sorry for the delay, guys; been on a bit on the busy side - here's all that's been happening over here in my neck of the woods since my last entry....
so thanksgiving came and went - i hope all you kids at home had a good time with your relations. out here in the bush - mole national game park, as it were - besides actually having ourselves a pretty decent meal (a rarity here, as i'm pretty sure you're well aware of) we also were up to the hilt in dastardly peril of the highest magnitude. allow me to entertain you with a tale...
they broke us pcvs up into groups of ten the morning of the morning of the 27th in order to take us on hiking tours of the park lands. each group was led by a guide, armed only with his 'ingrained sense of direction' and a bolt-action rifle (looking a bit on the small and dishevelled side, might i add). the tours led us over every sort of terrain imaginable, from rocky gourges to marshland, from tall grasses to thick forest, and lasted roughly three to four hours. since it was only 6:30am, the mist still hung low in the air and the weather was pleasantly low (80's) - so morale was high as we set out down a steep ravine that ran parallel to a run of high grass leading up to one of the main watering holes. along the way we got to see up close - and in their own environment - several of the different 98 species of mammals that are protected by the park's borders. different kinds of wild boars and pigs, baboons and monkeys, antelopes and gazelles, alligators, small dog-ish looking thingys, etc.
after two hours or so of seeing some of the most scenic land i've looked upon since being in africa, and having the chance to view animals the likes of which before i had only seen through bars at a zoo, one would think that my moods would have been in a fair state. far from it, in fact. my contemporaries and i were growing more and more agitated in the fact that we hadn't seen any of the larger, and more grand animals that claimed sanctuary with mole (pronounced 'molay') - specifically the elephant, lion, or hippo. it was while griping about this amongst ourselves that we approached a certain river that we had crossed not long before and things took a turn for the worse.
suddenly our guide crouched down to the ground and motioned for us to stop. thinking he had seen some kind of an animal up ahead, we all obediantly followed orders and remained silent and motionless. then we realized he was staring at the river bed: in the soft mud he was observing tracks, and as i heard him mutter something to himself he bolted upright rather quickly, unslung his rifle, and began scanning the surroundings nervously. if this recent display didn't already strike fear into us ignorant white kids, his explanation that those were lion tracks and that they hadn't been there when we crossed before - and that the lion (or 'lions,' he wasn't sure) was probably tracking us - didn't do much to ease our troubled spirits.
it was in this panicky state of mind that we came across the elephant, rather suddenly and unexpectedly - startling both us and the elephant itself. with a cry, the guide ordered us to fall back; picking up random sticks and peices of wood he began to throw them in different directions to keep the bull elephant - who was stomping all over the place, knocking over small trees and making all kinds of terrifying noise - from charging at us. turns out that this elephant, 'toothless' as it was referred to, was responsible for seriously wounding and nearly killing four people in the past and was known throughout the park for its aggressive nature. after what seemed like an eternity of staring this elephant down, taking occasional steps here or there to try and keep out of the elephant's path of charge (if it decided to do so), our guide became convinced that the thing wasn't nearly as pissed off as he had originally thought it to be. although some reassurance would've been nice, we soon realized that this was gonna be the last time in a long time that'd we get to see an elephant within twenty feet of us - close enough to smell the fear that was eminating from every pour in our bodies, i'm sure - in his own environment. so out came the cameras, and after we had gotten our fill of documentation we urged the guide - triumphant in his successful tour - to get us the hell out of the accursed park and back to the compound. in contrast, the rest of the day went by rather peacefully: hung out by a pool and relaxed with the other pcvs, had some beers, harassed some dutch and british vso's and host nationals, and, later on that evening, sat down to a most appreciated thanksgiving feast. turkey was a bit on the expensive side, so we had to eat duck, but other than that no complaints....
oh yeah, remember how i thought i had malaria 'cause i had been sick for over a month with an on-again, off-again fever? turns out i was right - i had malaria. the tests came back and my white blood cell count was enormous. fortunately for yours truly, i was treated early enough on in the scheme of things that i came through relatively unscathed and was able to remedy everything before things got out of hand. they had me so doped up on mefloquin and malarone and this other one drug that no mosquito in the next two years will wanna get anywhere near my death-trap of a body. at least now i can say that i've actually had malaria before, right? now i'm shooting for yellow fever or typhoid next, whichever one gets me first....
i'm also in the process right now of moving into my house in sankpala, and this is turning into quite the ordeal in itself. i make a trip into to tamale every day in order to buy loads of goods - as much as i can carry - before heading back to the village. keep in mind there's no running water or electiricity, so not having everything yet has gotten to be pretty frustrating. i can't afford a stove yet, so i've been eating in town or just bringing bread back to my site while i'm there. i bought two kerosene lamps to use after it gets dark (which is 5/6pm-ish here), but i must be doing something wrong 'cause those things do nothing but eminate black powder and smoke and stink the house up all to high hell. so who knows; peace corps still hasn't dropped our mainload of cargo to our sites yet (which, by the way, includes my water filter and flashlight...). i'll keep you posted on this current state of affairs as they develope....
christmas this year looks like it'll be in the tamale peace corps sub-office, which isn't grand by any means but at least its close and we've got a six ft. artificial christmas tree with lights to keep us all in the spirit of things. we were all gonna go down to the beach (where we're having new year's, if you'll remember) but headquarters wouldn't allow us that much time away from site without taking vacation time, but as long as we're all together somewhere i really don't have a problem of where we're congregating....
well, i hope you've enjoyed this installment of news from the northern region. for those still in school, hit them books and good luck with finals - and congratulations to those graduating this semester. whatever you do, don't pull the whole 'walk-in-the-graduation-ceremony-then-find-out-you-still-have-to-take-one-more-class' stunt: that sucks, trust me. for everyone else, once again, i hope your holidays passed graciously and wish the same for you in the approaching ones. until next time, friends - i'll talk to you later, stay outta trouble.....
the one and only,
col. brian j. hough
9th royal northern region donkey cavalry regiment
p.s. still keeping hair short, still showering - still not a hippie
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