Third Survey Trip (among the Bayaka)

December 7th, 1995 Day 1

Left SIL at 0700 but the gas tank was only half full so had to go find gas. We finally left Bangui city limits (at the police check-point) a little after 0800. Drove all morning and at about 1200 we abruptly made a left turn onto an insignificant looking path and started down the road to Lando (the last place on earth!) The road was fairly good but narrow in places and some gullies. The main problem on the road to Lando is logs across the road. At about 1230 we came to a huge 4-5 foot diameter tree across the road. We had 2 chainsaws and cut off its smaller branches (2-foot diameter) so that we could drive around it.

Thankfully that was the only big tree we had to work on. There were others but paths had already been made around them. We had to be careful while driving not to hit the ends of cut down trees that might be protruding slightly in the road or hiding in the undergrowth. It was real jungle driving with trees on both sides of us towering 100 feet above us.

Saw no animals but lots of moth-like butterflies. Started seeing Bayaka men of the region returning from the hunt about 10 km from Lando. Many were very excited to see Francois and Bartelemy in the car with us. They are 2 Bayaka men who are translation helpers. They had been in Bangui for several weeks working with the two translators (Dominique and Jerome who are also Central African but not Bayaka) and the language consultant who helped analyze the language and made suggestions concerning various problems Jerome and Dominique had encountered. We stopped the car so that 1) Jean-Pierre could take pictures (Jean-Pierre is a friend of the director and his wife (Paul and Ing‚ Meiers) and this trip is actually his vacation with the Meiers with Dominque, Francois and myself tagging along to do some language survey among the Bayaka in the vacation region Bayanga.) 2) so that Dominque could buy some meat from the hunters returning to the village. Many from the village were coming back from the hunt and Jean-Pierre was really animated with the people speaking a mix of a few Yaka words like “gorilla” and Swiss-german. He took lots of photos of the 40 or so people who were gathering around us. His antics and gestures drew lots of laughs. At one point everyone started piling onto the outside of the Landcruiser- on the roof and on the back- there must have been 10 or 15 people but Dominque made them get off. Not only would it be bad for the vehicle but the hanging vines and brush could hurt the people. After about 15 minutes we continued down the path, occasionally some young man or boy would follow us fairly successfully for a hundred meters or so even at 25-30 km/hr! We arrived in Lando around 1700 and it is quite beautiful. A large opening in the jungle with the village quite spread out. Dominique and Jerome’s houses are on the extremity of the village and are very nice. Dominiques has a large double bed with foam mattress (like ours in Bangui), solar electricity for the computer and radio which they use to keep in contact with SIL in Bangui. The village well which was built a few years ago by a Wycliffe member from Switzerland is near his house and is quite impressive. All concrete, the well is 35 meters deep and has a solar powered pump which brings the water up where it is stored in an elevated holding tank which has 2 spigots. We unloaded the vehicle and saw a beautiful sunset going down thru the distant trees. Later as we ate gozo and wild donkey (ane sauvage) ate Jerome’s house we saw the moon rise which was equally spectacular. Went to bed around 2030.

December 8th, 1995 2nd day

Woke up at 0500 to the sounds of drums- there is a church service each morning with singing and dancing. I stayed in bed until 0600. We ate breakfast (baguettes and jam) on Dominiques porch and had the surprise visit of a green/black snake (about 16 inches long) under my chair which sent everyone running off the porch. Lots of villagers came running over to the house and eventually, the snake was drawn out of the wall where it was hiding and killed with a machete. Went on a little tour of the village later with Dominique and in the afternoon worked with Francois and Barthelemy to record an introduction to the stories they had previously recorded in Bangui.

Saturday, December 9th, 1995 3rd day

Left Lando at 0645 and got to the main road (after many stops for Jean-Pierre to take pictures) at about 1130. Gordon was there to meet us with an envelope of blank word lists which Dan wanted me to gather. We then continued and arrived in Nola about 1600 where we bought gas and then headed for Bayanga about 120 km away. About 1 hour out from Bayanga our right rear tire went flat. We quickly changed it and by now it was getting dark. We went about 20 minutes down the road and the left rear tire went flat and we got to learn how to change an inner tube (it took about an hour). The tire pump was not in the best of condition and it took awhile to pump up the tire to 2.5 bars of pressure. The recommended pressure is 3.5 but the pump sprung a leak at the pressure of 2.5 and so we prayed and gave the matter to God to get us safely to Bayanga. We arrived at the tourist welcome center of the World Wildlife Foundation at about 2040 and after much driving around and visiting with some workers of the park (swiss-german was the predominant language) we finally arrived at a fairly nice cabin with 4 beds with mosquito nets at 2230 and went to bed around 2315.

Sunday, December 10, 1995, 4th day

Woke up at 0630 and tried radio at 0700 but unable to make contact. Had a devotional together and then went searching to get the tire fixed and arrange the program of sightseeing. At 1400 we went into the jungle- hike 40 minutes including wading thru calf deep water barefooted for a hundred meters and arrived at an immense mud-hole where 84 elephants were congregated! There was an observation tower which we all (except Jean-Pierre and the guide) went up to get an overall view plus be safer. Jean-Pierre on the other hand wanted the close angle shot for his films. We stayed for about an hour and then hiked back. Dominque and Francois talked with some Bayaka and the first impression was that the dialects were practically the same.

Monday, December 11, 1995, 5th day

Woke up at 0430 to leave at 0530 to see gorillas but tires still had a leak so we had to leave it at the garage to get fixed. 6 holes were found in one tire, 5 in the other rear tire. Instead of going into the jungle went on a pirogue (dugout canoe) ride on the Sanga river for 3 hours and saw egrets and pretty purple flowers but was fairly boring actually because we were constantly stopping while JP took 10-15 minutes getting a good filming of who knows what (it was often hard to see what was captivating his attention so! But then he is a biology teacher so it must have been a rare species of something or other.) Got back to the house at 1200 and in the afternoon went on a medicine walk with 3 Bayaka women and our guide. We collected various plants which they said had medicinal value, like for a headache, sore tooth, stomach pains. They also cut a 3-foot portion of a vine and we were able to drink water from it, the water dripped from the vine quite quickly and had a bit of a tea taste. When we took the women back to their village we made contact with the chief and are going to see them tomorrow. We told them we have a message for them.

Tuesday, December 12, 1995, 6th day

Woke up at 0415 because we had to start early to go into the jungle looking for gorillas. Ingé came down with malaria and so she is staying in bed today. Drove 26 km into the forest to a camp base used by an American studying the gorillas who is on vacation. Nothing fancy just some wood cabins and a pit toilet. Nearby was a stream and saw 2 elephants in that area before they went off into the jungle. We then began a 3-hour hike where at one point we heard gorillas up close- quite terrifying the noise they make and the speed they can descend from a tree. Did not see them as they ran off quickly but some of the others said they saw them. When we got back to the vehicle the rear tire was completely flat and we had the extra problem of bees, lots of them flying around the vehicle and the general area. We had to 1st build 3 fires to smoke most of the bees away and then we were able to change the tire. Amazingly when we left we had no problem getting out the few bees that had strayed into the car.

At 1630 we went to the village of Mosapola and met with the people- played the messages from Lando and they recorded responses. I then asked them some questions on the boundaries of their language. JP came also and filmed and taped women singing. Dominique and Francois communicated without problem with the people. We will go again tomorrow for word list and to record a story.

Wednesday, December 13, 1995, 7th day

Woke up at 0500 and ate breakfast. Ingé was not better so instead of going into the jungle and risking a breakdown when we might need the vehicle, we decided to go instead 32 km to a Yugoslavian man who we heard could give us a tire. We left and while on route had radio contact for the 1st time since leaving. It sounded like Wendy was right there and I wished I was right there with her. We arrived at the man’s place, he runs a lumber yard which supplies the tourist center project in Bayanga. He gave us a tire which we installed and inflated and also checked the pressure on the other tires. We then went down to the river for a few minutes for JP to take some pictures. Then drove back and worked on translating the stories of Francois and Barthelemy. Paul went to another lumber company that has a plane and arranged for Ingé and him to fly home tomorrow morning. At 1600 went to the village and took a 220-word wordlist, Dominique elicited the words and I wrote them down. We then had two of the men record stories for use when we do our surveys in Congo.

Thursday, December 14, 1995, 8th day

Woke up around 0530 and got an early start for heading back to Lando. After 2 hours we arrived in Nola where we bought gas for the Landcruiser and searched for a tire pump and inner tubes. We found a better pump which we bought but did not find inner tubes. Spent about an hour in Nola and then continued down the road. Got about an hour out of Nola when we had our 4th flat tire of the trip. Left rear tire. We quickly changed it (we were becoming experts) and then had to pump it up some because it apparently had a small leak but no too major a problem. The rest of the days driving went well until about 1400 JP asked if he could drive some. I agreed and he started down the road. He was not used to African driving and we had to keep telling him to slow down so he could miss the potholes and such. I was getting quite nervous with his driving. After about 30 minutes we came to a floating bridge. The bridge has two tracks for the tires, each track being several boards next to each other (in other words each track is about 2 feet wide.) Going at a perpendicular angle to the tracks are railroad ties which are what support the tracks. They are spaced fairly evenly apart but there are some big gaps. JP starts to drive across the bridge but as we got near the end he sees that some of the boards are sticking up. I tell him to just drive to the right a little bit to possibly prevent driving over a nail sticking up. He stops the vehicle, mutters a few words to himself in Swiss German and then steers heavily to the right and we are soon off the boards and driving on the ties. I said urgently “stay on the bridge Jean-Pierre, stay on the tracks”, about 3 seconds later our left front tire breaks through a rotten tie, the vehicle is badly tilted over and down. The situation does not look good. We are all in shock, it all happened so fast. We all get out of the car and start looking at the damage. The left front tire is hanging on nothing, the front end spring leaf on the left side is stuck on a board and seems to be supporting the left front end from falling further. The left rear tire is wedged down between 2 rail ties and is badly deformed; it is amazing it has not popped. We can not drive forward because the front end is down too low. If we try to back up the left front tire is not going to be back on solid ground for several feet and there will be nothing supporting it. The situation definitely did not look good. We thought about using the jack to lift up the side but there was no good place to position it. I was still a little shocked, everything had been going so well and then in 3 seconds, we were stuck several hundred miles from home with a vehicle that even when we got it off the bridge was sure to be damaged. We finally decided that we would get a bunch of men and try to lift up the front end and maybe put it back on the boards. Dominique was just getting ready to start down the road to a nearby village when 2 men on mopeds came driving up to the bridge. They talked with Dominique and we decided to try and back up the vehicle. Dominique got into the vehicle, put it into low 4WD and with the rest of us lifting on the front end, he was able to back the Land Cruiser up onto solid ties and then was able to drive back onto the track. Everything worked fine and the tires were intact. It was truly a miracle and we were experiencing a subdued feeling of euphoria, (subdued because the shock of it happening at all was still affecting us.) We thanked the men who helped us and Dominique took over at the wheel and we continued down the road. It was about 3 o’clock and we soon got on the path to Lando. The going went slow, Dominique keeping the speed down because of fear for the tires. It was soon obvious that we would be driving well past nightfall. We came up against 3 or 4 fallen trees which we had to cut up but after the first, we quickly began getting into a routine and became quite efficient using the 2 chainsaws. We finally arrived at Lando at about 2000 and as we drove up to Dominque’s house, it looked like a good part of the village was there dancing and sitting around a fire. We first thought it was a welcome for us but soon found out that a step-sister of Maxime (a cousin who lives with Dominique) had died in Bangui and so the people had come over to keep Maxime company in his sadness. We unloaded the vehicle and decided to stay up with the people. We set up our beds and nets, ate a little bit and went to bed around 2200.

Friday, December 15, 1995, 9th day

Slept late till around 0900 and had breakfast and contacted Bangui. Explained our plans and told them that everything was going well, that the tires had held and seemed to be good tires now and that we were going to repair the spare tire today. We told them we would contact them again tomorrow. After that, we went to fix the flat and when we took the tire off the wheel we found that the inner tube was completely ripped in half. We therefore had no spare tire for the return home. We decided when we got in contact on the radio the next morning we would explain the situation and try to stay in regular radio contact so that if we got stuck someone could come looking for us. The rest of the day we spent relaxing, Jean-Pierre went on a short hike in the jungle (he was too tired after yesterday to do a hunt) and Dominique spent the day arranging his affairs since he was coming back to Bangui for a 3-week vacation.

Saturday, December 16, 1995, 10th (and last) day!

Woke up early in the hope of getting off quickly but it took awhile. The people wanted to load lots of sacks of manioc and such on the roof but we decided with no spare tire it was better to keep the vehicle as light as possible. We even left the bad tires taking only the empty wheel. We finally got off around 0800, Dominique asked me to drive, I think he did not want to feel responsible if something went wrong or maybe he was just tired after the drive of Thursday. Considering that all the other flat tires had occurred while I had been driving, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with driving but I put the matter in God’s hands and decided not to worry about it. We drove slowly out of the jungle, it took about 4 hours, we arrived on the main road with no incident. The remainder of the trip passed sans problem and we arrived back at SIL around 1600. I was never so glad to be back into the loving arms of Wendy!!