacherous terrain, but our driver was also looking down half the time so that termites wouldnt fly into his eyes. It was only a fitting introduction to my stay there.

Rhoko Field Site, my home for the next two weeks, is about as basic as you can get. No electricity, No  water, no gas. This mixed with 100+ degree heat and 130% humidity let me know right away that this wasn't going to be an ordinary "vacation". I was joined by four other people staying out there. A frenchman with dreads-Sylvain, Two americans-Sagan and Cary, a Canadian-Janice, and a fellow short term volunteer from the UK-Rosy. I was also informed that Calabar airport was now closed for two months. 

The second day there I lost my glasses on one of the trails--for 36 hours--and it stormed three times. I was walking along the trail towards Rhoko river when I suddenly realized that I have stepped in an ant hill---my legs were covered with hundreds of ants crawling up towards my waist. I managed to fling off my glasses in a frantic frenzy of ant killing. Luckily, the next day I set off with Manson, one of the local staff from Iko Esai and he found them in no time. Manson would grow to be one my favorite people I met on this journey.

The next evening we headed into the village for some supplies. This being the rainy season, we got caught in yet another thunderstorm. The village is about a 45 minute drive from camp and our truck decided to die about a quarter of the way down the road. We stashed everything but the beer in the truck and started to trek back towards camp. Along the way, we made three river crossings. Just so you get the right picture...I was wading chest deep through rivers at eleven o'clock at night, in a lightning storm, carrying my belongings on my head and REALLY hoping that the sound of our movement would scare off any crocodiles or snakes that might be lurking. Two hours later we arrived at camp safe and sound. It was a night I will never forget!

It happened to Sylvains birthday that week as well. What better way to celebrate it than to slaughter a chicken. We bought a cockerel from the village that eventually turned into the toughest meat/rubber I have ever attempted to eat in my life. Props to Rhoko for the kill though, it was a grand birthday gesture. I'll spare the slaughter details for another time.

Part two of my journey will be posted soon!

Mona Monkey in rehabilitation enclosure

Simon, Our bush dog

Our Kitchen

Sylvain, Sagan, and Janice

Bamboo!

Morning Humidity

My Hut on the Right

Main Camp

One of my lovely room mates--i prefer Marc.

Our only luxury. Showering with river/rain water from a big bucket!

Transportation

Field Research

Chillin'

Newborn Red-Capped Mangabey

Munchin'

Close-Ups

I had some spare time today so I thought I would capture some of the reasons this place has been so visually stimulating. All photos are from around our house in Abuja-----click the picture to enlarge it!