The Robinson Crusoe cave

A faint squeak echoed out of the overgrowth, hangover bush vines and thick emergent revealing a dark slit within the high raised mountain of rocks.

The alluvial trailing trench reveals path of a dried up stream once rejuvenating from within the high raised rocks. It was the beginning of a dry spell. The once following stream was now a bush track we followed along.

As we got closer, the opening get stretched out .Huge boulder lay about inside the entrance.

This was the famous scene in the Robinson Crusoe movie. It was spot on where cannibalism was initiated when Robinson Crusoe popped in to save his native friend, Friday.

The air was moist, cold and rocks were covered with slippery algae. A look inside made me hesitates to go first inside. It was pitched dark.

The only thing comforting were white stalactites reaching down from some fifteen meters high cave roof near the entrance. From below, marble white stalagmite stretches as high as three tall men standing on each other. As they point against each other, they formed a giant beast jaw.

Was this a real cannibalism hide out? It feels like real. I got goose bump as soon as my right foot slitter over something slippery in the alluvial clay. My eyes couldn’t see my path anymore.

Uninvited by what awaits in the dark came the odious scent of bats. The single squeak heard afar off now penetrated into our brains as we get closer. The squeaking and screeching was coming from the dark stalactites base on the cave roof above us.

We advanced to the no see zone. I couldn’t see an inch away without the aid of a mobile phone torch.

As if a cloud of leaves could suddenly speak, squeaking and chirping busted out, eek! Eek..! Eek..!

The sound was deafening with screech, shrill and flapping of wings just some millimetres above our heads. Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!

I closed my eyes tight and waited to be hit by thousands of floppy echoing sound swirling overhead.

If they were vampire bats I would die of blood lost in a blink of an eye.

Binding our hand in a chain, a local tour led us deeper into middle of the cave. Something in liquid form was now dripping and falling on our heads.

Although our tour told us that it was fresh water, I had a strong feeling that it was bats excreta. I closed my mouth tight every time I looked up the beautiful rock patterns high above my head with the aid of my mobile phone torch.

Someone within our group suddenly tasted the droplets of liquid.” Hey, guys this is pure water”

She said. I was at the edge of laughing but held back my sense of humour. This person could have just tasted bats urination or excreta. She would survive with that if we got lost in the cave for a week, I thought.

Suddenly our tour guide soon stopped. We came across a pool of water like a swimming pool right inside the cave. He called aloud to us instructing how to cross over the pool on some huge rocks forming a bridge across. Everyone was speaking at the top of their voices because of the deafening squeaks and squawks from the bats.

Soon we could see a sparks of light from another side. It was another entrance to the cave. At last we were outside in daylight again.

“This is the entrance where Robinson Crusoe shot the leader of cannibals in the movie”, the tour guide said. I walked over and stood at the position William Takaku known as Friday was tied ,awaiting to meet his fate in the movie.

It was just a perfect truth. We have just seen what we have watched in the movie. It was right in Madang province of Papua New Guinea where the shooting of the Robinson Crusoe movie took place. I just had a new story to tell all the fans of the Robinson Crusoe movie.

Making our way through the woodland to the nearest village, I can’t hold back my smile. I couldn’t wait any longer to unload my comments on face book.   This was just a wonderful day away from crowded campus life.