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.