The Rainforest - Part 1 (1996)

Excerpt from the draft of “Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story”

In late March, I made an eight-day retreat in the forest. A rainforest is a beautiful place, but it is also hostile. There are many inconveniences. It is hot and steamy during the day, and cold and damp at night. The forest is so dense that I can quickly become lost if I walk more than 25 yards from my tent.

Thick underbrush consists of all kinds of thorny bushes, and vines are everywhere. One vine has a fuzzy coating. If you brush against it, it leaves a stinging rash that lasts ten days, unless you have cortisone cream. One type of grass has a blade so sharp that if you brush against it, it leaves a clean-cut, like a razor blade. Appropriately, it is called razor grass. There is another vine with short branches, filled with sharp thorns that tear at your flesh if you brush against it. In the past, the Botoa used the thorns as fishhooks.

In the rainforest, there are millions of insects. By mid-morning, the mbengele comes out. They are a little larger than gnats and are attracted to sweat. They always come in swarms of hundreds and cover your body, hair, eyes, and ears. Once you can no longer tolerate them, you have to look for the shadiest, darkest place to escape or plunge into the nearest creek. However, when you come out, they are there waiting for you. Sweat bees also come in swarms.

NOTE: To get future excerpts, go to Kent Galloway- Author (on Facebook) and click "Like"