The guide is discussing the difficulty of the journeys (he went on four in total with Burton, Speke and other explorers including Stanley). He speaks of suffering and wonders how they all endured it. He also questions how the Englishmen endured the conditions when they came from a place where the heat, animals and sicknesses were so different (both Burton and Speke suffered terribly from malaria and other tropical fevers which nearly killed them).
"It was only at the end of that first journey that I realised what I should have known from the beginning: without this suffering the wazungu do not feel alive. Just before we reached the coast [returning after finding the lakes], I understood that they depend on suffering the way others depend on alcohol or khat or ganja. So it was no surprise when I saw the wazungu again, less than two monsoons later."He goes on to say:
"Even the others, Bwana Stanley and Bwana Cameron, kept coming back, drawn to their own suffering: all of them did, except the ones who did not survive. They only had to get back on their feet and they were already planning their next journey. It did not have to be easier or more comfortable, the next one. Eh, far from it. They sought out more pain next time, they sailed even closer to death, like a fisherman who is not satisfied with surviving the reef but is compelled to try ever more impossible channels, channels where is boat can only be dashed to pieces."
It's not so different where modern adventurers, mountaineers, climbers, kayakers and, indeed, adventure racers are concerned...
No comments:
Post a Comment