[Day 1]
So, alright, where do I start? I guess I'll start by saying that my name is Alyssa McAllister. I've always been described as the adventurous type. Last year I graduated from Vassar University with a degree in International Studies. When I was 20, I spent the summer backpacking from Spain to Russia with basically nothing but a few dollars in my pocket. I ate crazy food, snuck on to trains, hitchhiked across three countries, and slept with more than a few men whose names I don't remember.
I'm 23 now, and looking for my next adventure. I'm planning to start grad school next year and go for my Masters in Anthropology but life in the US was getting boring. I couldn't stop thinking about traveling to some far off land again. Plus, shocking to me, not a lot of places have a reason to hire some talkative girl with an International Studies degree. That's where Faraji comes in. Faraji is a man I met in Europe who recently reconnected with me. He is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and was looking for someone to join him in attempting to contact an alleged lost tribe in the jungle. He had heard the legends of them and wanted to explore himself. I couldn't have said yes fast enough. I'd read Heart of Darkness enough times to dream about exploring the heart of Africa.
This tribe, the Akebarak, supposedly lived upriver on a difficult to traverse tributary to the Congo and hadn't been heard from in nearly a century. I bought a plane ticket the next day and here I am in a small town at the mouth of the Congo, about to meet Faraji and take a boat ride to the last known sightings of the Akebarak.
I'm hoping to accomplish a lot with this trip. I want to make some memorable change to the world by contacting this lost tribe. We will learn about a culture unconnected to our global society. Most of all, it's freaking cool.
I think by now you know that I'm not the kind of girl that digs makeup and a while picket fence. I'm out for adventure, and I hope this will prove to be my greatest one yet.
[Day 2]
We've set off. Faraji and I rented a boat to take us up river. Our boatman, Okembe, will only take us to the bend in the river five miles from the Akebarak, we will hike the rest of the way. I am beginning to get concerned, the stories from Okembe make the lost tribe seem incredibly vicious and hostile towards outsiders.
The last time they were contacted was by a team of British explorers in 1873. The team was compiling a book on local tribes and only had this to say about the Akebarak, "The Akebarak peoples are a peoples separated both by physicality and desire from their neighbors. They practice strange rituals and ceremonial markings looked upon with scorn by other tribes in the area."
I asked Faraji what 'strange rituals and ceremonial markings' could mean, he has as much of a clue as I did.
Most of our days are pretty boring at this point, we go up river and then we go up river, and then we do more going up river. I was lucking I brought new books on this trip, because I am doing a lot of reading.
[Day 4]
Sorry I haven't updated this every day but things haven't been very interesting. We should come close enough to begin searching for the Akebarak tomorrow. We hope to find them within the first few days, as we only brought supplies for one week.
I suppose I should describe myself and give you an image in your head. I'm 5'6 with bright red hair. I work out a lot and keep fit (except for when I say fuck it and spend a night eating pizza and watching Anthony Bourdain), but I inherited wide hips and C cup boobs from my mother, so I'll never be a supermodel.
Faraji is in his mid 30s. He's tall and skinny, with rough skin and a short curly hair. He smokes like a chimney and loves to talk about Sylvester Stallone movies. We have the same sense of humor, and there are worse people I could spend a week in Africa with.
[Day 5]
Shit. I forgot I had this. It must have been in my pocket the whole time.
Where to start? We found the Akebarak, or I should say they found us. On the fifth day of sailing up river, we were getting close to where we believed them to be when arrows started raining out of the trees. Faraji and I took cover but Okembe was hit and killed.
Before we could do anything, warriors with tattoos and piercings jumped out and started yelling and pointing spears at us. They marveled at me in particular, likely never having seen a while person before. One of the men ran his fingers though my hair. They other reached out and touched my skin. First my face, then slowly moving his hand down and cupping one of my breasts. He bounced it in his hand and squeezed gently, smiling as he groped me. He moved his hand down further, caressing my hip before moving his fingers between my legs. I was wearing khaki pants, but I could feel his hand pressing against my slit. He laughed and said something in his native language, I could see his cock becoming erect though his thin cloth coverings. It wasn't bad, probably seven inches long. If he weren't pointing a spear at me, I may have been turned on.
They took Faraji and I into the jungle and marched us for hours. They must have been a hunting party that heard our boat and saw us as a threat.
Faraji recognized their language as being close enough to a local dialect that he could communicate, and they told us that we were slaves of the Akebarak and being taken to the village to be put to work. They bound our hands with reeds and looked surprised at my white skin and red hair. Faraji say they mumbled a word that seemed to translate best as, 'treasure' or 'rare prize'.
The Akebarak village was hidden from view until we were very close by several hills. It contained a hundred or so thatched huts covered in thin cloth and leaves. Smoke from small fires rose up around the village as we arrived near the end of they day it is likely these were to cook evening meals.
As we walked through the village, I noticed more of the Akebarak. Both the men and women were covered in tribal tattoos, made in a way that formed ridges on their skin. Both genders wore thin cloth around their genitals, although the women's dresses were ankle length compared to the men's which only barely coverd their crotch. Everyone was nude from the waste up, with the women's breasts fully exposed and the chests of both genders covered in ceremonial tattoos.
We were led though the village to a large hut in the center. Inside we found an older man, who I assumed to be the chief, sitting in the center of a group that must have be the tribal elders. Our captors spoke to them with reverence, Faraji whispered that they were presenting us as gifts to the Chief.
The Chief nodded and looked us up and down. He then began asking Faraji a series of questions, which he did not have time to translate. Faraji answered and nodded. I would find out later that he had asked Faraji the following: What tribe do you come from? I have no tribe. Is this woman your wife? No. Where does she come from? Far away. Did you mean us any harm my invading Akebarak lands? No, we wished to seek you out and understand you. Your tribe is a legend in many places.
The Chief though for a few more minutes and made an announcement. Faraji translated as he spoke.