The Omen Temple of Rats Born in the USA Epilogue Postmortem First Week in Zaire Following are diary entries from our first, eye-opening week in Zaire. The truck is covered with mud and our clothes are not far behind. The overhead webbing is festooned with wet clothing and personal effects that are making their last stand against the filth.
Zaire calls a road.
It is so primitive it wouldn't qualify as a 4WD road back home. The group splits into red and blue teams who alternate leaping forward to clear the road. Low hanging bamboo is the worst because it breaks funny, leaving very sharp edges. We now know why Dragoman insisted we bring heavy gardening gloves. Twice we have to use a heavy steel cable to pull away fallen trees from the road.