“What’s the easiest path down?”, I asked Osi after a great hike up the Mpape hills until we were 2500ft above sea level.
“Water no get enemy. We’ll just follow the trail of the water down. Water follows the path of least resistance, so that’s the easiest way to go.”
Heading down, we see two men in the distance approaching us from below. One has a machete, the other is younger. Nothing menacing yet, after all a blade is a legitimate tool for clearing your way up through all the dry brush at this time of the year. In these parts though, crime is common. You could be robbed if people with no scruples happened on you, not because they had a premeditated intent to rob.
We can see them clock us and as they disappear behind a ridge I get even more aware. We certainly can’t wait like sitting ducks for them to get here, so keep going. I rehearse scenarios - they have one deadly weapon, I have my now empty water bottle, which could be a blunt force tool, and a fanny pack, which I suppose could be a makeshift sling - and get ready for whatever confrontation happens, even though I haven’t said anything yet to him about the probable danger.
We give them a wide berth as we finally get to the same level on the slope. Once we pass and are below, Osi runs down the mountain and I follow until we’ve put a healthy distance between us. Mischief managed, but it’s my reminder to only go hiking with a healthy number of people while I’m here.
In this time in Africa, I’ve been forced to remember that a lot of the world isn’t safe for unbothered living and start indexing on core survival skills as the possibility of needing them is no longer so far fetched. The currency of physical fitness and endurance, is actually more valuable here, and one I want.
Just like water and predators in nature, criminals pick the path of least resistance. If my car ever broke down on a lonely stretch I’d grab my valuables and start sprinting homewards. Even moving like you were fit and healthy could be enough to cause badmen to rethink: is this prey worth the effort to engage? I know I’d want to be out of range by the time they decided.