Guerrilla bats. Kalinga. Philippines

It was when Gen. Marcos with his soldiers came to Kalinga to build the big dam across the beautiful valley just before the Tinglayan Village. Francis was in The New Peoples Army fighting with government. During that hard time he had to live in the mountains eating everything what they could afford in the forest. It was too dangerous to hunt in the day time especially using gun. Soldiers of Gen. Marcos could hear the shot even miles away. But Kalinga people had some knowledge how to survive without civilization. As hill tribes and hunters they used to live close to the nature.

In the night time fruits bats go out from caves in the mountains looking for fruits. They like one kind especially. It is a huge tree with many small sweet brown fruits. Francis knows the place. We are going there with two young hunters who are more willing to climb the tree than old Francis. They have long stick with many sharp ends. It looks like a part of some plant without leaves. We are walking in darkness. The sky is cloudy but our guides know every path in that area. Soon we are under the special tree. The guys are climbing the next one to the fruit tree. They are close enough to catch something but it is so dark that I can hardly see my hand. It does not matter for them. After 30 minutes we hear little noise above our heads. The first bat is on the stick, still alive. Francis is taking it of and hitting few times on the stone to kill. It looks quite terrible. Is that small, hairy, shaking body will be our lunch tomorrow?

We have a deal with Francis and hunters. They will provide bats, we have to buy one chicken and bottle of gin. I am going to the village to pay 200 peso for a chicken and 80 peso for a gin. I am holding live chicken by the legs. I am walking with Maciek to meet our guides. They have four bats. We are going to cook it near the stream where we can get fresh water. It starts to rain again but we have already found a nice place under a big banana tree. The leaves protect us from the rain but also cover the light. It is dark, wet, hot and green. We are going to eat some flying rats with local tribesmen. I have impression that all the insects from the forest decided to stay in the place as we. It does not look like tourist attraction. Even Francis said that he has never tried it before with foreigners.

The hunters killed the chicken and now they are trying to burn the small fire.
Guys have machete so they can cut a big bamboo with thick trunk to make a container for baths. One of them is making the cooking set. The containers, spoons and basket for herbs made of palm leaves. another one has jumped to the bushes and now we have fresh chili, garlic and some yellow vegetables. It seems to be some kind of bitter melon.

With bats is not so easy. First they cut off the wings but they do not throw them away. The corpuses of bats are hairy so we have to burn it in the fire. They put it on the stick and roll over in fire. Now the bodies of bats are burned and black. They chop them by machete and put with wings and all the bowels into the bamboo container. Just add some spices like chili, garlic and salt, fill it with water and the green tubes are in the fire place. The stuff inside is boiling. We have opened the bottle of gin to drink something before. Cheers! For crazy Kalinga people!

The weather conditions are difficult for our cameras. It is heavy rain so I try to hold a banana leave above my canon all the time. The air is so humid and hot that I am worry about the electronic parts. Maciek’s camcoder is already out of order. I am still trying to take some pictures but we have just started to eat so guys are shouting at me. Let’s drink some gin and have a bat’s head as a snack! It is affordable only in Kalinga!

Now it is shower rain. It does not give me any chance to work as a photographer. I join the party without loosing face as a professional reporter. The bats have been boiled with all inside. Additionally they have a smell of burned hairs. Without the gin it will not be possible to swallow even one piece. The big bottle is finished. The whole bats and chicken meat is already eaten. We are completely wet and shocked. It is only one solution. Keep drinking gin. We are coming back to the village to make a party with hunters, Francis.
Next morning we are waken up very early totally seek after bats, few bottles of gin and local herbs. The big typhoon is coming! Francis said. Last week 400 hundred people died in the next province because of landslides. The bus is waiting for us in front of our pension house. The way back to Bontoc is a hazardous trip. Typhoon is faster than the bus. The road just after the village is already full of mud and stones that have just slide from the mountains. Many times we have to get off the truck to clean the road. Hopefully we are still so stoned that we even do not care about it.