One Look Up Could Have Ended This Photographer’s Life

I One Look Up Could Have Ended This Photographer’s Life

On assignment in a cave teeming with bats and snakes, John Silva thought he knew the dangers. But the real threat came when he stepped outside.

Several years ago, on assignment, I ventured inside a cave in Uganda to photograph a roost of roughly 100,000 Egyptian fruit bats. The bats are common throughout Africa, but this cave was special—shaped like an arch with light shining in at both ends. The rock ceiling was low, which meant the bats would be close and the shooting relatively easy.

...I wore a respirator as a precaution. The only real danger, I thought, would come from the pythons and forest cobras slinking across the cave floor as they hunted for downed bats. I would be fine if I just watched my step. Or so I thought.

After working for a few hours, I exited the cave at dusk, packed up my gear, and began the long hike back to the road with my guide. I was filthy and tired but excited about the images I’d just taken and the fact that the bats didn’t seem to mind my being there.

A hundred steps away from the cave, I’d just taken off my respirator and glasses when I heard a tremendous mechanical clamor above my head, the sound of a thousand windup toys all going off at once. Then came an ammonia-laced gust of wind as the bats in the cave poured up and out into the gloaming to begin their nightly foraging.

I looked up, just for a second, and caught a juicy dollop of fresh guano directly in my left eye. It was hot, and it burned. I knew right away this was a “wet contact,” potentially as dangerous as a bite.

Picture of joel sartore standing outside a cave with a protective mask on his face.

This story took while on vacation in Ugand from my work in Djiboutiti.

   
Several years ago, on assignment, I ventured inside a cave in Uganda to photograph a roost of roughly 100,000 Egyptian fruit bats. The bats are common throughout Africa, but this cave was special—shaped like an arch with light shining in at both ends. The rock ceiling was low, which meant the bats would be close and the shooting relatively easy.

Globe showing the location of Uganda in East Africa
NGM MAPS

I wore a respirator as a precaution. The only real danger, I thought, would come from the pythons and forest cobras slinking across the cave floor as they hunted for downed bats. I would be fine if I just watched my step. Or so I thought.

After working for a few hours, I exited the cave at dusk, packed up my gear, and began the long hike back to the road with my guide. I was filthy and tired but excited about the images I’d just taken and the fact that the bats didn’t seem to mind my being there.

A hundred steps away from the cave, I’d just taken off my respirator and glasses when I heard a tremendous mechanical clamor above my head, the sound of a thousand windup toys all going off at once. Then came an ammonia-laced gust of wind as the bats in the cave poured up and out into the gloaming to begin their nightly foraging.

I looked up, just for a second, and caught a juicy dollop of fresh guano directly in my left eye. It was hot, and it burned. I knew right away this was a “wet contact,” potentially as dangerous as a bite.
Picture of joel sartore standing outside a cave with a protective mask on his face
For a story on the wildlife of Africa’s Albertine Rift, Joel Sartore photographed Egyptian fruit bats roosting inside a Ugandan cave. When he left the cave at the end of the day and removed his protective gear, he risked his life with one glance to the sky.

Photograph by CHAS DASH

I’ve photographed animals for decades, and I know the drill: It’s not the bears or lions that get you; it’s the little stuff. I’ve had botfly larvae bury themselves in my hands and lower back. Then there was mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, a disease caused by a flesh-eating parasite. That one required a month of chemotherapy. My parents, of course, lived in absolute fear every time I went to the tropics.

Back at camp I immediately called the Ugandan arm of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see if the agency knew what, if anything, these bats might be carrying. There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “You shouldn’t have gone in there,” said the man. “Marburg circulates in that cave.”

The Marburg virus is a terrible, messy death. It causes a hemorrhagic fever (translation: you bleed, everywhere) that’s similar to that from Ebola (only it kills you a little faster sometimes).

..There’s no easy way to test for Marburg. If I was infected, the symptoms would arrive in three days to three weeks: severe headache, organ failure, and a raging fever so bad I wouldn’t remember much—if I lived. In some outbreaks the death toll has been as high as 90 percent. My odds of survival would likely improve in the United States. “Go home now,” the man said, “before you have any chance of becoming contagious.”

Had a similar experience in Iraq wherein a spider bit me and the medics had to figure out which spider did, so that I can get the proper anti-venom vaccine, if necessary.

It turned out I was bit by a Camel Spider in Iraq on about the 11th of Sept 03, while I was sleeping in a sleeping bag inside my A/C tent. It was infected really bad, by the time medics figure it out and tissue had to be cut out and the wound cleaned and packed with gauze daily. This is the video, recorded while the doc's were pulling out the guaze. The whole is in my right leg inner part of knee all the way down to the muscle and about an inch long.

From someone stationed in Baghdad. He was recently bitten by a camel spider which was hiding in his sleeping bag. I thought you’d like to see what a camel spider looks like. It’ll give you a better idea of what our troops are dealing with. Enclosed is a picture of his friend holding up two spiders. Warning: not for the squeamish! This picture is a perfect example of why you don’t want to go to the desert. These are 2 of the biggest I’ve ever seen. With a vertical leap that would make a pro basketball player weep with envy (they have to be able to jump up on to a camels stomach after all), they latch on and inject you with a local anesthesia so you can’t feel it feeding on you. They eat flesh, not just suck out your juices like a normal spider. I’m gona be having night mares after seeing this photo! Camel spiders rely on speed, stealth, and the (non-venomous) bite of powerful jaws to ...

Iraqi & Afghani locals are furious after, supposedly discovering a new species of deadly black widows... However, no deaths have been reported among humans since the supposed, introduction of a ... Black Widow spider found in US military base in Iraq & Afghanistan ...most likely stowaways

Again had a similar life threatening experience in Pakistan wherein a spider bit me and the medics had to figure out which spider did, so that I can get the proper anti-venom vaccine.
Read on http://iamjohnasilva.blogspot.com/2018/09/out-of-eden-for-walkthe-journey.html