The Rainforest - Part 2 (1996)

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

Many different varieties of ants exist in the rainforest. There are three types, in particular, I did not like. First, we have red army ants. They make the ones in the U.S. look small. These ants are carnivores, and they pinch very hard. The only way to get rid of them is to throw hot coals on them. There is another variety of red ants with pincers. Food attracts these ants.

The first night, they visited my tent at 3:00 a.m. I woke to the pain from their bites on my feet. I pummeled them to death with a stick because I couldn't sprinkle hot coals in the tent. They must have gotten in around the zippers on the tent doors.

The next night, the ants returned at 4:00 a.m. Hundreds of them invaded the tent, and it took more than an hour to kill them all. In the morning, I discovered holes in the tent floor. I patched all the holes, or at least I thought I did. The ants visited one more time. I repaired the overlooked holes and then had no further problems with the ants.

The third type of ants are large, venomous black ones. If you get stung by one, the pain lasts for 14 hours. I was only bitten by one during my eight days in the forest.

The rainforest has six kinds of poisonous snakes: two vipers, two cobras, and two deadly water snakes. Each year, seven or eight people in the area die from snake bites. I did not dare venture from my tent after dark. I am vigilant when I walk in the forest or wade in the creek.