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December 24, 2001

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We picked up our malaria patients from the hospital. Even though we'll be driving through a remote part of Cameroon, bushcamping for the next few days, our patients would rather be with us than in the hospital. All day we drove over dusty dirt roads through the center of Cameroon. For many Europeans, like the Swiss and Estonians, today was Christmas. At dusk we stopped and pitched camp near a village beside a dry riverbed. Towards midnight drumming sounds attracted us from our tent to the village. In this part of Africa loud drumming accompanied Catholic mass. After their midnight mass the villagers sang and danced around a bonfire. They welcomed us and offered calabashes full of millet beer. We drank the yeasty beer and shared in their merry making until the moon went down at 2:00 am, then we returned to our tents while the villagers continued their celebration until dawn.
Skins versus shirts or bare bottoms versus bottoms.
Tent spots don't come pre-made in bushcamps.