The face of the 40-year-old woman on the hospital bed looks small and fragile, pale despite the suntan that a few weeks of trekking holidays in East Africa have given her skin. The Dutchwoman returned to the town of Bakel just a few days ago.

She had crossed Uganda and visited the python cave in Queen Elizabeth National Park. With a guide, she had descended to the dark chasms at the foot of a cliff, where thousands of fruit bats of the species Rousettus aegyptiacus buzzed around the invaders' roost: an exotic experience, up close and personal with Africa's most remote nature.

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