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20/26-2 Heavy going
The first week we often only managed 5 km a day, whereas our target was 7 km. Apart from a few Baka poachers, no one has walked the north/south route from Minvoul! Also no one from our group it seems. Now we understand why. One morning after just 10 minutes we were standing in a river swamp once again. We sank to our knees and were completely exhausted after an hour. From now on first use the GPS to check our position on the map so that we can at least cross at right angles.
As it appears (right) and as it is (below)
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After two river swamps we reached a small bay: a watery plain with floating tussocks of grass and other plants. We tried to jump from tussock to tussock, but still manage to sink to our waists frequently. So we struggled along further with the heavy backpacks on our backs. Later we were able to follow reasonable elephant paths and we frequently spotted elephant dung. According to Bienvenue there were 10 elephants within a 10-kilometre radius. We surmounted a final ridge and made camp before the following swamp. We could not face crossing this swamp until the following day. In the distance we could hear a group of mandrills having a row.
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