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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

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On the Road: Just Another Exotic Locale

So many news articles are the same; only the names are changed. When writing about travel, detailing the flora, fauna, and food is critical. MICHAEL Y. PARK makes it easy for busy reporters to fill in the blanks.

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Michael Y. Park is a freelance journalist living in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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About halfway up the path on the way to , my companions and I stopped to take in the majestic glory of the region when we were interrupted by a sudden loud noise that jolted us out of our reveries.

It was a . They’ve been nearly extinct since , when Western explorers introduced to the once-mythical region, but now they’re coming back, thanks to far-reaching preservation measures taken by the progressive local government of . The once teeming, then for decades nearly desolate, is the home of the once again.

“Don’t worry,” our guide, , said, laughing as we recovered from our surprise. “It won’t bite.”

The region conjures up visions of and , and even in the 21st century, that romantic image isn’t all that far off.

The first people ever to lay eyes on the area were the tribe, who settled here while enemies in the th century. They were and subsisted—indeed, thrived—on the abundant local supply of.

As we made our way through the , we 21st-century trekkers may have felt much like the early , brushing past the with its plentiful leaves and brilliant flowers, being tempted with a bite of the fruit from the plant, which locals know as the “” bush— but .

Such terms would be used to describe the people themselves, as they went from being peaceful farmers of and hunters of the to fierce warriors with a savage reputation as far as . In the 18th century, learned of their fighting traditions first hand when it tried to conquer the area for the trade, only to be repelled by indefatigable “primitives” who could seemingly melt into the at will. They finally did submit, at least in name, to rule by the , but it was a submission marked by frequent outbreaks of . When the finally left, in 19, they left behind a country that was united but racked by and . When took power, he brought political stability, but at the cost of losing its . When was finally after a - scandal, sunk back into obscurity.

That is, until last year, when the country’s new opened the borders to tourists from the , relaxed visa restrictions and invested $ million into its tourism ministry and declared large stretches of the countryside to be national parks, to be enjoyed by the world.

And that brings us back, of course, to 21st-century explorers like us, who were encountering a challenge much less dire than wild , poisonous , or weapon-wielding tribesmen—but one that the early were very familiar with. We were hungry.

You see, despite our guide’s earlier warning about the mastication habits of the , maybe it was they who should have been worried, because it was we who were biting by the time we got to the . miles of travel by had made us ravenous, and we dug into the lodge’s delicious fare with gusto. There was , created with and ; , a succulent mélange of and ; and, finally, to finish up, some , composed of delicate shavings over . We washed it all down with . Our repast was hardly over, though, as we enjoyed local by village performers. By the time the sun set over the , we were ready to sleep the sleep of true , feeling at peace thousands of miles from home.





—Published July 13, 2007