Back to the past - Инна Метельская-Шереметьева

At the same time, I strongly believe that Andrey very often gives us an example of a very patient, reserved, and very masculine attitude towards life. He rarely makes a fuss about anything (unless someone probably needs urgent help but nobody knows what to do). He never complains. And even though Andrey smiles little, natives trust him right away and very carefully watch his reactions: Is he pleased with everything? It is Andrey, as a rule, who has the last say in our team, though he never insists on it.

It seems to me I complement Michael and Andrey in a certain way. I try to be careful and calm and not to be a burden. Sometimes someone has to be the first to honestly say that he is tired, out of breath, to be able to notice this in himself in order to free his friends from being heroes all the time. It is a difficult task but somebody has to do it and say: “Stop! Rest!” By the way, I didn’t get these skills right away. I remember being quite nervous in the jungle during our first trip. It seemed to me for some reason that being a refined Muscovite intellectual, I wasn’t able to take any drastic actions or exhibit self-determination. It all ended badly. I wanted to look like everybody else so much, to conform, so to put it, that I missed a wound that resulted in inflammation on my leg. I was lucky that the disease had already started on the way back to Wamena. Otherwise, I can only imagine how much my friends would have suffered in the jungle with such a “brave” victim: fever, weakness, terrible swelling. Keeping my mouth shut would have ended in them carrying me out of a Papuan village literally in their arms. One can only guess who would have felt worse in this situation.

By the way, I wasn’t supposed to go on that last trip with the rest of my friends at all. It happened that my work, problems in Moscow, and the forthcoming New Year made my participation practically impossible. But they say, desire has no rest, even though I was trying to do my best up to the last moment… When I came to Sheremetyevo airport to see my friends off, I realised that I just couldn’t leave them alone, that I was fully responsible for them, an inexplicable, totally irrational feeling. Responsible in what way? Everybody seems to be adults already. My driver was waiting for me by the exit. My wife was preparing dinner at home and I had to go over my daughter’s essay, plus my football training was scheduled for the next day…

But when I heard Michael unpurposefully saying that I shouldn’t worry, that this time they were fitted out alright so nothing bad was going to happen, I felt a pioneer hero waking up within… How was this possible? We had been together all those other times but now I was supposed to wait for their return, enjoying the perks of Moscow?

That said, it didn’t take us long to buy a ticket. We went through the backpacks, found me a pair of trousers, some boots, a windbreaker and some other clothes. I called my wife right before take-off, literally sitting on the plane. Thank you, dear, for your understanding and blessing, as well as refraining from making a scandal. I was looking out of the airplane window and had an ambiguous feeling. I felt spooked and awfully warm at the same time. I don’t know why that idiotic commercial came to my mind where he “did everything right” and the song about the inseparable friendship of men. This is how I sort of saw my friends off.

The fourth member of our team is Alexander. He is a very responsible person, a camera-man of the highest professionalism. During our expeditions he carries the heaviest load (literally). Without leaving his heavy equipment, he has to perform like everybody else but also regularly film the most interesting bits (which means everything). Sasha has a lot of traits essential to our other ‘usual’ life: he is neat, scrupulous, he is used to order around him and he is punctual… But in the wild world of nature, your intuition or ability to make instantaneous and sometimes illogical decisions, comes to the forefront. It is even harder for a person who’s too sensible and responsible. To his credit, I must say that Alexander copes with any difficulty easily and many people could only envy his courage which follows him under any non-standard circumstances.

Anyway, why was I saying all that? The answer is rather simple: just in case! When you are out in the wild you must be prepared for anything.

A lot has been written about the humid jungle with its sombre grandeur, its cunning atmosphere over-burdened with humidity. The jungle can break anybody. To put it in the most neutral way – the jungle depresses, especially in the first hours and days of being there. Huge trees, covering the sky, the water (less in some places but significantly more in others) constantly running under your feet and flowing in different directions makes you feel disoriented. When the first branches close behind your back and the usual landscape, be it a village or a river, disappears from your view, when your breathing becomes hard just after a few steps and your sweat reminds you of a summer shower, you start feeling one of the worst symptoms of a tropical disease – panic. At first, it just tickles your nerves. It is not even fear yet, only an expectation of such. It is similar to waiting for an exam which you are not very well prepared for. In a couple hours, the tiredness is overwhelming and you can think only about drinking enough clear water. You aren’t really thirsty yet until… you already are. Then this turns into idee fixa, and you start to try and push it out with other thoughts: Is it still far to the camp? Are we walking in the right direction? Have we taken the backpack with our food supplies? Can we trust our guides? You are trying to calm yourselves down but getting more and more nervous instead. Your heart is beating louder and louder, your thirst becomes unbearable and your brain is thinking the unthinkable: “What the hell am I doing here?” There is only one step to real panic, hysteria. And in such situations a good team is a true salvation. You look around and see Michael, who is so immersed in taking pictures as if he were on a typical excursion around a zoological museum. Andrey is quietly cleaning the camera lense, spreading out on a wide log some rags, tissues and bottles of chemicals which look so out of place in the jungle. Sasha, who is obviously as thirsty as I am, offers to look for some spring water and, surprisingly enough, he finds it. Somebody is calm, the other is fussing around, but all as one are living an absolutely everyday life. Our guides are even whistling a song. Panic vanishes in a moment. Only lead-heavy tiredness remains. And of course, we are still thirsty as heck. But that is survivable…

Excursus Two. How to be Safe and Sound. Michael’s Story.

The jungle is a world of its own which is as beautiful as it is dangerous, so your good will and a desire to test yourself on such an extreme trip alone is obviously not enough. We worked out several simple rules for ourselves. Following them, of course, does not guarantee that you are 100% safe from trouble, but they can definitely be helpful. While you are still planning your future routes, studying maps, looking for guidebooks and working out the schedules, find an hour in your timetable to drop into Moscow Clinic Nr. 14 (in Neglinnaya Street) to inoculate yourself against yellow fever. Only one shot and you get 10 years of serene travelling, or at least the first evidence showing that your intentions are really serious. As far as we managed to find out, in the last five years, the epidemiological situation in the majority of places we visited around our planet has been quite stable, but it is better to be safe than sorry. And thanks to the inoculation it will stay safe. Who knows, anyway? What if you, like us, like the taste of extreme tourism so much that the New Guinea jungle will be a substitute for the Amazonian rainforest or the jungle of the Central African Republic. And you won’t be able to stop at that. Owing to working with Nikolay Nikolaevich Drozdov, we learned this simple lesson very well.

Malaria is considered another curse of the tropics. This trouble is harder to fight. There are so many types of this disease as well as its pathogens. The fact that malaria is passed on by a bite of an insect is common knowledge and doesn’t speak of its true insidiousness. Australian scientists have found out why it is so hard for a person to develop an immunity to this disease. It turns out that the malaria pathogen sort of plays hide-and-seek with the human immune system. When it infects human cells, it leaves its protein on the surface. However, before the immune system recognises this protein as xenogenic and starts to produce anti-bodies, the genetic system of the malaria pathogen switches to a different mode and starts leaving a different kind of protein on the surface of the newly infected cells. The pathogen’s DNA structure includes no less than 50 such proteins. This allows the pathogens to escape the effect of a person’s immune system for a long time. This is why even today there is no inoculation against malaria. The best time-tested medicines include Lariam, Mefloquine, Doxycycline, Primaquine, Chloroquine and some others (all of which have a rather high degree of side effects and restrictions). Some men make it through by drinking gin. They say quinine, which is in the composition of this drink, can serve as a preventive measure. Undoubtedly, it is not the most correct decision even though it is a “pleasant” one. We took gin with us on the trips not so much to protect ourselves from malaria as to use it as a kind of alcohol solution (for disinfecting wounds, cuts, etc.), a “two-in-one” so to put it. We tried to avoid malaria first of all by using all kinds of repellants, anti-mosquito smoke candles and spirals, and made sure we used anti-mosquito netting.

By the way, you should pay special attention to all the equipment before your expedition begins. Temperature ranges in the jungle (depending on the altitude and season) may go from +10 to +35 degrees Centigrade. The high humidity, which rises to 90% even during the so called ‘dry’ season, requires your clothes to have specific characteristics. Special tracking boots are absolutely essential. Besides, when setting off on a difficult route, especially somewhere where it is only possible to get to by small aircraft, remember that your luggage must be relatively light.

Learning about the appropriate outfit from the hard experience of our previous trips, we chose for ourselves a certain minimum amount of equipment. As a rule, each of our backpacks has two pairs of cotton hiking trousers with a lot of pockets, two long sleeve shirts, a tank top, a windbreaker, a panama hat and a bandana. All the clothes are in light colors as dark ones attract mosquitoes. A woman’s pareu turned out to be quite a versatile piece. You can use this large and thin piece of cloth as a cloak, rag and even a breechcloth. When choosing tall boots for yourself, make sure that they are not water resistant. You read it right! Under conditions where the water will in most cases be over your knees, it is useless to hope that your footwear will remain dry. Let it get wet – but it has to dry out quickly, so the soles must have special draining and ventilation holes. You need tall boots to keep your ankles straight the whole time you will be making your way on slippery logs. In addition, it is good psychological support when you think that they will protect you from snake bites. At least, this is what we counted on. Choose comfortable socks and underwear, better from sportswear shops. It will help you to avoid calluses and rashes during long walks. You must make it a habit while being in the tropics to spray your toes with Miramistin antiseptic and use special zinc powder. Otherwise, the risk of getting a fungus or being infected with soil parasites is very high.

Pay special attention when choosing medications. Before going, you should consult a doctor about how to assemble a first aid kit, considering the current state of your health, intolerance to certain drugs, the ability to give first aid in cases of cardiovascular disease, food poisoning, stomach infections, injuries or acute respiratory diseases.

Choosing food supplies for the whole route and special presents for the locals is another important issue.

Lately, we have started to acquire most of our food supplies in Moscow. Of course, you can buy dry soups, freeze-dried vegetables and instant cereals everywhere these days. However, we prefer home-made products and not because of our strong patriotic feelings. Firstly, these prepared foods will taste like home. They won’t be unexpectedly too spicy, too salty or too sweet. Secondly, a manual in their native language will help men to master cooking without any risk of leaving the team without lunch or at least to explain to the guides what they should cook first. When calculating the amount of food supplies, remember that your guides will be happy to join you and try your pea soup. The natives will most probably also be very happy about the unexpected treat. So take more than enough of food. You will need limited amounts of salt, sugar (or sweetener), coffee, tea, cocoa and powdered milk only to treat yourselves once in a while with the your usual drinks. By the way, you are likely to leave salt as a present to some tribal members. It is a strategic product for them. We often take tobacco and lollypops for the same purpose. It’s good to have a healthy supply of lemons (which are a reliable aid when you are dehydrated or have a saline imbalance) and drinking water. One of the most important rules never to be ignored is to never drink water from unknown water sources even if the locals are sure about drinking it. If you don’t have a choice in that matter, drink only boiled water. A pot and some supplies of solid alcohol will be of some use when you try to start a fire in the humid jungle. Head lights and a multi-functional jackknife will also be very useful as well as water-proof bags (special hermetically sealed bags), where you will put all your things to prevent them from getting wet. This is practically all that could be of any use in the jungle. One tent is actually big enough for everybody, but experience shows that it’s always good to have another one “just in case”. After some time we decided to stop using sleeping bags, sticking only to tourist mats. As for presents, you should choose only those things which are recommended by the local guides. In one of our previous trips, for example, a very expensive Swiss army knife turned out to be absolutely useless even though we had meant to give it to a tribal chief. However, a small frosted key-chain knife with a nail clipper attached to it was a true hit as well as an illustrated magazine, lost and forgotten in one of the pockets of a backpack. The Papuans will be pleased to see cheap toy pennywhistles (like any simple toys which produce sounds), T-shirts and air balloons. They will prefer dampened local tobacco to some expensive cigarettes from Moscow. You definitely shouldn’t present natives with any alcohol. Everybody knows that their bodies react to alcohol very badly and even the smallest amount may cause serious poisoning.

Chapter Two. Wamena.

WONDERFUL CAVEMEN LIVE THERE

Andrey’s Story

As I have mentioned above, there shouldn’t be any problems getting a pass on your own to visit the closed (belonging to the national park) territories in the further part of Irian Jaya. The pass itself costs a few dollars and is given to travelers upon presenting their passport with an Indonesian visa, two photos and a filled-in application form (which is very simple). We decided to use the help of a local assistant. By the way, we kept using the locals’ help and not due to our own slow speed. In an unexplored area still uninhabited with travel agents (somewhere like Baliem Valley in Irian Jaya, the Banga suburbs in the Central African Republic or Napo river basin in Ecuador), the locals’ active help in solving different matters facing travelers allows them to speed up the process quite significantly and acquire some useful contacts.