Our first speaker was Mark Honigsbaum<\/b>, whose talk was entitled
\n The Fever Trail, after his book of the same name, which documents the
\n discovery of the Cinchone tree (Cascarilla), which was found between 4,000
\n & 10,000 ft up in Ecuador. This tree provided the cure for malaria
\n and was brought back to Europe and then planted in other malarial regions
\n of the world such as India and Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Mark’s slides however showed us a trip he made to Ecuador in April
\n this year. He travelled into the mountains with a guide following an old
\n treasure hunter’s trail for seven days and a distance of around
\n 30 km’s. His scenic photo’s reflected this stark area that
\n the sun hardly seems ever to penetrate, the mountains seemed to always
\n be covered in cloud. As well as the scenery he showed us the revered grave
\n of an old treasure hunter, where today’s treasure hunters leave
\n an offering.<\/p>\n
Our second speaker was Toby Green<\/b> whose talk was entitled Travels
\n in West Africa to Senegal, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Toby’s mission
\n had been to find the Marabout, who are shamens and charm makers who can
\n reputedly make you invisible with their ju-ju magic! Toby’s slides
\n were not for the squeamish as they depicted what goes into the making
\n of the charms, such as parts of black cats and used funeral shrouds.<\/p>\n
Toby heard of cases where these charms were used to cure snakebites,
\n but this did not stop him coming down with malaria! His pictures showed
\n us the regions green valleys, volcanic cones and waterfalls and scenes
\n of village life including millet pounding and tea making. We saw a photo
\n of a “Magic stone” these stones miraculously come back to
\n the same place even if removed; this has resulted in dead straight roads
\n taking diversions around them.<\/p>\n
Toby did finally meet a Marabout who for a price would make him invisible,
\n but he wouldn’t divulge whether he managed it, we’ll all have
\n to read his book, “Meeting the invisible man” to find out.<\/p>\n
The next London meeting will be on the June 8th (the second Saturday
\n due to the golden jubilee bank holiday weekend). Speaking will be Peter
\n Eltringham — Travelling in the Maya World<\/b> and Mary Russell
\n — Travelling around Syria, digressing to Baghdad<\/b>.<\/p>\n