We set off promptly this morning at 9:15am (in spite of our 8am scheduled departure). Into the bush went our rag tag team comprised of two armed guards and four assorted officials that I now call close friends having spent so much quality time with them over the course of my visit to the Eastern Equatoria State of South Sudan last year and this past week. The road took us south from Torit into the Imatong Mountains, the home of Mount Kinyetti and the source of the River Kinyetti.
Exactly two hours after departing Torit we rolled through the gate, a simple wooden bamboo pole stretching across a dirt track and into the outskirts of the village of Katire. There we connected with the local Latooka chief who joined us in our Landcrusier for the remaining several mile journey up into the bush. When we finally reached Katire village proper to my surprise we found a nice, recently built, two building structure designed for trekkers who will someday climb South Sudan’s highest peak. Trips have been scheduled up Mount Kinyetti over the last two years, packaged with a rafting trip from Nimule to Juba. Unfortunately the annual February trip for 2014 was cancelled.
We walked around the site with the chief, a young guy who, through the translator, expressed his desire to work with me to build an anthropological ressearch station to allow university students from around the globe to come to Katire to learn more about the rich culture of the Latooka people. We surveyed the site and found a 40 x 40 concrete slab which, if approved by the ministry officlas back in Torit, I can use to follow through on our dream.
It’s an amazing place with large towering trees where all it takes at this time of the year is the slight nudge of a bamboo pole and into your hand falls a succulent ripe mango. This trek out the handlers allowed me to walk miles along the road where I encountered ever so kind and generous locales like Helen who balanced a bundle of home cooked alcohol on her head for the local hillside farmers to enjoy at the end of their day…
