Niala Ravine books

It was the first of April 11.30 when our plane landed, we stepped out onto the stairs into a wall of hot air, looking around trough the shimmering of heat over the tarmac there was not much more than a red grey desert, sharply featured rock formations in burnt orange in the background and the airport building, not much bigger than our own 4 bed house in Leeds.

We were guided down the stairs and made to wait at the side of the plane as our luggage was gathered from the hold, no trolleys or anything you are used to even at the smallest airport, just me my parents and a few other passengers sweating on the boiling tarmac dragging luggage to the building and since we were going to stay here for quite a while there was a lot to drag. We made it inside the building were it was only slightly cooler due to the shade and a few ceiling fans leisurely wafting the air around.

Inside there was nothing, no drinks vending machines no advertising boards no tourist info, nothing but a wooden picket fence running through the middle clearly dividing international airport space from domestic soil (rather useless since we could have just walked off when we got out of the plane) and in the centre of this fence a small wooden boot with a little gate on either side, inside an old man in a green uniform with a brown leathered face smoking a cigarette checking the passports.

Inside the boot nothing but a wooden chair and a shelf with a telephone and as he inspected the passports, closely studying our photos and faces he mumbled the details of our passports into the phone than waited a while as somebody somewhere with possibly the only computer on the island checked things over, finally he whacked some stamps on the page, pulled a little lever, the gate sprung open and we were officially on the isle.

We stopped in the far left corner gathering our luggage around us and gave each other some bemused looks, dad said “I am going to have a look outside, a guy from the project is supposed to pick us up but since we are a little early he might not be here yet, look after your mum for me Josh, I’ll be back soon”. My mum and I looked at each other still not quite sure where we had just arrived and she smiled at me “Well this is a bit different from Manchester airport isn’t it, at least they have toilets in arrival there, I’m bursting”. What is it with women and toilets, as soon as you go somewhere they need to go, in stead I said “Yeah what a place this is, I hope the rest is as intriguing as it has been so far.”

I thought about all the holidays we have had and ever since I was little all I needed was the pool or a beach, I love anything to do with water, swimming, surfing, sailing but the best thing is snorkelling in a nice and salty sea just floating around, it’s as if you are flying and when the ground drops into the depth it feels you actually soar up like an eagle so I was still looking forward to this but when you have been on so many holidays and seen spectacular places it all get to be a bit of the same, not so on this island it seemed.

Dad returned with our pick up driver, we lugged our luggage into the van and took to the road, the road in this case was nice smooth two lane tarmac for about a hundred meters. I suspect that there had been some tarmac left when the runway was made and here it had ran out, the road turned into a sandy gravel track leading straight through the desert landscape, the few cars going to and coming from the airport blazing great dust clouds behind them. After a while the plateau gave way to a gradual climb and we drove between the jagged needles that were rising up into the shimmering hot sky behind them the peak of a mountain covered in crisp white snow, this really felt alike a different planet all together and without speaking about this all of us (except the driver who probably did this road all the time and by now was totally bored with it) were awestruck by its alien ness.

We started to curve around the rocky shoulders of the mountain, ascending and descending, enfolding us in deep gorges one moment and exposing us to more wonderful views the next, suddenly we were in a thick fog, the temperature dropped immediately and what I could see of the roadside was full of vegetation. Our driver made a sigh of relief, looked over his shoulder at us and told us that we were now at the North East of the island and we would see its true beauty and rich plantations. Obviously he didn’t like the South much and had more appreciation for the agricultural achievements of his country man, which is, I suppose, understandable if you live here. The fog started to lift as it was blown away in long feathery streaks and it was indeed a wonderful lush and green valley unfolding down towards the sea in the distance. Looking behind me the snow covered mountain seemed totally to belong here, not at all out of place as it had been seen from the desert.

We turned off the road onto a small dirt track trough a tunnel of dripping weaving in the wind tropical trees, we reached a clearing and this would be our lodgings for the next two month or so. The van stopped in the middle of the complex at what would probably have been the manor house of the old plantation and mum was out, grabbed the driver by the arm, he mumbled and pointed at the house and off she went. Dad looked at me, I said “toilet” and we laughed.

We picked up some of our luggage and made our way to the house, I scanned the area around the old house several buildings had been built recently, some simple corrugated sheds to the left with in front of them some stacked portacabin offices and to the right back of the house several large tents had been erected probably to provide additional accommodation. Another thing I noticed was that there were no signs at all, nothing to tell you where to go, not even anything with a corporate name or explanation what this place actually was. It all looked like things had been thrown together rather quickly.

Before we left I had asked several times what it was that my parents were going to study here but every time they had been evasive and the nearest I had come to an answer was that it was an unknown natural or biological phenomena that had not been recorded anywhere else in the world, but every time I had asked they had given me a severe look and assured me that whatever would happen it would, in the end, be perfectly fine and I would be save even when it might seem that there was danger, as long as I would remember this all would be ok. Well I trust my parents, they have always been great, perhaps a bit strange but perhaps all parents are and as I have said we have been on many holidays some really off the beaten track so I wasn’t too worried.After we had been shown to our room had cleaned up and had some food we all went off to bed early after a long day of travel.

The next morning I awoke to a cacophony of noise, hundreds of different bird species jousting for attention with their singing, chirping, screeching and an eerie rather scary wailing sound (which I learned later was a Howler monkey). We went downstairs for breakfast in the large colonial dining room, it was full of people looking like scientists, we took our seats at a table and nobody spoke a word to us, there were some furtive looks and we were served our food but it seemed as if we were in our own little bubble, my parents didn’t seem to be bothered at all and I didn’t really care but it was a very strange atmosphere.

“So what would you like to do today Josh?” mum asked “Oh I don’t know, usually on the first day we have a look around to see what’s happening during the week and scout for the nicest spots and I always like that. Also yesterday we did not see any town or people apart from the few near the airport, I hope there is a bit more to this island than just that.” Dad replied “Oh yes I have been told there are some lovely beaches, the capital city and we could go all the way to the top of the mountain on the back of a Lama.” I was thinking about snorkelling now he had mentioned the beach. “Well to be honest I think Lama’s stink so let’s go to the beach.”

When we had finished our breakfast, made a nice picnic basket and packed the day bag we set off. The project supplied us with a nice open top jeep but just before we drove off my dad said “Just a minute, I nearly forgot.” He went back inside the old house and came back shortly after. “Right here you go Mara.” He said to my mum. “I’ve got you this nice straw hat, for myself a Panama hat and for you young man this baseball cap from the local team, now lets see how we look (he said as he put on his Panama hat) , please always wear these when outside, and I mean always.” My mum and I put on ours and I thought that my parents looked just like a couple from Indiana Jones but I was wondering why he made such a big issue about this. “Why are you stressing so much that we should always wear these?” He gave me his stern look. “As you know it is always a good idea to protect against tropical sun but over here we are almost directly under the hole in the ozone, the people that live here may be used to it or simply do not care but either way, please promise me you will wear it all the time.” Well if it was that important to him I did not have a problem with that and actually it was a nice cap so I promised him and that clearly set his mind at ease.

We found a lovely small secluded beach one with pure white sand in a rocky cove, a few Palm trees and totally private so this could not get much better. We all had a nice swim, had a race to the nearest rock and back and of course I won. Later I got my goggles and while my parents sat in the shade of one of the trees I don’t know how much time I spent, the clarity of the sea was perfect and the fish tropical, full of the brightest colours some of which seemed to change as the shoal changed direction. Later we had a great picnic under the tree and after that we set off to the capital.

When we got closer to the city (or at least that was what I thought it would be) the road improved to a mixture of solidified gravel with tarmac patches, people started appearing in an old pick up truck with a family of six in the back plus two goats and a small sideboard (don’t ask me why) or an old woman on a scooter with a large bunch of branches on the back leaving a long trail of smelly blue smoke behind her. At the side of the road some simple dwellings had been erected here and there, made from wood, Palm leaves and corrugated sheets, children were playing around these and little vegetable plots were tended by half naked kids about the same age as me.

Than we passed a small shed next to a few trees, to one tree a goat was tied by its leg bleating unhappily, the shed had half an oil drum being used as a barbeque with half a goat on it and from the next tree the other half of the skinned goat was dangling. “This must be the local butcher shop.” My dad remarked. It was really putting me off but I also realized that even in these circumstances people somehow have to make a living.

Coming nearer the centre the shacks were replaced by white ish concrete blocks mainly two storeys high, some with windows some seemed to be unfinished with just holes in the wall where windows should be although these also seemed to be inhabited due to the washing hanging out of them to dry. What surprised me most was that even though this island was very poor the buildings were covered with satellite dishes so every body must own TV.

The dirt road had now been completely replaced by tarmac with massive potholes everywhere so the ride was even more uncomfortable than before, people were moving about on stinking noisy mopeds, donkeys, bicycles and in old cars, some were walking or just loitering on street corners, goats and chicken seemed to aimlessly risk their lives weaving through the traffic and small children and very old people seemed to have no need for any clothing wandering about totally naked.

Usually my parents are not very chatty when we are touring about they may comment on the scenery and point out things of interest but the sights we were seeing now left all of us speechless as we drove further into town.

The centre would sometime in the past have been quite nice, a bit alike a scene from a western with wooden sidewalks and buildings some of them rather grand colonial style affairs but nowadays their paint was peeling the shutters flapping about in the tropical breeze, a really sad sight.

Leon finally broke the silence “Well I now understand why you don’t see this place in so many holiday brochures, it is forgotten by the world, this almost feels as if we have travelled back in time.” Mum replied “yes and I really want to get out of here have you not noticed how much attention our shiny big jeep is attracting, it doesn’t fell safe at all, lets get out into the country again, according to the map there is a bird sanctuary on high sea cliffs to the West so lets get out of this depressing place.”

Dad looked over his shoulder at me and gave me a sad sort of smile “I think your mum is right it does show how lucky we are, just by being born here we could be tending to our veggies and goats instead of sightseeing as we are now, right come on than Mara give me some directions.” He said facing forward again and putting the jeep in gear.

As we drove out of town I became aware of the attention we were attracting “it feels like we are fleeing some unknown threat” I said to no one specific, unaware that this feeling would return to me many more times is the near future. Dad said “don’t worry, the project works closely with the local community and the police always keeps the researchers safe, this jeep is GPS chipped so we can always be found. Most of the islanders also know how important this research is for everyone on the island and perhaps the rest of the world and that would change all you have just seen from poverty into a most affluent tourist destination so I think we are as safe as it gets and you will have nothing to worry about as long as you are here.”

I was thinking how every time this project was mentioned they would never tell me anything about it’s purpose but had always gone out of their way to assure me how safe we would be, Mum interrupted my thoughts. ”Oh look there, stop the car.” And even before it had come to a full stop the door was open and she was off. A flock of brightly coloured Parrots was weaving patterns in the clear otherwise still sky, screeching and screaming with joy they rose and fell, left to right in one great flock, like a cloud they darkened the sky with their numbers it was totally enthralling almost hypnotic to watch and than as sudden as it had started they all decided as one to settle down in a cluster of trees, like a whirlwind reversed they spiralled down and vanished.

I turned round to get back in the car but it had taken off, I saw it turning round a bend and it was gone. I started running as fast as I could after it but when I finally got to the bend the car had vanished somewhere far ahead, so I stood hands on my knees out of breath and alone in the middle of an unknown strange island, what the hell were they doing taking off without me. There was only one thing I could do and that was to keep walking in the hope that they would realize I was missing and turn round, so when I had caught my breath I set off. The road followed the contours of the foothills with the mountain rising up on my left, this luckily was the lush side of the island so there was shade from the trees lining the road but still the tropical heat was wearing me out quickly.