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The locals arrived early. At first we thought that the pygmies stank, but that turned out to be the maniok. All our goods were divided into 9 backpacks, the average weight being above 25 kg, although part of it was dried food brought from the Netherlands! The locals also thought it was too much and asked for an extra porter. Ivert took a firm line: an agreement is an agreement The load would become about 4 kg per day less because of the food we would eat. Akoro still protested a bit, because hacking and carrying a heavy weight don't combine too well. Fons promised him that we would eat the food in his pack first.
After reporting to the Minvoul DFC and the police we then had to go to the prefect. He inspected our permits and then pressed a button to summon an official. The Prefect instructed him to fill-up a pick-up truck with petrol and make it ready for the trip to Doumassi. What service!
At the last stop in the village there was quite an uproar next to our truck. A woman with a child and a man had come to complain about Balfou. They had heard that he was to join the expedition and thus had work. Anyone who has work has money! It turned out that Balfou owed them 3000 CFA and they wanted that money or they would call the police. Hiver managed to calm things down and promised that they would have their money - we settled with them later.
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Ivert bringing the group under control
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