On the road…again!
Afghanistan to Zambia
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

Northwest Frontier Provinces

Pakistan

On a trek into the Northwest Frontier Provinces of Pakistan, the Swat valley he believes it was -- Footloose Forester arrived with Peace Corps colleagues John Harper and Jerry Jensen at sunset. We were happy to get a meal and arrange for lodging before the sun went down. Having driven the jeep to the end of the road from the distant valley below, we were bone tired and looking forward to a good night’s sleep. But sleeping was not as easy as we had hoped, nor for the few Pakistanis who shared the tiny, hashish smoke-filled hut with us. The hashish fumes continued to be expelled by only one of the few Paks who had not yet passed out. About ten o'clock or so, the hash smoker was still awake but clearly irritated by a barking dog just outside the hut.

After grumbling about the dog and the need to don his outer clothes to exit into the nippy night, the air was suddenly filled with a brief whelp from the dog and then the serene sound of the nearby rushing river. We asked how the hash-hazed man had managed to silence the dog so quickly and effectively. With a chuckle, another of the sleepless Paks announced "Saab, usnee cutaa daryaa mee phenk-di-aa" (Sir, he threw the dog in the river). We all promptly went to sleep to the sweet sound of the rushing river.

Swat Valley in the Northwest Frontier Provinces of Pakistan

That was the trip where we foresters were doing a “ground-truthing” of the suite of aerial photos that showed some of the forest resources in the Northwest Frontier Provinces. Jerry Jensen was clearly in charge of the expedition, since he was a genuine dirt forester who had been assigned to that project and to the Pakistan Forest College in Peshawar since his Peace Corps assignment began. John Harper later joined him there after John asked to be transferred from his purported “research” job in the Punjab, just a few miles from the Indian border.

Footloose Forester also had asked to be transferred from his teaching assignment at the West Pakistan Forest School in Bahawalpur. He reluctantly accepted a late-term transfer rather than to listen to the malicious gossip about his friendship with a young boy in his neighborhood. Mia Mohammad Mumtaz was a bright and happy neighborhood kid who often came to his house where we played checkers. Footloose Forester remembers making a checkerboard for him, as a present. He cut sections of bamboo and dipped half of the bamboo wafers into black ink, as a way to distinguish the checker pieces. But their personal friendship was great grist for the mill of the local gossip machine.

The upper reaches of the Swat Valley was breathtakingly beautiful. We spent several days getting to all of the ground truthing sites, which were selected at random. As he remembers it now, after the last site was visited several days after the first one was checked off, we were at last ready to turn around and go back to the jeep.

Peace Corps volunteer foresters Jerry Jensen (far left); John Haper (third from left); and Dick Pellek (third from right)

The trail was 21 miles long. We started out early the next morning. Although we never discussed being in competition with each other, Footloose Forester found himself caught up in running long sections of the trail just to keep up with the others who occasionally passed him. He ran most of the last 5 miles, just to be in the lead at the end of the trail. It was a matter of pride. The Pakistani forester who was with us on that last day had strong legs and our unswerving respect as the front runner most of the way, but he was a bit disappointed that the Footloose Forester overtook him in that last mile.