“I agree,” Melanie said. “What about going to the other end of the island where Rio Diviso has its inlet?”
“That was exactly my thought,” Kevin said.
Melanie raised her hand.
“What are you doing?” Kevin asked.
“It’s called a high five, you jerk,” Melanie teased.
Kevin slapped her hand with his and laughed.
They motored back the way they’d come and rounded the island to head east along its length. Kevin opened up the throttle to about half speed. The route gave them a good view of the southern aspect of the island’s mountainous backbone. From that angle, no limestone was visible. The island appeared to be an uninterrupted mountain of virgin jungle.
“All I see are birds,” Melanie yelled over the sound of the engine.
Kevin nodded. He’d seen lots of ibises and shrikes.
The sun had now risen enough so that the thatched shelter was useful. They all crowded into the stern to take advantage of the shade. Candace put on some sunblock that Kevin had found in his medicine cabinet.
“Do you think the bonobos on the island are going to be as skittish as bonobos normally are?” Melanie yelled.
Kevin shrugged. “I wish I knew,” he yelled back. “If they are, it might be difficult for us to see any of them, and all this effort will have been in vain.
“They did have diminishing contact with humans until they were there in the bonobo enclosure at the animal center,” Melanie yelled. “I think we have a good chance as long as we don’t try to get too close.”
“Are bonobos timid in the wild?” Candace asked Melanie.
“Very much so,” Melanie said. “As much or more than chimpanzees. Chimps unexposed to humans are almost impossible to see in the wild. They’re inordinately timid, and their sense of hearing and smell is so much more acute than ours that people cannot get near them.”
“Are there still truly wild areas left in Africa?” Candace asked.
“Oh, my Lord, yes!” Melanie said. “Essentially, from this coastal part of Equatorial Guinea and extending west northwest there are huge tracts that are still essentially unexplored virginal rain forest. We’re talking about as much as a million square miles.”
“How long is that going to last?” Candace questioned.
“That’s another story,” Melanie said.
“How about handing me a cold drink,” Kevin yelled.
“Coming up,” Candace said. She moved over to the Styrofoam chest and lifted the lid.
Twenty minutes later, Kevin again throttled back on the motor and turned north around the eastern end of Isla Francesca. The sun was higher in the sky and it was significantly hotter. Candace pushed the Styrofoam chest over to the port side of the pirogue to keep it in the shade.
“There’s another marsh coming up,” Candace said.
“I see it,” Kevin said.
Kevin again guided the boat in close to the shore. In terms of size, the marsh appeared to be similar to the one on the western end of the island. Once again, the jungle dropped back to approximately a hundred yards from the edge of the water.
Just when Kevin was about to announce that they had again been foiled, an opening appeared in the otherwise unremitting wall of reeds.
Kevin turned the canoe toward the opening and throttled back even more. The boat slowed. About thirty feet away, Kevin put the motor into neutral and then turned it off.
As the sound of the engine died off, they were thrust into a heavy stillness.
“God, my ears are ringing,” Melanie complained.
“Does it look like a channel?” Kevin asked Candace, who’d again gone up to the bow.
“It’s hard to tell,” Candace said.
Kevin grabbed the back of the motor and tilted it up out of the water. He didn’t want to foul the propeller in underwater vegetation.
The pirogue entered among the reeds. It scraped against the stems, then glided to a halt. Kevin reached behind the boat to keep the towed canoe from banging into the pirogue’s stern.
“It looks like it goes forward in a meandering fashion,” Candace said. She was standing on the gunwale and holding onto the thatched roof of the shelter so she could see over the top of the reeds.
Kevin snapped off a stem and broke it into small pieces. He tossed them into the water next to the boat and watched them. They drifted slowly but inexorably in the direction they were pointing.
“There seems to be some current,” Kevin said. “I think that’s a good sign. Let’s give it a try with the canoe.” Kevin moved the smaller boat alongside the larger.
With difficulty because of the canoe’s unsteadiness, they managed to get themselves into the smaller boat along with their gear and the food chest. Kevin sat in the stern while Candace took the bow. Melanie sat in the middle but not on one of the seats. Canoes made her nervous; she preferred to sit on the bottom.
By a combination of paddling, pulling on reeds, and pulling on the pirogue, they managed to get ahead of the larger boat. Once in what they hoped was the channel, the going was considerably easier.
With Kevin paddling in the rear and Candace in the front they were able to move at the pace of a slow walk. The narrow six-foot-wide passage twisted and turned as it worked its way across the marsh. The sun was now evidencing its equatorial power even though it was only eight o’clock in the morning. The reeds blocked the breeze, effectively raising the temperature even higher.
“There’re not many trails on this island,” Melanie commented. She’d unfolded the contour map and was studying it.
“The main one is from the staging area to Lago Hippo.” Kevin said.
“There are a few more,” Melanie said. “All leading away from Lago Hippo. I suppose they’d been made to facilitate retrievals.”
“That would be my guess,” Kevin said.
Kevin looked into the dark water. He could see strands of plant life trailing in the direction they were paddling, suggesting there was current. He was encouraged.
“Why don’t you try the locator?” Kevin said. “See if bonobo number sixty has moved since we last checked.”
Melanie entered the information and clicked.
“He doesn’t appear to have moved,” she said. She reduced the scale until it was equivalent to the scale on the contour map, then located the red dot. “He’s still in the same spot in the marshy clearing.”
“At least we can solve that mystery, even if we don’t see any of the others,” Kevin said.
Ahead, they approached the hundred-foot-high wall of jungle. As they rounded the final bend in the marsh, they could see the channel disappear into the riot of vegetation.
“We’ll be in shade in a moment,” Candace said. “That should make it a lot cooler.”
“Don’t count on it,” Kevin said.
Pushing branches to the side, they silently slid into the perpetual darkness of the forest. Contrary to Candace’s hopes it was like a muggy, claustrophobic hot house. There was not a breath of air, and everything dripped moisture. Although the thick canopy of tree limbs, twisted vines, and hanging mosses completely blocked the sunlight, it also held in the heat like a heavy woolen blanket. Some of the leaves were up to a foot in diameter. Everyone was shocked by how dark it was in the tunnel of vegetation until their eyes began to adjust. Slowly details appeared out of the dank gloom until the scene resembled late twilight just before night fall.
Almost from the moment the first branches snapped in place behind them, they were assaulted by swarms of insects: mosquitoes, deer flies, and trigona bees. Melanie frantically located the insect repellant. After dousing herself, she passed it to the others.
“It smells like a damn swamp,” Melanie complained.
“This is scary,” Candace commented from her position in the bow. “I just saw a snake, and I hate snakes.”
“As long as we stay in the boat, we’ll be fine,” Kevin said.