By Carole Goldsmith Copyright © 2013 - All Rights reserved
Journalist Suzan Gerome was travelling in Central America for two weeks researching an article about vampire bats and other mammals that live in caves. It was for the National unique wild life magazine She was in El Jakinaro for the night as vampire bats had been found by farmers feeding on their sleeping goats and cows. The vampire bats live entirely on the blood of their host but the animal they feed on are not affected as the amount of blood the bats drink is only around 100 ml at a time.
George, her local driver and guide arrived in a small black sedan as planned. He told her that the bats came out in the dark of the night when other animals are sleeping.
They drove slowly for around 30 minutes until they came to the mystical bat caves. Suzan said to George "You wait here, I don''t need your help in the caves but if something scary happens to me, I will scream and please come and save me George".
With her arms covered with long gloves and her head covered with a helmet holding a head torch, she walked towards the caves. The stars were shining overhead giving Suzan some light. The sky was beautiful, amass with stars.
As Suzan entered the cave she could see thousands of bats hanging upside down sleeping. As she photographed them with a high level flash the bats stirred but soon fell back to sleep.
Two bats with a golden gleam in their eyes flew towards Suzan, flapping their wings excitedly.
She was terrified and rushed out of the cave. The bats followered her in hot pursuit.
One of the bats landed on her head and the other on her neck. Suzan then felt a sting like a bite on her neck. She screamed and tried to push them away but they were hanging on. She grabbed her stainless steel water bottle full of ice water and aimed first at the bat on her neck and then the one on her head. As she hit the bats with bottle, she could hear their blood curdling scream as they released their hold and flew back to the cave.
Suzan ran back to George with blood dripping from her neck. "Help George, I have been bitten by one of the vampire bats. Do you have a handkerchief, I need to stop this bleeding from my neck".
They drove slowly for around 30 minutes until they came to the mystical bat caves. Suzan said to George "You wait here, I don''t need your help in the caves but if something scary happens to me, I will scream and please come and save me George".
With her arms covered with long gloves and her head covered with a helmet holding a head torch, she walked towards the caves. The stars were shining overhead giving Suzan some light. The sky was beautiful, amass with stars.
As Suzan entered the cave she could see thousands of bats hanging upside down sleeping. As she photographed them with a high level flash the bats stirred but soon fell back to sleep.
Two bats with a golden gleam in their eyes flew towards Suzan, flapping their wings excitedly.
She was terrified and rushed out of the cave. The bats followered her in hot pursuit.
One of the bats landed on her head and the other on her neck. Suzan then felt a sting like a bite on her neck. She screamed and tried to push them away but they were hanging on. She grabbed her stainless steel water bottle full of ice water and aimed first at the bat on her neck and then the one on her head. As she hit the bats with bottle, she could hear their blood curdling scream as they released their hold and flew back to the cave.
Suzan ran back to George with blood dripping from her neck. "Help George, I have been bitten by one of the vampire bats. Do you have a handkerchief, I need to stop this bleeding from my neck".
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