Snail mail - last chance
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Last time I posted this type of message was in late April, about three weeks before Grit left Germany for LuiKotal. A few people sent small parcels to Germany at that time, which were much appreciated when they finally got here - Thanks!
Since then, there has not been another opportunity for me to receive any physical mail here until now. The director of our field site will be arriving from Germany in a few days, and he indeed has a care package of specific little things that I asked my mom to send me. In a few weeks, another plane will come to take him out, and will bring in Joel, a new member of the research team. Joel is currently in the US, and has graciously agreed to accept personal mail for me until is departure.
Soooo.... If you're feeling like it, please send me some mail via Joel. I've promised him that anything that arrives for me will be very small, basically limited to the size of a CD. What I would really love are CDs of photos. Please share your lives with me, showing what's been going on over in North America since I was last around to participate. Yeah, that means photos of family gatherings, photos of vacations, photos of mad partying, and yes, even baby photos.
In addition, I've got a specific request for any and all photos of the 2007 Burning Man festival. If you went, please share your photos with me! If you're a burner who's connected to other burners, please pass the message on - Hello AZBurners! I've asked my little sister to put a bunch of burncasts on a CD for me in that care package from my mom, but if you want to ensure I get some of those send them too.
We're really starved for any current events info or photos, so if you want to mine the internet for some interesting tidbits of news and burn that onto a disc, that would be cool too. Maybe copy some of the latest photo montages of big stories from the news sites? I don't know, get creative.
If you've got a few choice DVDs to send, we can watch them on the laptop. Nothing too risqué! Selections of mp3s you'd like to share will also be appreciated. The laptop can read DVDs or CDs for data and music, and my mp3 player has over 80GB of space left.
Alternatively, just send a simple postcard, or a handwritten letter with a couple of cut-out newspaper clippings or printed-out photos. As long as the physical contents are minimal, Joel should be able to pack it in his luggage, and I'll be happy to receive it:) Again, please keep the weight and volume to a minimimum - I've asked Joel to open everything and repackage it all together, so superfluous elements like cardboard or cases will probably be discarded.
Deadlines: The latest any mail should reach him is September 28th! Sorry that's such short notice, but at least his address is within the continental US. He'll be en route for most of the following week, and should be here around October 5th or so. If it arrives after he leaves, I'll probably get it around next summer.
If you decide you've got time to burn something onto a CD for me and send it by then, here's the mailing address:
------
Update:
Joel never made it. His visa application was rejected, and if he had delayed his arrival in Congo the charter plane to the forest would have been long past. Too bad. He's sending my mail to my mom, and I'll get it in early December when I return to North America.
Thanks in advance!
-Ryan à LuiKotal
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
(RM) What to bring
Sunday, 9 September 2007
What to bring
This entry wasn't written specifically for the blog, but I think it's interesting enough to be posted here. What follows is actually an email that I'm sending to two people that will be joining us here at camp in the next couple of weeks. Cintia will be arriving in mid-September, and Joel gets here in early October. Both had the foresight to write for advice on what to expect, and they certainly get an earful.
So if you're interested, read through my response. To put it in context, try to picture your imminent departure for a stay of six to nine months here. I include tons of details because I think they're useful - I got practically none of this info before arriving, and wish I had.
Enjoy,
Ryan
Hi Cintia, Hi Joel,
My name is Ryan Matthews (a languid Canadian of 30), and I'm currently working as the camp manager at LuiKotal. I am writing both of you at once, because you are both arriving here shortly and will therefore benefit from the same information. Cintia will be flying from Kinshasa to Ipope with Gottfried on the 17th of September, and Joel will be flying in on the plane that takes Gottfried out in early October. We look forward to welcoming you here.
VISAS
If you haven't already procured your visas, you'd better do so. They are extended once you're here, so it doesn't really matter if your initial visas are for one month or six. The original single- or multiple-entry status of the visas remains once they are
extended, so plan accordingly if you hope to leave the country and return again within the validity of the visa.
PASSPORTS
We have our passports here in camp, and send them to Kinshasa with outgoing planes before the visas expire. If your visa will not be valid beyond the time of the following outgoing plane (December sometime), you ought to leave it with someone from the GTZ before coming to LuiKotal. If it will be valid for several months still, bring it to camp and we'll send it out later. The visa cannot be extended until shortly before it expires. The GTZ representative that handles our visa extensions is Noel Duli.
PLANE TICKETS
If you plan on staying in Congo for more than 6 months, your plane ticket will likely cost a lot more and have a validity of up to one year. This is what I got. I was obliged to name a return date, although I still have no idea when this will be exactly, so I just took the latest date available.
When you come here, I recommend that you bring all of your documents to LuiKotal with you. For the plane tickets, try to bring an email address through which you will be able to make changes to the departure date. Some people email their family members to make the changes on their behalf; I can email the travel agent through whom I bought my ticket. Plan accordingly.
KINSHASA
Avoid looking like military when you arrive at Kinshasa airport. This includes your luggage. For your profession, say "biologist". Be patient with customs. Don't pay them. Keep a good watch on your luggage from the moment you first spot it getting thrown onto the baggage carousel until it's in the back of the jeep (the one you're getting into) with the doors shut and locked.
You will be given some logistical support by a GTZ representative on your arrival, which is essential. You will be met at the airport and transported into the city, and accommodations will be arranged for you. When I arrived, my accommodations were at the Centre d'Acceuil Protestant (CAP). I was expected to pay for these accommodations, so you will likely be so as well. It was around $50 per night. I recommend asking if there are any cheaper rooms than the one they first stick you in. They are all bland and adequate.
Another researcher will be joining us along with you, Joel, so she will likely also be staying at CAP when you are there. The rooms each have two single beds, so I recommend sharing a room and splitting the cost, rather than getting two separate double rooms. Her name is Julia and I don't know anything else about her.
The city is expensive and not very user-friendly. I recommend avoiding a long stay there, if at all possible. It is possible to get a few provisions there, but nothing can really be guaranteed. Try to complete all of your shopping before getting to Kinshasa. Don't count on doing any internet in Kinshasa, although you may succeed. The place I found was so slow and kept suffering power outages that it wasn't even worth attempting any more.
Cintia, although Gottfried may be in Kinshasa at the same time as you, he'll be busy taking care of stuff and you won't likely see him much between your arrival and your departure. Bring a book to pass the time at CAP, or brave the city and roam around.
Joel, you can probably expect the same lack of hand-holding. Really, you're basically on your own there. At least you may have Julia to commiserate with. It would be prudent to roam the streets together rather than solo anyway.
Changing money is easy in Kin, although shop around to discover a reasonable rate for dollars. There are literally women sitting on the sidewalk with stacks of bills and calculators waiting to exchange currency, though you may be better of at an indoor place for security’s sake. Don't bring any bills that have any rips, as they won't be exchanged. Singles ($1 bills) are basically useless too. Different rates are often offered for different $ denominations. Other currencies are difficult. Credit cards are essentially useless. Cash is not really needed once you get to LuiKotal.
GETTING HERE
You'll be brought to the domestic airport early on the day of your internal flight. You'll sit there for a while. The flight is pretty cool - hopefully the weather will afford you a nice view over the forest. You'll probably stop en-route for refueling.
You arrive at the airstrip of a village called Ipope. That will be chaotic, with over a hundred locals turning up to greet the plane. Watch your own personal belongings, and let someone else deal with the rest. Porters carry everything to Lompole.
Lompole is about an hour's walk from Ipope, which itself is about 20 minute's walk from the airstrip. It's an easy route. In Lompole you'll be staying at Mara's. He's our main collaborator in the village. He's likely going to be getting on the plane to fly back to Kinshasa on the 17th, so Cintia you'll only be meeting him and his wife for a handshake. He may fly back to Ipope with you, Joel, if there's space.
There will be tents for you to sleep in on Mara's lawn. All of the plane's provisions go into a depot building for the night, also at Mara's. The tents might be really shitty, but it's just for one night. You'll probably be fed something the evening of your arrival, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have something with you.
You might be fed coffee the following morning, and possibly papaya or avocado and maybe even some rice. I feel like there's never enough food in Lompole. Bring snacky things if possible. The morning after the flight will see dozens of people assembling at Mara's. Many are porters, many are just random hangers-on. Some are employees that aren't currently at camp. Danilo's the deaf kid in red and black that always smiles and wants to set up your tent and asks to keep whatever cool thing he sees you with. Everyone will be friendly with you, as newcomers, but Gottfried will surely be engaged in heated discussions with village elders and other people with some issue or other. Don't get involved. Cameras are fine, and the kids love getting photographed. Don't be shy with the cameras if you want to take photos. Just show them the little screen with their image on it afterwards, and they'll giggle with joy.
Depending on the number of porters, the plane stuff from the depot will be doled out and start getting transported to camp. This will happen anytime between 6am and 9am. I don't know who will be orchestrating this if Mara is off in Kinshasa, but it'll probably be Mama Mazeya. It may be Lambert. Lambert speaks really good French.
If there aren't enough porters, some stuff will stay in Lompole for undefined periods of time. Hopefully this doesn't apply to your personal luggage. You should try to make sure you actually see your things being carried off into the forest before you leave, or it just might not make it to camp on the same day as you. If a given bag is around 15kg, it has a good chance of getting carried. If it's over 20kg, it has a good chance of being left behind. Maybe there will be lots of porters when you arrive, but maybe not - I spent a couple of days at camp when I first arrived before most of my stuff joined me.
You can leave Lompole once you're ready to go (unless instructed otherwise). Again, plan your eating accordingly. The walk takes me about five hours, including the pirogue (dugout canoe) crossing. You leave the village via some agricultural fields, which offer the only point to get lost. Be with someone for that bit. Once you're in denser forest, there's only one trail - the main one. If you see tiny side trails, don't take them. The only place where you may get confused is if a treefall has altered the trail, in which case there's a newish detour. No worries.
Inevitably, there will be a whole team of people who will want to walk with you (or rather for you to walk with them), thinking that you'll get lost if you're alone. If you want this, go for it. But really, try to take advantage of the fact that it's such an easy trail to follow, and put at least two minutes between you and anyone else. Two minutes! That's all it really takes to feel some peace out there, instead of feeling someone on your heels. It takes some convincing to get the people to give you two minutes of space, but trust me, it's worth it.
After a bit more than an hour, you get to the first big savannah: Savane Bokapu (there's also a tiny stretch of savannah in between, with a really wide path where people write their names in the sand). It's about an hour across Bokapu, in the beating sun.
Then there's about 30 minutes of dense forest, with the first river crossing: the Lomenie. The deepest bit of channel is a good spot to refill your water bottle, so you don't need to carry a full one the whole way. It's also one of the best spots for a cool swim that I know of around here. There was a cool bongo skull on a tree just at that spot (though it may have been absconded with in the past month) - look behind you when you're at the swimmable spot of the channel. It's about waist-deep at the deepest spot.
The following savannah is called Savane Iaka, and is a bit less than an hour from one end to the other. At the far end is the seasonal fishing village of Iaka that Lompole's residents have populated for the past couple of months. Most will probably have left by the time you walk through, but some families will likely still be there. Take plenty of photos if you want - the kids love it. You'll probably meet an employee or two of our camp that introduce themselves to you, or at least some of their extended family. On the other hand, the place may be deserted. It is possible that you'll start the walk to camp on the same day you land, in which case you'll have to spend the night at Iaka.
At the other end of Iaka the trail goes down to the next river crossing: the Bompindji. The trail heads right from the lower end of Iaka, and into the forest. The bridges through this section are currently under repair, so it won't be quite as difficult to slog through by the time you cross. If the bridges are usable, the deepest bits will be about waist-deep. The final bridge is a sturdy one over a small channel, where it's a good idea to wash your feet off before continuing. A bit more mud follows, but you can put your shoes back on at this last bridge if you chose to do this way.
For both the Bompindji and the Lomenie, if you wonder which way to go just follow the most obvious path. You'll often see mud in suspension as evidence of the porters passing ahead of you.
There's about one more hour of forest hiking between the Bompindji and the Lokoro. You'll suddenly hit a section of trail that's really wide, which starts at the turnoff to the seasonal fishing village of Boele. When this really wide one turns suddenly to the left, and gets even wider, you need to follow the narrow forest path straight (the wide trail to the left goes to another fishing village called Bampfumbe). For the remainder of the walk to the Lokoro, bear right if in doubt, unless it's a deviation around a treefall (which will be obvious once you hit the tree).
At the Lokoro River, you'll need to wait your turn in the pirogue. Members of the research team take priority over porters - accept this and take the lift. Depending on the number of porters, there may be several crossings. The actual river crossing isn't very long, especially in that direction with the current, but then the pirogue navigates a smaller channel towards camp. Depending on the water level, the pirogue will have to discharge its load sooner or later. Again, you can expect nearly-waist-deep water from the point you get out, but it'll probably only be knee-deep or so. You've got perhaps 20 minutes more to walk, and you'll be with someone who knows the trail. We'll have some food ready for when you get here.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Each person gets their own 2/3-person tent to live in. Some are newer than others, but the main thing is that the zippers work. The tents are under roofs against the sun and rain, and everyone's got a little table to put their stuff on next to their tent. Bring your own mattress, pillow, and bedding. Remember that you’ll be living here long-term rather than just camping for the weekend, so bring a bed you’ll be comfortable sleeping in every night.
CLOTHING
We have laundry done by the local staff here about twice a week, so bring enough clothes to last about five days or so. Perhaps a couple more. Weather affects laundry being done, and affects it's drying. Everything gets really stained, whether you like it or not. The local staff will not wash women's underwear (or men's underwear that looks like women's underwear), so it's recommended for women to bring tons of pairs so they don't have to do their own washing as often.
Humidity is extreme here. It can take days for things to dry. Keep this in mind when choosing what clothing/fabrics to bring. The same goes for your towel and pillow.
Pants that zip off into shorts are great. Long-sleeve shirts are useful against evening insects and against scrapes in the forest. Bathing suits are useless, because there's nowhere to swim (and you'll be fully dressed in those places anyway). Rain pants are useless - quick-drying things are better.
Hats aren't that useful, unless you like the style. I wear a bandana at all times, but mostly because I've got too much hair. I find the bandanna good when working in the forest, because it catches the spider webs and branches and such. Sunglasses are pretty much useless - camp is the only place with direct sunlight, and we stay in the shade when it beats down.
The weather's almost always hot, so only one heavier layer will probably suffice. There's no need to ever dress up nice.
The threat of rain is omnipresent. If there's a downpour we don't bother going out in search of bonobos because we won't hear them. But if it's raining and we're already out, or if it's raining in the morning and the plan is to greet the bonobos at their nest, we generally just get drenched. Raincoats come in handy in such situations, more to keep warm when drenched rather than to avoid being drenched in the first place - bring a raincoat. We have two umbrellas for use at camp.
FOOTWEAR
This is the toughest thing to plan. For camp, a basic pair of sandals or flip flops is essential. You'll wear them nearly all of the time when at home. You may use some sort of sandal for walking the trails, depending on how comfortable or sturdy they are. For forest days though, plan on walking ten to twenty kilometres a day - you need happy feet.
A lot of our trails include stream crossings, and many include deep mud. Sandals get sucked off deep in the mud, so you end up going barefoot through those stretches anyway. Lighter shoes also get sucked off in the mud, but they don't carry around as much water when they're wet. Heavier boots don't necessarily get sucked off in the mud, but they're really heavy when wet and a pain to get little branches out of. Sneakers are a good bet for most of the time, as they can handle getting wet, they're not too heavy on the feet, and generally pretty comfortable. Heavy boots are also heavy when dry, so they're not that great for long days.
Your shoes will die while you're here, so bring a couple of pairs at least. They get wet, then you dry them in the sun, and then you repeat the process over and over until they're dead. Bringing a pair or two of spare insoles wouldn't be a bad idea.
Not all days include treks through mud or even through streams. Most don't, actually, but the possibility is always there. If you're following bonobos through the bush they like to drag you through swampy bits early so your feet get wet. Ok just kidding, but it's not unlikely. Fortunately, most of the terrain around here is relatively flat, with only a few steep bits across the whole study site.
For days when I know the terrain, I sometimes bring two sets of footwear: a dry pair of shoes with socks, and a pair of sandals. This is how I do the Lompole-LuiKotal walk, as well as a few other of our regular trails with stretches of mud and stretches of dry trail. It's up to you.
FUN
For fun around here, we follow bonobos around the forest. Ok, well at camp we've got a few other things, like reading books, lying in hammocks, and using the computer. There's a deck of cards, and I play rummy. There are three tennis balls for juggling or throwing back and forth. There's a frisbee, but we don't have enough space to throw it here. Same problem with the soccer ball. If you've got other great pastimes to share, perhaps they'll catch on here. Maybe bring an origami book. And spare paper.
There are two libraries (big metal boxes filled with reading materials): the scientific one and the leisure one. Our scientific library has plenty of photocopied articles on bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos, and lots of books about bonobos, chimpanzees, and a few other random African creatures. Some of the books in there are owned by individual members of the field staff, while others will remain forever in the box. Some permanent fixtures are the field guides to African mammals, to East African reptiles (not very useful), and all of the bonobo/chimp compendiums. The Birds of Africa book and the behavioural guide to African mammals won't be here as long as you, but are still useful for a while.
The leisure library works similarly, though its permanent collection is pretty significant. Most books are in English, though there are several in German and a couple in French. They cover a variety of genres, so we can generally find something appealing when it's time. There are also a lot of magazines, though none very current. We'd love a few recent issues of some current-events magazines, particularly The Economist or something of similar stature (please not Newsweek or Time!), if either of you are able to pick any up.
If you've got particular ambitions for reading, bring those books. Be prepared to share. We read a lot here. It would be nice to get some more variety, though there really is a decent selection already.
Translation dictionaries include English-French, English-German, English-Lingala, and French-Lingala. The local language is called Kikundu, but the workers all speak Lingala too. I doubt a Kikundu dictionary even exists.
There will be two hammocks up when you arrive, with a great pair of trees for a third if you want to augment the collection. I may or may not take mine away with me when I leave in December - I'll decide then. We also have two chairs at camp - they sort of recline comfortably. Otherwise it's benches only.
There is no alcohol here. I repeat: There is no alcohol here. Get over it. I definitely recommend bringing a little stash of some sipping liquor, but I'll warn you right now it'll never be enough. Gottfried frowns on bringing liquor to camp, and suggests that whatever is consumed openly is shared with everybody, so keep your stash discreet. But really, the value of a couple of bottles should not be underestimated. Pick up some duty free on the way to Kinshasa, and try to get some while you're in town. From CAP, turn left out the gates, take your first left, and then take your first left. When you see the row of stalls on both sides, the one with glass walls on the left sells liquor for good prices. They accept single dollar bills.
If at all possible, please bring me a bottle of Grand Marnier! I'll pay you back, no problem. Please!!!
There are no mixers here, so alcohols that can't be consumed straight aren't too useful. Unless the mixers are water, milk (from powder), coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: those are our only drinks.
We do have cigarettes here, that are distributed free to all the smokers in camp at a rate of one per day. If you think you'll need to smoke more than one per day, please bring your own supply (you can still have the daily one though). The local Congolese brand that's most-smokable appears to be Tumbaco Legere. A carton of 10 packs should cost around $7 or $8 in Kinshasa.
If you want to smoke anything else, don't bring it. But do bring plenty of decent rolling papers. All we have here is tracing paper and leaves. Actually, could you please try to bring a few packs of rolling papers regardless? If you want to bring a narguihle and some flavoured tobacco, that would be classy and appreciated, though bulky. Bring a good supply of tofahtein. We'd use coals straight from the fire.
FOOD
We don't starve here, and that's the important thing. After that though, there's not a load of variety. It's fish, some green mushy vegetable stuff, a couple of tubers (potatoes, etc), and chikwanga (you'll see). Sometimes we eat beans or spaghetti, imported from Kinshasa. The only non-fish "meat" available here is corned beef. Breakfast is rice. There's plenty of coffee, tea, and Nesquik. A few fresh fruits are available - bananas are generally always at hand. We take little packs of biscuits to the forest for energy, or we eat them at camp when we're bored.
If you want anything else, bring it. I've still got a healthy stash of atomic fireballs that I enjoy every now and then, for example. If you're some sort of ingenious creative in the kitchen, bring some spices and go for it when you get here. Or just eat what you're given and enjoy your stash of indulgences when your spirit needs it.
You'll be flying in with our resupply loads of food. The next plane after your two will be in December sometime, so we're likely to run out of many things before getting more. Get over it. We won't starve - the menu will just get even more monotonous.
MEDICAL STUFF
Camp has some first aid supplies. If you have specific needs, bring it. It's a good idea to have a few basic painkillers and such. You'd better have insurance. In case of emergency, we can hook up the satphone and get your insurance to send a plane. It's about 27km to the airstrip though. Usually we just spend a week in camp getting better.
Malaria exists around here, and you're at risk whether you're taking prophylactics or not. For a while, I was the only one taking any (Larium), and then I got malaria. So now none of us takes prophylactics. Our defence against malaria is to treat it when we fall ill with it. I used Arsumax last time. This is generally accepted here as the best course of action. Otherwise you're ingesting some pretty harsh drugs on a regular basis, whose side effects can sometimes almost compare to the symptoms of malaria itself. You've got time here - if you fall ill you'll be out of commission for a week or two, and then you'll be fine. Yeah, your doctor somewhere may insist on the prophylaxis, but they're just going by the WHO book's recommendation anyway. (Finally, if you really insist on taking Larium, I've got nearly a year's supply I'd be happy to sell you!)
Multivitamins wouldn't be a bad plan, but I don't know if it really matters. Like I said, our diet is pretty basic, but I think we probably cover the majority of a body's needs.
You don't need sunscreen, because there's not much exposure to direct sunlight. Insect repellent is also pretty pointless - just tuck your pants into your socks and don’t impose the nasty odour on the rest of us.
TOILETRIES
We actually sell some basics here, so you don't need to bring a supply to last your entire stay. They're free for use by the research team, and sold cheap to the general population around here.
We sell toothpaste (Maxam) and toothbrushes (real basic things from Angola). We sell razor blades (although we'll run out soon if no more come in with your planes). Deodorant is up to you - it's not available here, and we don't bother with it much (don't worry, we don't smell). If you want long-term supplies of your own toiletries, bring them.
We have toilet paper. We do not have women's products and cannot get them - please plan accordingly.
If you wear contacts, bring enough kit for your whole time. If you wear glasses, a backup pair wouldn't be a bad idea (I didn't bring a spare pair, and haven't lost mine yet).
We have two shower stalls here, and we keep one bar of soap in each for the use of the research team. The other option for bathing is an ankle-deep stream about 400m from camp, where I prefer to go. I bring my own soap there, and use the camp soap when I shower here. If you don't care what soap you use, just rely on camp soap. Otherwise plan on bringing a big supply. Bring shampoo if you want to keep your hair.
I've gone the hairy route, with a big beard and a pony tail, while Andrew (a tough-looking Londoner) shaves his entire head every so often. Bring shaving cream if you want to follow his style, or shampoo if you like mine. Expect to need periodic trims during your stay, and accept that we're not professionals cutting each others' hair. I think I've been a pretty decent coiffeur when needed. Bring decent hair-cutting scissors if you're particular about that. Or use the Swiss-Army knife.
GEAR
Bring a little knife of some sort. They're always useful. Bring a good day pack for carrying water, some food, binoculars, etc. Don't bother with big long-distance frame packs, because you won't be hiking long distances with much gear. A smallish hip sack can be useful for days when you don't need to carry much gear, and for giving your back a rest sometimes.
If you want to spend nights in the forest away from camp, we have a few (crappy) spare tents that can do the trick. Bring your own tent if you want, but it won't get much use. Actually, it'll probably just get worn out.
We do have one satellite camp set up (called Badzungu), with a tent, a couple of mattresses, and a few basic provisions. Andrew brought a basic alcohol-burning camping stove that's big enough to boil water for tea, or for one bowl of rice. We cull the alcohol from tubes that held shit samples, after removing the shit. If you think you might want to use the satellite camp much, a better camping stove would be the most useful piece of gear for that. It's really hard to light a fire around here - the stove is so much easier. You'll have to find fuel in Kinshasa though - we have a limited gasoline supply at camp, if the stove can burn it.
Bring a good headlamp, or maybe a couple. It will be a permanent fixture on your head. We have a supply of AAA batteries that keep our headlamps lit. If you bring anything else requiring batteries, bring the right batteries. Our camp recharger handles AAs and AAAs only.
Bring a watch. Waterproof, with the date, an alarm, and preferably even the day of the week. If you won't wake up to the watch alarm in the middle of the night, bring a separate alarm clock that will wake you up. Good bonobo days often start before 4am.
Camp has four pairs of good binoculars (10x42). These are shared among whoever needs them in the forest on a given day. It's generally enough. Camp has two good GPS units (Garmin GPS60Csx). Bring your own if you want, but once you use one of the good ones you probably won't bother with your own any more unless it's of similar quality.
Camp has plenty of compasses. There are a number of cicateurs (garden snips) that are our essential tools for cutting through the bush, though they eventually get worn out or lost. Don't bother bringing a machete.
Camp has some basic tools for fixing stuff. There are only a couple of sewing needles. Unless you have specific goals, you probably won't need specific tools. Ask me for specifics if you need.
If you want to conduct a study that involves specialised equipment or materials, you'd better be sure that everything is available for you. That means bring it yourself, or confirm with someone on the ground here that your supplies will be here. If you get here and some essential tool is missing, you can't do your work.
We've got a small supply of field notebooks for the work we do. If you want a particular type, bring your own. Our paper supply at camp has been an issue in the past, but we've currently got a reasonable amount. We have pens and markers.
THE COMPUTER(S)
There's currently one laptop, though hopefully Gottfried will bring a second one. If you want to bring your own, go for it, but be forewarned that it might die out here, and that our power capabilities are limited. We have four solar panels that charge three big batteries, off of which we charge our flashlight batteries and computer batteries. Basically, we can plug the computer in during the daylight, and use it until its batteries die when the sun's not beating down. The big batteries don't have enough juice to really charge much at night, but they power a few light bulbs. We have a gasoline-powered generator for really rainy days when we need power. Plugs are European and American.
The computer we currently have has almost no hard drive space left, so please don't rely on it to store your photos or music. There's not much fancy software on it either, nor much room to install new stuff. Feel free to bring new software if you want, but be forewarned that it just might not fit. I have no idea if, assuming Gottfried is bringing a new laptop, the other computer will be any better or what, so I'll just explain this one's capabilities.
It has a DVD reader, but not a DVD writer (as far as I can tell). It does burn CDs, but since the hard drive is full it's tough to get enough buffering space (or whatever the reason). I've succeeded in burning a few data CDs though, so if necessary it can probably be done again. Bring an adequate quantity of blank CDs. Bring a USB stick to hold personal documents that you want to access and manipulate regularly.
There is a basic deskjet printer for occasional use. It's running low on ink though, so unless Gottfried brings more it'll be rendered useless pretty soon. Don't rely on our printer for big documents - bring them with you already printed. But it's a useful tool sometimes.
Since the computer can read DVDs, bring some along! Gottfried discourages it, for reasons of cultural sensitivity, but we're starved for that sort of thing here. Don't tell him you're bringing them and he won't object. We just may need to be discreet about the viewings, depending on the content - our local staff will undoubtedly want to watch. (I once went to Lompole and it seemed like literally the entire village turned out for the event: a TV and VCR showed Jean-Claude van Damme's "Bloodsport", half of an old soccer game, and some booty-shakin' Congolese music videos - "Werrason". Ridiculous!)
I highly recommend also bringing a CD or two of personal photos. You can look at them whenever you want, and you can show stuff off to others here when you want.
EMAIL
This is currently our email address. We're not getting spam these days, but the last address had to be abandoned because of the spam. We get our email by logging on to the eva.mpg.de server in Leipzig via a satellite receiver. In general, this is done twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays), though it can be more or less frequent depending on the need. The connection process isn't that difficult, and is almost always successful - it usually takes between 20 and 30 minutes from start to finish for the whole protocol.
We can only deal in straight text emails - no attachments. In theory, 20kb is the limit for any given email, though sometimes they're bigger (like this one!) Attachments just crash the connection though, so please forewarn any of your friends and family that may write you here.
There's only one email address for the camp, so emails aren't entirely private. We add initials of the individual sending the message to make it clear who each email can be attributed to. "(MPI)" refers to all project emails. You two will be (CG) and (JG), as far as I can tell. It would be useful to tell your friends and family to put your name or initials in the subject as well - this avoids the need for me to skim through the message to attribute it to someone.
As of right now, I am under the impression that we don't pay for our personal emails. Nonetheless, I've been keeping very detailed records of who's using how many kilobytes, so if Gottfried really wants to know such details he can make a well-informed decision.
With the satellite connection, it's also possible to make voice calls. These are around €1/minute, depending on the destination country, and we don't make them much. These are much easier to attribute to individuals, so I'm not sure if we do or do not pay for them ourselves. I just know that Gottfried has given us the total costs for various personal calls made, and I told him who made each one. I get the impression that if we keep it reasonable, and don't abuse this capability, the costs will be covered by the project, but if it gets out of hand then everyone will have to start paying. I don't really care either way - phone calls are to be limited to exceptional circumstances out here. There is no mobile phone service here, though I was able to use my Canadian phone in Kinshasa.
It is not possible to connect to the internet in any way. You will not be able to access your yahoo accounts, or anything else that requires internet access. Don't forward those accounts to this address, because the volume will crash our connections. I know that for my hotmail account, I paid $20 or so to have it remain in existence for a year despite a lack of activity - I hope it works! If you don't have a personal secretary able to log on to your personal email accounts periodically, you may want to look into this sort of thing too. Or just get someone to sift through your emails and forward you any that seem important - just be sure to keep the kilobytes down!
Before leaving, log onto your email and print out your entire address book. Bring it. Bring important phone numbers too.
CAMERAS
It's nice to be able to take photos, but often less satisfying than foreseen. Most of the photos we take here are of each other. A simple snapshot camera does the trick for that. It's helpful to have something pocket-sized for easy access at a moment's notice, because most animals you see will only stay in sight for that moment. For that, I like my little digital one that I keep in a belt-mounted pouch.
For good wildlife photography, a fancier camera may be useful, but it still has limitations. The forest offers very difficult conditions for lighting and for visibility, while the wildlife itself usually disappears before you even take the lens cap off. Most of my successful wildlife shots are macros of insects and fungi, since they cooperate.
As for photographing the bonobos, even renowned wildlife photographer Frans de Waal laments that "in a tropical forest the light level is so low, with harsh highlights and deep shadows, that it's hard to take good pictures. Add to this the fact that the apes are black, and their eyes dark, and it becomes clear that the photographic challenge was formidable..." This is not to say that it's not possible to get good bonobo photos here, just that good bonobo photography days are few and far between. Cintia, your position will probably afford the best opportunities for bonobo photography, if that's what you're into. I hope you have at least a 300mm lens! Over time, you'll hopefully get some amazing shots. If you plan on carrying your camera gear through the forest a lot, bring the right cases and such - it rains a lot, and you'll constantly be bumping into branches, vines, and so on.
There's one tripod at camp that still has its foot thing that attaches to the camera. Two other tripods are missing that essential element. They're heavy, but durable. I like shooting with a tripod in the forest because of the low light levels, but it's not a vital piece of equipment.
MUSIC
There is one camp radio, which the workers generally have going from 6am onwards. We somehow get reception for Radio Okapi, Voix d'Amérique, BBC, and who knows what else. I guess it's shortwave, but I don't really pay attention. If you want to keep in touch with world events, it's your only hope, really.
A couple of our workers own cassette decks, which they bring to camp for some added drama upon arrival. They play the same cassette over and over and over and over and over for days on end, with the batteries dying and the sound getting so drawn out until the batteries finally die and they put them in the sun to recharge and then the tape gets played over and over and over and over again. It's sort of annoying, actually. If you have cassettes, bring them. They will be much appreciated by everyone concerned, and you'll get to hear your old music in a new way when the batteries keep dying.
We all have our own mp3 players and headphones, and when they're on our heads that means "don't bother me right now". Again, there's not much space on the computer for storing music, although it can facilitate the exchange of music between our various players. Try to bring a decent variety - it's all you'll have for a while (aside from that Werrason cassette the workers bring).
I have a small set of minispeakers, which makes a big difference here. I will be taking them with me in mid-December, so if you want any music louder than the laptop speakers, bring more minispeakers. Don't rely on the camp's collection of batteries for your personal electronics - bring your own. Bring all the cables you need.
There are no instruments here, but the workers often sing. I think it's one of the requirements for the cooks, actually. If you can handle it, bring your didgeridoo.
SUMMARY
OK now you've got pages and pages of advice on what to expect, and how to plan. In short though, here are the vital things you need to bring:
Passport with visa
Bedding, pillow
Mattress
Enough clothes for about five days
Towel
Sandals, forest shoes
Something to read
Grand Marnier
The latest Economist magazine
Painkillers
Shampoo or shaving cream
Daypack
Water bottle
Watch
Headlamp
USB stick
Blank CDs
A CD of personal photos
Mp3 player and headphones
Beyond those basics, you've got a good description of what to expect in order to plan accordingly. Just remember that it's impossible to get anything else here, so be prepared to just do without anything you forgot.
If you're wondering about anything else specific, write back and ask. Remember the inherent delays with our email access here though. Otherwise, I'm sure you'll handle the preparations well, and that your stay here will be as smooth as stays here can be.
Good luck with your final preparations, and have a good voyage. See you soon!
Ryan à LuiKotal
What to bring
This entry wasn't written specifically for the blog, but I think it's interesting enough to be posted here. What follows is actually an email that I'm sending to two people that will be joining us here at camp in the next couple of weeks. Cintia will be arriving in mid-September, and Joel gets here in early October. Both had the foresight to write for advice on what to expect, and they certainly get an earful.
So if you're interested, read through my response. To put it in context, try to picture your imminent departure for a stay of six to nine months here. I include tons of details because I think they're useful - I got practically none of this info before arriving, and wish I had.
Enjoy,
Ryan
Hi Cintia, Hi Joel,
My name is Ryan Matthews (a languid Canadian of 30), and I'm currently working as the camp manager at LuiKotal. I am writing both of you at once, because you are both arriving here shortly and will therefore benefit from the same information. Cintia will be flying from Kinshasa to Ipope with Gottfried on the 17th of September, and Joel will be flying in on the plane that takes Gottfried out in early October. We look forward to welcoming you here.
VISAS
If you haven't already procured your visas, you'd better do so. They are extended once you're here, so it doesn't really matter if your initial visas are for one month or six. The original single- or multiple-entry status of the visas remains once they are
extended, so plan accordingly if you hope to leave the country and return again within the validity of the visa.
PASSPORTS
We have our passports here in camp, and send them to Kinshasa with outgoing planes before the visas expire. If your visa will not be valid beyond the time of the following outgoing plane (December sometime), you ought to leave it with someone from the GTZ before coming to LuiKotal. If it will be valid for several months still, bring it to camp and we'll send it out later. The visa cannot be extended until shortly before it expires. The GTZ representative that handles our visa extensions is Noel Duli.
PLANE TICKETS
If you plan on staying in Congo for more than 6 months, your plane ticket will likely cost a lot more and have a validity of up to one year. This is what I got. I was obliged to name a return date, although I still have no idea when this will be exactly, so I just took the latest date available.
When you come here, I recommend that you bring all of your documents to LuiKotal with you. For the plane tickets, try to bring an email address through which you will be able to make changes to the departure date. Some people email their family members to make the changes on their behalf; I can email the travel agent through whom I bought my ticket. Plan accordingly.
KINSHASA
Avoid looking like military when you arrive at Kinshasa airport. This includes your luggage. For your profession, say "biologist". Be patient with customs. Don't pay them. Keep a good watch on your luggage from the moment you first spot it getting thrown onto the baggage carousel until it's in the back of the jeep (the one you're getting into) with the doors shut and locked.
You will be given some logistical support by a GTZ representative on your arrival, which is essential. You will be met at the airport and transported into the city, and accommodations will be arranged for you. When I arrived, my accommodations were at the Centre d'Acceuil Protestant (CAP). I was expected to pay for these accommodations, so you will likely be so as well. It was around $50 per night. I recommend asking if there are any cheaper rooms than the one they first stick you in. They are all bland and adequate.
Another researcher will be joining us along with you, Joel, so she will likely also be staying at CAP when you are there. The rooms each have two single beds, so I recommend sharing a room and splitting the cost, rather than getting two separate double rooms. Her name is Julia and I don't know anything else about her.
The city is expensive and not very user-friendly. I recommend avoiding a long stay there, if at all possible. It is possible to get a few provisions there, but nothing can really be guaranteed. Try to complete all of your shopping before getting to Kinshasa. Don't count on doing any internet in Kinshasa, although you may succeed. The place I found was so slow and kept suffering power outages that it wasn't even worth attempting any more.
Cintia, although Gottfried may be in Kinshasa at the same time as you, he'll be busy taking care of stuff and you won't likely see him much between your arrival and your departure. Bring a book to pass the time at CAP, or brave the city and roam around.
Joel, you can probably expect the same lack of hand-holding. Really, you're basically on your own there. At least you may have Julia to commiserate with. It would be prudent to roam the streets together rather than solo anyway.
Changing money is easy in Kin, although shop around to discover a reasonable rate for dollars. There are literally women sitting on the sidewalk with stacks of bills and calculators waiting to exchange currency, though you may be better of at an indoor place for security’s sake. Don't bring any bills that have any rips, as they won't be exchanged. Singles ($1 bills) are basically useless too. Different rates are often offered for different $ denominations. Other currencies are difficult. Credit cards are essentially useless. Cash is not really needed once you get to LuiKotal.
GETTING HERE
You'll be brought to the domestic airport early on the day of your internal flight. You'll sit there for a while. The flight is pretty cool - hopefully the weather will afford you a nice view over the forest. You'll probably stop en-route for refueling.
You arrive at the airstrip of a village called Ipope. That will be chaotic, with over a hundred locals turning up to greet the plane. Watch your own personal belongings, and let someone else deal with the rest. Porters carry everything to Lompole.
Lompole is about an hour's walk from Ipope, which itself is about 20 minute's walk from the airstrip. It's an easy route. In Lompole you'll be staying at Mara's. He's our main collaborator in the village. He's likely going to be getting on the plane to fly back to Kinshasa on the 17th, so Cintia you'll only be meeting him and his wife for a handshake. He may fly back to Ipope with you, Joel, if there's space.
There will be tents for you to sleep in on Mara's lawn. All of the plane's provisions go into a depot building for the night, also at Mara's. The tents might be really shitty, but it's just for one night. You'll probably be fed something the evening of your arrival, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have something with you.
You might be fed coffee the following morning, and possibly papaya or avocado and maybe even some rice. I feel like there's never enough food in Lompole. Bring snacky things if possible. The morning after the flight will see dozens of people assembling at Mara's. Many are porters, many are just random hangers-on. Some are employees that aren't currently at camp. Danilo's the deaf kid in red and black that always smiles and wants to set up your tent and asks to keep whatever cool thing he sees you with. Everyone will be friendly with you, as newcomers, but Gottfried will surely be engaged in heated discussions with village elders and other people with some issue or other. Don't get involved. Cameras are fine, and the kids love getting photographed. Don't be shy with the cameras if you want to take photos. Just show them the little screen with their image on it afterwards, and they'll giggle with joy.
Depending on the number of porters, the plane stuff from the depot will be doled out and start getting transported to camp. This will happen anytime between 6am and 9am. I don't know who will be orchestrating this if Mara is off in Kinshasa, but it'll probably be Mama Mazeya. It may be Lambert. Lambert speaks really good French.
If there aren't enough porters, some stuff will stay in Lompole for undefined periods of time. Hopefully this doesn't apply to your personal luggage. You should try to make sure you actually see your things being carried off into the forest before you leave, or it just might not make it to camp on the same day as you. If a given bag is around 15kg, it has a good chance of getting carried. If it's over 20kg, it has a good chance of being left behind. Maybe there will be lots of porters when you arrive, but maybe not - I spent a couple of days at camp when I first arrived before most of my stuff joined me.
You can leave Lompole once you're ready to go (unless instructed otherwise). Again, plan your eating accordingly. The walk takes me about five hours, including the pirogue (dugout canoe) crossing. You leave the village via some agricultural fields, which offer the only point to get lost. Be with someone for that bit. Once you're in denser forest, there's only one trail - the main one. If you see tiny side trails, don't take them. The only place where you may get confused is if a treefall has altered the trail, in which case there's a newish detour. No worries.
Inevitably, there will be a whole team of people who will want to walk with you (or rather for you to walk with them), thinking that you'll get lost if you're alone. If you want this, go for it. But really, try to take advantage of the fact that it's such an easy trail to follow, and put at least two minutes between you and anyone else. Two minutes! That's all it really takes to feel some peace out there, instead of feeling someone on your heels. It takes some convincing to get the people to give you two minutes of space, but trust me, it's worth it.
After a bit more than an hour, you get to the first big savannah: Savane Bokapu (there's also a tiny stretch of savannah in between, with a really wide path where people write their names in the sand). It's about an hour across Bokapu, in the beating sun.
Then there's about 30 minutes of dense forest, with the first river crossing: the Lomenie. The deepest bit of channel is a good spot to refill your water bottle, so you don't need to carry a full one the whole way. It's also one of the best spots for a cool swim that I know of around here. There was a cool bongo skull on a tree just at that spot (though it may have been absconded with in the past month) - look behind you when you're at the swimmable spot of the channel. It's about waist-deep at the deepest spot.
The following savannah is called Savane Iaka, and is a bit less than an hour from one end to the other. At the far end is the seasonal fishing village of Iaka that Lompole's residents have populated for the past couple of months. Most will probably have left by the time you walk through, but some families will likely still be there. Take plenty of photos if you want - the kids love it. You'll probably meet an employee or two of our camp that introduce themselves to you, or at least some of their extended family. On the other hand, the place may be deserted. It is possible that you'll start the walk to camp on the same day you land, in which case you'll have to spend the night at Iaka.
At the other end of Iaka the trail goes down to the next river crossing: the Bompindji. The trail heads right from the lower end of Iaka, and into the forest. The bridges through this section are currently under repair, so it won't be quite as difficult to slog through by the time you cross. If the bridges are usable, the deepest bits will be about waist-deep. The final bridge is a sturdy one over a small channel, where it's a good idea to wash your feet off before continuing. A bit more mud follows, but you can put your shoes back on at this last bridge if you chose to do this way.
For both the Bompindji and the Lomenie, if you wonder which way to go just follow the most obvious path. You'll often see mud in suspension as evidence of the porters passing ahead of you.
There's about one more hour of forest hiking between the Bompindji and the Lokoro. You'll suddenly hit a section of trail that's really wide, which starts at the turnoff to the seasonal fishing village of Boele. When this really wide one turns suddenly to the left, and gets even wider, you need to follow the narrow forest path straight (the wide trail to the left goes to another fishing village called Bampfumbe). For the remainder of the walk to the Lokoro, bear right if in doubt, unless it's a deviation around a treefall (which will be obvious once you hit the tree).
At the Lokoro River, you'll need to wait your turn in the pirogue. Members of the research team take priority over porters - accept this and take the lift. Depending on the number of porters, there may be several crossings. The actual river crossing isn't very long, especially in that direction with the current, but then the pirogue navigates a smaller channel towards camp. Depending on the water level, the pirogue will have to discharge its load sooner or later. Again, you can expect nearly-waist-deep water from the point you get out, but it'll probably only be knee-deep or so. You've got perhaps 20 minutes more to walk, and you'll be with someone who knows the trail. We'll have some food ready for when you get here.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Each person gets their own 2/3-person tent to live in. Some are newer than others, but the main thing is that the zippers work. The tents are under roofs against the sun and rain, and everyone's got a little table to put their stuff on next to their tent. Bring your own mattress, pillow, and bedding. Remember that you’ll be living here long-term rather than just camping for the weekend, so bring a bed you’ll be comfortable sleeping in every night.
CLOTHING
We have laundry done by the local staff here about twice a week, so bring enough clothes to last about five days or so. Perhaps a couple more. Weather affects laundry being done, and affects it's drying. Everything gets really stained, whether you like it or not. The local staff will not wash women's underwear (or men's underwear that looks like women's underwear), so it's recommended for women to bring tons of pairs so they don't have to do their own washing as often.
Humidity is extreme here. It can take days for things to dry. Keep this in mind when choosing what clothing/fabrics to bring. The same goes for your towel and pillow.
Pants that zip off into shorts are great. Long-sleeve shirts are useful against evening insects and against scrapes in the forest. Bathing suits are useless, because there's nowhere to swim (and you'll be fully dressed in those places anyway). Rain pants are useless - quick-drying things are better.
Hats aren't that useful, unless you like the style. I wear a bandana at all times, but mostly because I've got too much hair. I find the bandanna good when working in the forest, because it catches the spider webs and branches and such. Sunglasses are pretty much useless - camp is the only place with direct sunlight, and we stay in the shade when it beats down.
The weather's almost always hot, so only one heavier layer will probably suffice. There's no need to ever dress up nice.
The threat of rain is omnipresent. If there's a downpour we don't bother going out in search of bonobos because we won't hear them. But if it's raining and we're already out, or if it's raining in the morning and the plan is to greet the bonobos at their nest, we generally just get drenched. Raincoats come in handy in such situations, more to keep warm when drenched rather than to avoid being drenched in the first place - bring a raincoat. We have two umbrellas for use at camp.
FOOTWEAR
This is the toughest thing to plan. For camp, a basic pair of sandals or flip flops is essential. You'll wear them nearly all of the time when at home. You may use some sort of sandal for walking the trails, depending on how comfortable or sturdy they are. For forest days though, plan on walking ten to twenty kilometres a day - you need happy feet.
A lot of our trails include stream crossings, and many include deep mud. Sandals get sucked off deep in the mud, so you end up going barefoot through those stretches anyway. Lighter shoes also get sucked off in the mud, but they don't carry around as much water when they're wet. Heavier boots don't necessarily get sucked off in the mud, but they're really heavy when wet and a pain to get little branches out of. Sneakers are a good bet for most of the time, as they can handle getting wet, they're not too heavy on the feet, and generally pretty comfortable. Heavy boots are also heavy when dry, so they're not that great for long days.
Your shoes will die while you're here, so bring a couple of pairs at least. They get wet, then you dry them in the sun, and then you repeat the process over and over until they're dead. Bringing a pair or two of spare insoles wouldn't be a bad idea.
Not all days include treks through mud or even through streams. Most don't, actually, but the possibility is always there. If you're following bonobos through the bush they like to drag you through swampy bits early so your feet get wet. Ok just kidding, but it's not unlikely. Fortunately, most of the terrain around here is relatively flat, with only a few steep bits across the whole study site.
For days when I know the terrain, I sometimes bring two sets of footwear: a dry pair of shoes with socks, and a pair of sandals. This is how I do the Lompole-LuiKotal walk, as well as a few other of our regular trails with stretches of mud and stretches of dry trail. It's up to you.
FUN
For fun around here, we follow bonobos around the forest. Ok, well at camp we've got a few other things, like reading books, lying in hammocks, and using the computer. There's a deck of cards, and I play rummy. There are three tennis balls for juggling or throwing back and forth. There's a frisbee, but we don't have enough space to throw it here. Same problem with the soccer ball. If you've got other great pastimes to share, perhaps they'll catch on here. Maybe bring an origami book. And spare paper.
There are two libraries (big metal boxes filled with reading materials): the scientific one and the leisure one. Our scientific library has plenty of photocopied articles on bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos, and lots of books about bonobos, chimpanzees, and a few other random African creatures. Some of the books in there are owned by individual members of the field staff, while others will remain forever in the box. Some permanent fixtures are the field guides to African mammals, to East African reptiles (not very useful), and all of the bonobo/chimp compendiums. The Birds of Africa book and the behavioural guide to African mammals won't be here as long as you, but are still useful for a while.
The leisure library works similarly, though its permanent collection is pretty significant. Most books are in English, though there are several in German and a couple in French. They cover a variety of genres, so we can generally find something appealing when it's time. There are also a lot of magazines, though none very current. We'd love a few recent issues of some current-events magazines, particularly The Economist or something of similar stature (please not Newsweek or Time!), if either of you are able to pick any up.
If you've got particular ambitions for reading, bring those books. Be prepared to share. We read a lot here. It would be nice to get some more variety, though there really is a decent selection already.
Translation dictionaries include English-French, English-German, English-Lingala, and French-Lingala. The local language is called Kikundu, but the workers all speak Lingala too. I doubt a Kikundu dictionary even exists.
There will be two hammocks up when you arrive, with a great pair of trees for a third if you want to augment the collection. I may or may not take mine away with me when I leave in December - I'll decide then. We also have two chairs at camp - they sort of recline comfortably. Otherwise it's benches only.
There is no alcohol here. I repeat: There is no alcohol here. Get over it. I definitely recommend bringing a little stash of some sipping liquor, but I'll warn you right now it'll never be enough. Gottfried frowns on bringing liquor to camp, and suggests that whatever is consumed openly is shared with everybody, so keep your stash discreet. But really, the value of a couple of bottles should not be underestimated. Pick up some duty free on the way to Kinshasa, and try to get some while you're in town. From CAP, turn left out the gates, take your first left, and then take your first left. When you see the row of stalls on both sides, the one with glass walls on the left sells liquor for good prices. They accept single dollar bills.
If at all possible, please bring me a bottle of Grand Marnier! I'll pay you back, no problem. Please!!!
There are no mixers here, so alcohols that can't be consumed straight aren't too useful. Unless the mixers are water, milk (from powder), coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: those are our only drinks.
We do have cigarettes here, that are distributed free to all the smokers in camp at a rate of one per day. If you think you'll need to smoke more than one per day, please bring your own supply (you can still have the daily one though). The local Congolese brand that's most-smokable appears to be Tumbaco Legere. A carton of 10 packs should cost around $7 or $8 in Kinshasa.
If you want to smoke anything else, don't bring it. But do bring plenty of decent rolling papers. All we have here is tracing paper and leaves. Actually, could you please try to bring a few packs of rolling papers regardless? If you want to bring a narguihle and some flavoured tobacco, that would be classy and appreciated, though bulky. Bring a good supply of tofahtein. We'd use coals straight from the fire.
FOOD
We don't starve here, and that's the important thing. After that though, there's not a load of variety. It's fish, some green mushy vegetable stuff, a couple of tubers (potatoes, etc), and chikwanga (you'll see). Sometimes we eat beans or spaghetti, imported from Kinshasa. The only non-fish "meat" available here is corned beef. Breakfast is rice. There's plenty of coffee, tea, and Nesquik. A few fresh fruits are available - bananas are generally always at hand. We take little packs of biscuits to the forest for energy, or we eat them at camp when we're bored.
If you want anything else, bring it. I've still got a healthy stash of atomic fireballs that I enjoy every now and then, for example. If you're some sort of ingenious creative in the kitchen, bring some spices and go for it when you get here. Or just eat what you're given and enjoy your stash of indulgences when your spirit needs it.
You'll be flying in with our resupply loads of food. The next plane after your two will be in December sometime, so we're likely to run out of many things before getting more. Get over it. We won't starve - the menu will just get even more monotonous.
MEDICAL STUFF
Camp has some first aid supplies. If you have specific needs, bring it. It's a good idea to have a few basic painkillers and such. You'd better have insurance. In case of emergency, we can hook up the satphone and get your insurance to send a plane. It's about 27km to the airstrip though. Usually we just spend a week in camp getting better.
Malaria exists around here, and you're at risk whether you're taking prophylactics or not. For a while, I was the only one taking any (Larium), and then I got malaria. So now none of us takes prophylactics. Our defence against malaria is to treat it when we fall ill with it. I used Arsumax last time. This is generally accepted here as the best course of action. Otherwise you're ingesting some pretty harsh drugs on a regular basis, whose side effects can sometimes almost compare to the symptoms of malaria itself. You've got time here - if you fall ill you'll be out of commission for a week or two, and then you'll be fine. Yeah, your doctor somewhere may insist on the prophylaxis, but they're just going by the WHO book's recommendation anyway. (Finally, if you really insist on taking Larium, I've got nearly a year's supply I'd be happy to sell you!)
Multivitamins wouldn't be a bad plan, but I don't know if it really matters. Like I said, our diet is pretty basic, but I think we probably cover the majority of a body's needs.
You don't need sunscreen, because there's not much exposure to direct sunlight. Insect repellent is also pretty pointless - just tuck your pants into your socks and don’t impose the nasty odour on the rest of us.
TOILETRIES
We actually sell some basics here, so you don't need to bring a supply to last your entire stay. They're free for use by the research team, and sold cheap to the general population around here.
We sell toothpaste (Maxam) and toothbrushes (real basic things from Angola). We sell razor blades (although we'll run out soon if no more come in with your planes). Deodorant is up to you - it's not available here, and we don't bother with it much (don't worry, we don't smell). If you want long-term supplies of your own toiletries, bring them.
We have toilet paper. We do not have women's products and cannot get them - please plan accordingly.
If you wear contacts, bring enough kit for your whole time. If you wear glasses, a backup pair wouldn't be a bad idea (I didn't bring a spare pair, and haven't lost mine yet).
We have two shower stalls here, and we keep one bar of soap in each for the use of the research team. The other option for bathing is an ankle-deep stream about 400m from camp, where I prefer to go. I bring my own soap there, and use the camp soap when I shower here. If you don't care what soap you use, just rely on camp soap. Otherwise plan on bringing a big supply. Bring shampoo if you want to keep your hair.
I've gone the hairy route, with a big beard and a pony tail, while Andrew (a tough-looking Londoner) shaves his entire head every so often. Bring shaving cream if you want to follow his style, or shampoo if you like mine. Expect to need periodic trims during your stay, and accept that we're not professionals cutting each others' hair. I think I've been a pretty decent coiffeur when needed. Bring decent hair-cutting scissors if you're particular about that. Or use the Swiss-Army knife.
GEAR
Bring a little knife of some sort. They're always useful. Bring a good day pack for carrying water, some food, binoculars, etc. Don't bother with big long-distance frame packs, because you won't be hiking long distances with much gear. A smallish hip sack can be useful for days when you don't need to carry much gear, and for giving your back a rest sometimes.
If you want to spend nights in the forest away from camp, we have a few (crappy) spare tents that can do the trick. Bring your own tent if you want, but it won't get much use. Actually, it'll probably just get worn out.
We do have one satellite camp set up (called Badzungu), with a tent, a couple of mattresses, and a few basic provisions. Andrew brought a basic alcohol-burning camping stove that's big enough to boil water for tea, or for one bowl of rice. We cull the alcohol from tubes that held shit samples, after removing the shit. If you think you might want to use the satellite camp much, a better camping stove would be the most useful piece of gear for that. It's really hard to light a fire around here - the stove is so much easier. You'll have to find fuel in Kinshasa though - we have a limited gasoline supply at camp, if the stove can burn it.
Bring a good headlamp, or maybe a couple. It will be a permanent fixture on your head. We have a supply of AAA batteries that keep our headlamps lit. If you bring anything else requiring batteries, bring the right batteries. Our camp recharger handles AAs and AAAs only.
Bring a watch. Waterproof, with the date, an alarm, and preferably even the day of the week. If you won't wake up to the watch alarm in the middle of the night, bring a separate alarm clock that will wake you up. Good bonobo days often start before 4am.
Camp has four pairs of good binoculars (10x42). These are shared among whoever needs them in the forest on a given day. It's generally enough. Camp has two good GPS units (Garmin GPS60Csx). Bring your own if you want, but once you use one of the good ones you probably won't bother with your own any more unless it's of similar quality.
Camp has plenty of compasses. There are a number of cicateurs (garden snips) that are our essential tools for cutting through the bush, though they eventually get worn out or lost. Don't bother bringing a machete.
Camp has some basic tools for fixing stuff. There are only a couple of sewing needles. Unless you have specific goals, you probably won't need specific tools. Ask me for specifics if you need.
If you want to conduct a study that involves specialised equipment or materials, you'd better be sure that everything is available for you. That means bring it yourself, or confirm with someone on the ground here that your supplies will be here. If you get here and some essential tool is missing, you can't do your work.
We've got a small supply of field notebooks for the work we do. If you want a particular type, bring your own. Our paper supply at camp has been an issue in the past, but we've currently got a reasonable amount. We have pens and markers.
THE COMPUTER(S)
There's currently one laptop, though hopefully Gottfried will bring a second one. If you want to bring your own, go for it, but be forewarned that it might die out here, and that our power capabilities are limited. We have four solar panels that charge three big batteries, off of which we charge our flashlight batteries and computer batteries. Basically, we can plug the computer in during the daylight, and use it until its batteries die when the sun's not beating down. The big batteries don't have enough juice to really charge much at night, but they power a few light bulbs. We have a gasoline-powered generator for really rainy days when we need power. Plugs are European and American.
The computer we currently have has almost no hard drive space left, so please don't rely on it to store your photos or music. There's not much fancy software on it either, nor much room to install new stuff. Feel free to bring new software if you want, but be forewarned that it just might not fit. I have no idea if, assuming Gottfried is bringing a new laptop, the other computer will be any better or what, so I'll just explain this one's capabilities.
It has a DVD reader, but not a DVD writer (as far as I can tell). It does burn CDs, but since the hard drive is full it's tough to get enough buffering space (or whatever the reason). I've succeeded in burning a few data CDs though, so if necessary it can probably be done again. Bring an adequate quantity of blank CDs. Bring a USB stick to hold personal documents that you want to access and manipulate regularly.
There is a basic deskjet printer for occasional use. It's running low on ink though, so unless Gottfried brings more it'll be rendered useless pretty soon. Don't rely on our printer for big documents - bring them with you already printed. But it's a useful tool sometimes.
Since the computer can read DVDs, bring some along! Gottfried discourages it, for reasons of cultural sensitivity, but we're starved for that sort of thing here. Don't tell him you're bringing them and he won't object. We just may need to be discreet about the viewings, depending on the content - our local staff will undoubtedly want to watch. (I once went to Lompole and it seemed like literally the entire village turned out for the event: a TV and VCR showed Jean-Claude van Damme's "Bloodsport", half of an old soccer game, and some booty-shakin' Congolese music videos - "Werrason". Ridiculous!)
I highly recommend also bringing a CD or two of personal photos. You can look at them whenever you want, and you can show stuff off to others here when you want.
This is currently our email address. We're not getting spam these days, but the last address had to be abandoned because of the spam. We get our email by logging on to the eva.mpg.de server in Leipzig via a satellite receiver. In general, this is done twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays), though it can be more or less frequent depending on the need. The connection process isn't that difficult, and is almost always successful - it usually takes between 20 and 30 minutes from start to finish for the whole protocol.
We can only deal in straight text emails - no attachments. In theory, 20kb is the limit for any given email, though sometimes they're bigger (like this one!) Attachments just crash the connection though, so please forewarn any of your friends and family that may write you here.
There's only one email address for the camp, so emails aren't entirely private. We add initials of the individual sending the message to make it clear who each email can be attributed to. "(MPI)" refers to all project emails. You two will be (CG) and (JG), as far as I can tell. It would be useful to tell your friends and family to put your name or initials in the subject as well - this avoids the need for me to skim through the message to attribute it to someone.
As of right now, I am under the impression that we don't pay for our personal emails. Nonetheless, I've been keeping very detailed records of who's using how many kilobytes, so if Gottfried really wants to know such details he can make a well-informed decision.
With the satellite connection, it's also possible to make voice calls. These are around €1/minute, depending on the destination country, and we don't make them much. These are much easier to attribute to individuals, so I'm not sure if we do or do not pay for them ourselves. I just know that Gottfried has given us the total costs for various personal calls made, and I told him who made each one. I get the impression that if we keep it reasonable, and don't abuse this capability, the costs will be covered by the project, but if it gets out of hand then everyone will have to start paying. I don't really care either way - phone calls are to be limited to exceptional circumstances out here. There is no mobile phone service here, though I was able to use my Canadian phone in Kinshasa.
It is not possible to connect to the internet in any way. You will not be able to access your yahoo accounts, or anything else that requires internet access. Don't forward those accounts to this address, because the volume will crash our connections. I know that for my hotmail account, I paid $20 or so to have it remain in existence for a year despite a lack of activity - I hope it works! If you don't have a personal secretary able to log on to your personal email accounts periodically, you may want to look into this sort of thing too. Or just get someone to sift through your emails and forward you any that seem important - just be sure to keep the kilobytes down!
Before leaving, log onto your email and print out your entire address book. Bring it. Bring important phone numbers too.
CAMERAS
It's nice to be able to take photos, but often less satisfying than foreseen. Most of the photos we take here are of each other. A simple snapshot camera does the trick for that. It's helpful to have something pocket-sized for easy access at a moment's notice, because most animals you see will only stay in sight for that moment. For that, I like my little digital one that I keep in a belt-mounted pouch.
For good wildlife photography, a fancier camera may be useful, but it still has limitations. The forest offers very difficult conditions for lighting and for visibility, while the wildlife itself usually disappears before you even take the lens cap off. Most of my successful wildlife shots are macros of insects and fungi, since they cooperate.
As for photographing the bonobos, even renowned wildlife photographer Frans de Waal laments that "in a tropical forest the light level is so low, with harsh highlights and deep shadows, that it's hard to take good pictures. Add to this the fact that the apes are black, and their eyes dark, and it becomes clear that the photographic challenge was formidable..." This is not to say that it's not possible to get good bonobo photos here, just that good bonobo photography days are few and far between. Cintia, your position will probably afford the best opportunities for bonobo photography, if that's what you're into. I hope you have at least a 300mm lens! Over time, you'll hopefully get some amazing shots. If you plan on carrying your camera gear through the forest a lot, bring the right cases and such - it rains a lot, and you'll constantly be bumping into branches, vines, and so on.
There's one tripod at camp that still has its foot thing that attaches to the camera. Two other tripods are missing that essential element. They're heavy, but durable. I like shooting with a tripod in the forest because of the low light levels, but it's not a vital piece of equipment.
MUSIC
There is one camp radio, which the workers generally have going from 6am onwards. We somehow get reception for Radio Okapi, Voix d'Amérique, BBC, and who knows what else. I guess it's shortwave, but I don't really pay attention. If you want to keep in touch with world events, it's your only hope, really.
A couple of our workers own cassette decks, which they bring to camp for some added drama upon arrival. They play the same cassette over and over and over and over and over for days on end, with the batteries dying and the sound getting so drawn out until the batteries finally die and they put them in the sun to recharge and then the tape gets played over and over and over and over again. It's sort of annoying, actually. If you have cassettes, bring them. They will be much appreciated by everyone concerned, and you'll get to hear your old music in a new way when the batteries keep dying.
We all have our own mp3 players and headphones, and when they're on our heads that means "don't bother me right now". Again, there's not much space on the computer for storing music, although it can facilitate the exchange of music between our various players. Try to bring a decent variety - it's all you'll have for a while (aside from that Werrason cassette the workers bring).
I have a small set of minispeakers, which makes a big difference here. I will be taking them with me in mid-December, so if you want any music louder than the laptop speakers, bring more minispeakers. Don't rely on the camp's collection of batteries for your personal electronics - bring your own. Bring all the cables you need.
There are no instruments here, but the workers often sing. I think it's one of the requirements for the cooks, actually. If you can handle it, bring your didgeridoo.
SUMMARY
OK now you've got pages and pages of advice on what to expect, and how to plan. In short though, here are the vital things you need to bring:
Passport with visa
Bedding, pillow
Mattress
Enough clothes for about five days
Towel
Sandals, forest shoes
Something to read
Grand Marnier
The latest Economist magazine
Painkillers
Shampoo or shaving cream
Daypack
Water bottle
Watch
Headlamp
USB stick
Blank CDs
A CD of personal photos
Mp3 player and headphones
Beyond those basics, you've got a good description of what to expect in order to plan accordingly. Just remember that it's impossible to get anything else here, so be prepared to just do without anything you forgot.
If you're wondering about anything else specific, write back and ask. Remember the inherent delays with our email access here though. Otherwise, I'm sure you'll handle the preparations well, and that your stay here will be as smooth as stays here can be.
Good luck with your final preparations, and have a good voyage. See you soon!
Ryan à LuiKotal
Thursday, September 6, 2007
(RM) The Man burns at LuiKotal
The Man burns at LuiKotal
Saturday, 1 September 2007
The past week has been a tough one for me. I've had the Burning Man blues. The Burning Man festival took place from Monday the 27th of August, ending on Monday, the 3rd of September. A community of over 30,000 like-minded souls created an ephemeral metropolis in the heart of the Nevadan desert - the playa - making Black Rock City their Home for the week. I, however, have spent the week in a little clearing in the middle of the jungle: I didn't get to go Home this year!!!
For the uninitiated, you probably have little notion as to what exactly the fuss is about. "So what, you can go next year, can't you?" Yeah, yeah - no problem. I will undoubtedly be there next year. But I missed it this year, dammit! And for that I'm disappointed.
On the other hand, it's partly because of my experience with Burning Man that I find myself currently living at LuiKotal Camp: both require enormous amounts of planning, organisation, patience, and just general wherewithal, and that's simply in order to survive. Anything beyond mere survival calls for even more creativity, both for increased comfort and to have more fun at it. Fortunately, I've still been able to (ok, forced to) rely on these attributes on a regular basis here. I think the BM buzzword of "extreme self-reliance" captures this philosophy well: be responsible for yourself, use the resources at hand to address challenges, get creative...
I wrote a good example of this a couple of months ago in an unposted entry, describing how I repaired our camp's mortar: it's made of a log standing on end, about two feet high, hollowed out at the top to give the basin of the mortar for preparing various local dishes. The wood's been through a lot, and about a month ago a chunk of the side of the mortar broke off. The basin has been very inconvenient to use since then, but I've asked our cooks to prepare meals that require its use nearly every day. Ordering a new one from the village has proved entirely ineffective, as have been the cooks' complaints, until today. I repaired it using an empty can of Nesquik, a pair of garden snips, some pliers, a file, and some metal wire. Of that, the Congolese guys actually seemed genuinely impressed. Bonne idee! [Note: we have since gotten a new mortar, imported from Kinshasa, that is much bigger and stronger than the original. My Nesquik-repaired one, however, is still used periodically for preparing smaller things like chili-pepper salt!]
This is the sort of improvisation that's necessary here. LuiKotal camp is, in the relative sense, well-endowed with Useful Stuff to accomplish things, as compared with the rest of the region the Congolese guys know. We have the logistical wherewithal to procure things we need from elsewhere in the world, and to store and maintain them for use when the need arises. But at any given moment, camp's supplies are definitely finite. So although I might know that a given task might be accomplished better or more easily using some familiar tool or ingredient, there's literally no option to do so. It's necessary to simply make do with what's here, and devise some other solution. The national slogan of the Congolese is basically "se debrouiller", which translates roughly to "make do" or "get by" with what you've got. My mantra has basically been "we do what we can here", and indeed we do.
One of the things I do have here is an mp3 player with a bunch of burncasts on it. These are individual broadcasts that I downloaded from the internet in Arizona, each touching on a different theme relating to BM culture. I've listened to many of them on a couple of occasions, hearing, among other things, an interactive fire pendulum in action, some "sweet jumps" over flames by bikes and go-peds, various artists describing their installations, the cheering crowd around the "Burninator", the "Cloud Nine" art car creator discussing his project, an analysis of burner fashion (tutus, prom dresses, electroluminscent-wire cowboy hats, etc), and even Arizona's own Ranger Blank explaining how he got his playa name. Yeah, although I'm not there, I can still sort of participate in the overall community.
Although the weeklong event in northwest Nevada comprises the main international gathering of the world's burners, there are actually smaller regional events put on by local communities throughout the rest of the year. (South Africa hosts the only regional burn on the continent.) Last year I participated in two regional burns, in Arizona and in Utah. Arizona's was in the spring - the first of several long weekends on which I used my precious vacation days from work for festival fun. My proudest moments there were sometime in the middle of the first night, as I mixed music on my CD turntables for chilled out burners in the hangar, and again approaching dawn when I spun another set before finally stopping for my first sleep time of the weekend. I enjoyed helping Blaze set up the fire cannons, I let loose dancing to Nuttea on the rooftop platform of Mr God's Caddywhack, and I zoned out at sunrise at the base of the Toaster entranced in the tones of J's crystal bowls - the Toaster being a 12-foot steel fire sculpture built with love by countless Arizona burners.
For last year's burn in Nevada, I wrangled up four close friends to create a camp with. We assembled in Arizona, where the others all met for the first time, and we spent an amazing week together living in our humble "Campus Minimus" in the 9:15 and Destiny neighbourhood of Black Rock City. Jeff was the first to arrive in AZ, spending over a month of his year-long road trip at my house so we could work on preparations together. In the week before we hit the road, Lisa flew in from Montreal, and Steve flew in from Brooklyn (his girlfriend Ellie met up with us mid-week). Although Marco was ostensibly living in Arizona at the time, he was the last to join our posse, flying in from Bangkok the night before we left. To add to the madness, my little sister, my mother, and my grandmother also all came for an Arizona visit that same pre-playa week, bearing witness to the hilarity of all the costumes, food, bicycles, flashy-blinkies, and so on that littered the entire house. Marco and I had built a huge Adirondack chair as our camp's main art piece, while Jeff and I built a big dome tent (actually, it was a hexayurt) that served as our group's chill-out space for the week. At around midnight the night before our departure, we bought an RV that took us and all of our gear to BM and back (my grandmother was too freaked out that we'd be cruising a few thousand miles in it to even see us off the next day).
Needless to say, the week we actually spent at the festival was quite an experience, in addition to all of the effort involved both before and after the event itself. So, needless to say, I've really been missing all of that this year!
The culmination of the weeklong Burning Man festival is on Saturday evening, when The Man burns. The Man is the centrepiece of Black Rock City, serving as an icon of the community as well as a landmark for getting one's bearings. It's over 60-feet high, built of wood and standing on a massive base, all decked out in art and flashy lights and what-not. By Saturday evening, the City's population swells to over 40,000 people, nearly all of whom surround The Man to watch the mothafucka burn. BURN! It's filled with fireworks and other flashy sparkly effects, but mostly just huge-ass flames. Damn. We watch, we yell, we cheer, and once The Man topples, we rush the pyre and revel in the climax of another year's successful burn. And no, The Man doesn't have some assigned significance - take it to symbolise whatever you want it to.
Anyway (in case I didn't mention it already) I missed that again this year, since I currently live in one of the most-remote places on the planet. For me, Saturday saw the climax of my Burning Man blues, as I shuffled around camp trying to explain the significance of the day to my campmates... when I decided to try hosting a burn here!
I spent about four hours on my creation, with my only tool being a pair of old metal scissors. I didn't have to cut down any trees, because some furniture had been repaired recently and the old sticks had been discarded at the edge of camp. Several of the longer sticks had been part of a bench, while some of the shorter ones were part of a collapsed chair. The chair had been lashed together with plenty of good lianas, which I used to lash the various sticks together in their new-and-improved configuration. The Man eventually stood strong at about eight feet high. For flammable material, I used some extra roofing materials that were never needed - a pile of frond-like leaves called ndua that are generally placed along the apex of a roof for rainproofing. I wove them into the body, head, and legs of the Man, and held them in place with more lianas, while I wrapped some bundles onto the arms.
I did all this in a small clearing (the forest office) just adjacent to the main camp, with just enough space to spread The Man on the ground. I carried it carefully into camp shortly after dark, to the surprise of our four local workers and our Kinshasan campmate (the two other Western researchers had been visiting me in the forest office to monitor my progress). I set it up in a good spot, away from the palm-frond-roofs and the solar panels. With a bit of help, we I stabilised the legs, added some final ndua (tinder), and deemed it complete. To get in the spirit, I had been wearing devil ears for most of the day, so at that point I got out a couple of other costumes: glittery goggles and a furry dog hat (see professionalnomad.com for my self-portrait in that hat). Then I doused The Man with a bit of gasoline and set it aflame!
My Burning Man blues were cured that night. I got to watch and yell and cheer, and I got to wear a silly hat. Sure, the actual flames didn't last long, and none of The Man's structure even burned through, but the spirit was here in force. The workers may have been puzzled, but they also appreciated "la ceremonie", while my colleagues got a better understanding of what I'd been going on about over the previous days. And we even get to keep The (charred) Man as an enduring art piece to decorate our camp.
The first LuiKotal regional burn was a success!
)(
Saturday, 1 September 2007
The past week has been a tough one for me. I've had the Burning Man blues. The Burning Man festival took place from Monday the 27th of August, ending on Monday, the 3rd of September. A community of over 30,000 like-minded souls created an ephemeral metropolis in the heart of the Nevadan desert - the playa - making Black Rock City their Home for the week. I, however, have spent the week in a little clearing in the middle of the jungle: I didn't get to go Home this year!!!
For the uninitiated, you probably have little notion as to what exactly the fuss is about. "So what, you can go next year, can't you?" Yeah, yeah - no problem. I will undoubtedly be there next year. But I missed it this year, dammit! And for that I'm disappointed.
On the other hand, it's partly because of my experience with Burning Man that I find myself currently living at LuiKotal Camp: both require enormous amounts of planning, organisation, patience, and just general wherewithal, and that's simply in order to survive. Anything beyond mere survival calls for even more creativity, both for increased comfort and to have more fun at it. Fortunately, I've still been able to (ok, forced to) rely on these attributes on a regular basis here. I think the BM buzzword of "extreme self-reliance" captures this philosophy well: be responsible for yourself, use the resources at hand to address challenges, get creative...
I wrote a good example of this a couple of months ago in an unposted entry, describing how I repaired our camp's mortar: it's made of a log standing on end, about two feet high, hollowed out at the top to give the basin of the mortar for preparing various local dishes. The wood's been through a lot, and about a month ago a chunk of the side of the mortar broke off. The basin has been very inconvenient to use since then, but I've asked our cooks to prepare meals that require its use nearly every day. Ordering a new one from the village has proved entirely ineffective, as have been the cooks' complaints, until today. I repaired it using an empty can of Nesquik, a pair of garden snips, some pliers, a file, and some metal wire. Of that, the Congolese guys actually seemed genuinely impressed. Bonne idee! [Note: we have since gotten a new mortar, imported from Kinshasa, that is much bigger and stronger than the original. My Nesquik-repaired one, however, is still used periodically for preparing smaller things like chili-pepper salt!]
This is the sort of improvisation that's necessary here. LuiKotal camp is, in the relative sense, well-endowed with Useful Stuff to accomplish things, as compared with the rest of the region the Congolese guys know. We have the logistical wherewithal to procure things we need from elsewhere in the world, and to store and maintain them for use when the need arises. But at any given moment, camp's supplies are definitely finite. So although I might know that a given task might be accomplished better or more easily using some familiar tool or ingredient, there's literally no option to do so. It's necessary to simply make do with what's here, and devise some other solution. The national slogan of the Congolese is basically "se debrouiller", which translates roughly to "make do" or "get by" with what you've got. My mantra has basically been "we do what we can here", and indeed we do.
One of the things I do have here is an mp3 player with a bunch of burncasts on it. These are individual broadcasts that I downloaded from the internet in Arizona, each touching on a different theme relating to BM culture. I've listened to many of them on a couple of occasions, hearing, among other things, an interactive fire pendulum in action, some "sweet jumps" over flames by bikes and go-peds, various artists describing their installations, the cheering crowd around the "Burninator", the "Cloud Nine" art car creator discussing his project, an analysis of burner fashion (tutus, prom dresses, electroluminscent-wire cowboy hats, etc), and even Arizona's own Ranger Blank explaining how he got his playa name. Yeah, although I'm not there, I can still sort of participate in the overall community.
Although the weeklong event in northwest Nevada comprises the main international gathering of the world's burners, there are actually smaller regional events put on by local communities throughout the rest of the year. (South Africa hosts the only regional burn on the continent.) Last year I participated in two regional burns, in Arizona and in Utah. Arizona's was in the spring - the first of several long weekends on which I used my precious vacation days from work for festival fun. My proudest moments there were sometime in the middle of the first night, as I mixed music on my CD turntables for chilled out burners in the hangar, and again approaching dawn when I spun another set before finally stopping for my first sleep time of the weekend. I enjoyed helping Blaze set up the fire cannons, I let loose dancing to Nuttea on the rooftop platform of Mr God's Caddywhack, and I zoned out at sunrise at the base of the Toaster entranced in the tones of J's crystal bowls - the Toaster being a 12-foot steel fire sculpture built with love by countless Arizona burners.
For last year's burn in Nevada, I wrangled up four close friends to create a camp with. We assembled in Arizona, where the others all met for the first time, and we spent an amazing week together living in our humble "Campus Minimus" in the 9:15 and Destiny neighbourhood of Black Rock City. Jeff was the first to arrive in AZ, spending over a month of his year-long road trip at my house so we could work on preparations together. In the week before we hit the road, Lisa flew in from Montreal, and Steve flew in from Brooklyn (his girlfriend Ellie met up with us mid-week). Although Marco was ostensibly living in Arizona at the time, he was the last to join our posse, flying in from Bangkok the night before we left. To add to the madness, my little sister, my mother, and my grandmother also all came for an Arizona visit that same pre-playa week, bearing witness to the hilarity of all the costumes, food, bicycles, flashy-blinkies, and so on that littered the entire house. Marco and I had built a huge Adirondack chair as our camp's main art piece, while Jeff and I built a big dome tent (actually, it was a hexayurt) that served as our group's chill-out space for the week. At around midnight the night before our departure, we bought an RV that took us and all of our gear to BM and back (my grandmother was too freaked out that we'd be cruising a few thousand miles in it to even see us off the next day).
Needless to say, the week we actually spent at the festival was quite an experience, in addition to all of the effort involved both before and after the event itself. So, needless to say, I've really been missing all of that this year!
The culmination of the weeklong Burning Man festival is on Saturday evening, when The Man burns. The Man is the centrepiece of Black Rock City, serving as an icon of the community as well as a landmark for getting one's bearings. It's over 60-feet high, built of wood and standing on a massive base, all decked out in art and flashy lights and what-not. By Saturday evening, the City's population swells to over 40,000 people, nearly all of whom surround The Man to watch the mothafucka burn. BURN! It's filled with fireworks and other flashy sparkly effects, but mostly just huge-ass flames. Damn. We watch, we yell, we cheer, and once The Man topples, we rush the pyre and revel in the climax of another year's successful burn. And no, The Man doesn't have some assigned significance - take it to symbolise whatever you want it to.
Anyway (in case I didn't mention it already) I missed that again this year, since I currently live in one of the most-remote places on the planet. For me, Saturday saw the climax of my Burning Man blues, as I shuffled around camp trying to explain the significance of the day to my campmates... when I decided to try hosting a burn here!
I spent about four hours on my creation, with my only tool being a pair of old metal scissors. I didn't have to cut down any trees, because some furniture had been repaired recently and the old sticks had been discarded at the edge of camp. Several of the longer sticks had been part of a bench, while some of the shorter ones were part of a collapsed chair. The chair had been lashed together with plenty of good lianas, which I used to lash the various sticks together in their new-and-improved configuration. The Man eventually stood strong at about eight feet high. For flammable material, I used some extra roofing materials that were never needed - a pile of frond-like leaves called ndua that are generally placed along the apex of a roof for rainproofing. I wove them into the body, head, and legs of the Man, and held them in place with more lianas, while I wrapped some bundles onto the arms.
I did all this in a small clearing (the forest office) just adjacent to the main camp, with just enough space to spread The Man on the ground. I carried it carefully into camp shortly after dark, to the surprise of our four local workers and our Kinshasan campmate (the two other Western researchers had been visiting me in the forest office to monitor my progress). I set it up in a good spot, away from the palm-frond-roofs and the solar panels. With a bit of help, we I stabilised the legs, added some final ndua (tinder), and deemed it complete. To get in the spirit, I had been wearing devil ears for most of the day, so at that point I got out a couple of other costumes: glittery goggles and a furry dog hat (see professionalnomad.com for my self-portrait in that hat). Then I doused The Man with a bit of gasoline and set it aflame!
My Burning Man blues were cured that night. I got to watch and yell and cheer, and I got to wear a silly hat. Sure, the actual flames didn't last long, and none of The Man's structure even burned through, but the spirit was here in force. The workers may have been puzzled, but they also appreciated "la ceremonie", while my colleagues got a better understanding of what I'd been going on about over the previous days. And we even get to keep The (charred) Man as an enduring art piece to decorate our camp.
The first LuiKotal regional burn was a success!
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