Patrol Day

Well I woke in the morning to diarhhea and a grass fire. The grass fire was moving quickly and was approaching our camp. There were high winds and it built up the fire. We have a large trench around our site so the fire never hit us. Some of the team reminded me that because of the fire we now have to be more careful for things like snakes and other criters. They may have moved into the camp to avoid the fire.

Well it was my first real patrol. We were heading to the village of Mayak. It was located about 50kms from our team site. The drive was interesting...We had to cross all types of terrain..remember there is not one single paved road within 100 kms of here. I took some good video of the trip.

We went down ravines and over rocks and boulders, crossed rivers and what used to be rivers.

I learned a great deal on the way to Mayak as I was with two Africans. For instance... most animals will follow or stay near Giraffes as they can see furthest for noting danger and for finding water. Also Hyinas are best friends to lions as the lions will kill the food and the hyinas get the left overs. So if you see hyinas then expect lions.

I also found out that there is a lion in the mountian near our village. The locals hear it and see left overs.

We finally arrived at the village. The village Sheik was not available so we met with three of the elders. We had a good talk about the village, problems, needs ect. At the end one of my colleagues gave the elder, who was also a teacher, some blank books for the kids to write in. I gave a handful of pencils and for the three kids that were with us I gave some candies.

We will take our info and pass it on to the appropriate agency. For instance one of their roads has mines and bombs on it so we will notify the agency that specializes in removing them.

By the time we got back to the camp I really wasn't feeling well. Figured maybe too much sun. By 6pm I had a fever of 108f / 39.6 c.... I was dizzy and had constant runs...

I went to the medical clinic at the PAK Army. They assessed me and quickly had me strip down for a cooling sponge bath... The manuals say use tempid water (not too cold) these guys used water from the fridge with ise in it!! Man it was COLD!! Slowly my temp came down and felt a bit better. The Dr had seen me and prescribed meds and a malaria test...It was negative.

I went back to camp around 900pm. I was missing our party. It was a good bye party for three of our guys and a welcome party for me and my friend from Boliva. I went to bed...around 2 am I woke up and was soaking wet, fever was back up. I took some more meds and tried to sleep.

The next day I was feeling somewhat better..no fever but the bowels still not good.

I have a day off to recover... Hope I feel better by Sat.

Mike.... Pics to follow.