Boarneo

 

As a paid up carnivore there is no flesh I love more than wild boar.  It's pork with all the flavours turned up, fantastic in rich sauces, sausages or straight off the barbecue, dribbling in fat so good you could drink it by the cupful.  It's a staple meat for the villagers of Pa Lungan and as luck would have it they had killed two the day I arrived and I got an invite to the barbecue the next day.

So on Sunday afternoon I joined Stephen and his family and friends around the fire.  The combination of woodsmoke, fatty meat and thin crispy crackling was divine.  The hunter-gatherer ambiance was completed by the salivating dogs circling around the group, waiting for tossed scraps, a reward and an incentive to do their job on future hunts.

The following day Stephen's brother Matteo, the village Headman, took me out for a day trekking in the jungle, accompanied by Supang's young dog Baddei.

We ate lunch by a stream.  Mine was fried rice and wild boar prepared by Supang, while Matteo had to make do with stewed civet (aka cat).  In the afternoon as we tramped through primary rainforest, Baddei mooching behind, Matteo went very quiet and held up his hand.  He raised his rifle and fired it with a loud crack which sent Baddei scampering home.


Matteo disappeared and after several minutes returned through the undergrowth with a wild boar piglet over his shoulder and a broad grin on his face.  It had meant to be a day showing a tourist around the jungle and the boar was an unexpected bonus.  I watched as Matteo eviscerated the creature and emptied its warm guts onto the jungle floor, before lashing it in his pack.

That evening in Batu Rintung Homestay I was joined for another superb supper by Michele and William from Lyon.  I went to bed early only to be woken by Supang about half an hour later to be told Matteo had invited me to another barbecue.  So Michele, William and I ate more boar, this time roasted over an oil drum illuminated by head torches, the milky way arcing above us, the dogs circling yet again.