DAY 17. THE SCARY THING I CAUGHT

My experiment with the mosquito net has exceeded my expectations: there was not a single mosquito around me in the morning. Now I will just scoop some water out of the boat and hit the road.

I continue to improve my house-on-the-river as much as I can. I landed on a promising-looking bank to chop down some construction material, but all I found was a thorny shrub-like tree. I would not have had any issues with the thorns had my gloves not been washed away yesterday, so now I must use a towel to avoid hurting myself. On larger trees of this species, the thorns can reach the size up to 3-4 centimetres. They are huge.

I made some adjustments to the bow of the boat – I applied glue to fill the gaps between the planks, as well as poured some glue into the little cave from where those termites marched to their death yesterday. I also made a fixation loop for the rope on the right side of the bow. Now it is not lying around haphazardly, but is neatly folded, hanging in its place. I spend most of the time facing at the bow of the boat, so it is much more aesthetically pleasing to look at it now. Aesthetics is one of essential attributes of comfort, too.

I have noticed that the banks are now speckled with some kind of palm trees. They bear some fruit, but I would not be able to climb and reach for it – their trunks are too thin. I also see little monkeys climbing the palm trees and feasting on the fruit. No, I cannot go up there. I could, of course, cut down one of the palm trees, but I would never do such a barbaric thing.

I anchored in a quiet backwater and caught a nice catfish – a little bigger than the palm of my hand. I think it will be today’s stew. I would like to catch some more, but my supply of black berries is depleted. A walk along the bank to hunt them down yielded no result. Although it could hardly be called a walk, as my path was literally paved with sweat and blood.

I noticed a couple of new quirks about myself. Firstly, when I tied the boat to the tree this time, I carefully checked the tree for a colony of termites. I did not want to devote another day to fighting them. Secondly, I am now way more cautious when I cut down the branches. I keep second-guessing if there is a snake somewhere in the trees that might fall on me. Perhaps this acquired fear is even useful. Besides, now I am much more careful in clearing my path in front of me.

I found a thick palm tree in the forest, and there were some fallen flowers underneath. Apparently, there had been fruit here not so long ago, but monkeys have beaten me to it.

When I got back to the boat, I found that boarding had already been announced – dear passengers, we now start boarding on my ark! Hundreds of termites were already marching in and out. Maybe I had not evicted all of them and they had gone on firm land to get supplies. No way, I will not let them do that to me again. Another artificial flood has taken care of them.

This happy day has come! On the 17th day of my journey, I finally found my first worm in the ground. Who would have thought I would ever be happy about some small things like that? Apparently, I have reached the part of the river where black soil and virgin jungle begins. That gladdens my heart.

My attempts to catch fish with the worm bait have been unsuccessful. It is as if all the fish were gone. Maybe worms do not really matter for the fish like I had thought. I put the head of the catfish that I caught earlier on a big hook and started bobbing it up and down, attracting the inhabitants of the depths.

Not half an hour later, they answered my call. Something black moved in the water. And… a throw! A metre-long black snake grabbed the catfish head with its teeth and began to wrap its rings around it tightly. Erm… hmm. OK.

I tried to chase the snake away, but I had no luck. It kept trying to attack the bait, and it went on like that for about an hour. The snake kept circling the boat, looking for food. After the recent snake attack, I was apprehensive that it might get into my boat at night, and then I would risk accidentally crushing it in my sleep. If it is venomous, it could cost me my life, so I decided to take extreme measures. I had never killed a snake before, although I had met dozens of them. This one had to become an exception from my rule. Of course, now I am no longer worried about my safety, but the responsibility for its death will be a heavy weight on my soul for a long time.

I hung up my fishing gear, hooked my improvised bell and waited. In the end, I did not expect the guests that showed up. Some curious monkeys came very close to the boat. Having realised that there was nothing to gain here, they scurried away, but I wondered once again if they could steal something while I sleep.

I did not catch anything, but I left my fishing gear out for the night. As soon as I laid down, I noticed a spider in my bed. Not that I was particularly afraid of spiders in general, but after the snake and everything I had been through in the last few days, I was on edge, so I had to kick it out. Off you go, under the bed. Sit there and eat some of the other inhabitants.

1 May, ~37 (655) km covered.