I could barely contain my questions after the last of our guests parted.
“Why didn’t they bring their wives?” I queried.
“In Africa, the more girlfriends a man has, the wealthier he is presumed to be.” Fred explained.
“Don’t the wives mind?” I wanted to know.
“No, their job is to have and care for the children.” he offered.
“And this is standard operating procedures here?” not that I was shocked, but genuinely surprised it would be socially acceptable.
“Yes, and it is not a subject open for discussion publically.” Fred warned.
Okay! At least they don’t marry all of them! At least they don’t have children will all of them! It was better, only marginally, than polygamy. It’s hard to tell why social standards work in certain countries and are banned in others. Maybe they had something. The wife seemed to be left out of the social activities, but I suppose if she was aware of that going into the marriage, she had to accept it.
The next day we took off for the jungle. Fred had several boys gathering African Grey parrots. He paid them $10 a piece for the birds. All they had to do was put them in a cage and one of his drivers would come around once a week and gather the birds. But Fred preferred to keep up the relationship with the boys personally.
We got about 40 minutes out into the jungle when I had a desperate need to use a restroom. But guess what? There are no restrooms in the jungle.
