The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus

Preston describes his own August 1993 visit to Kitum Cave on Kenya’s Mount Elgon. He travels along the Kinshasa Highway, which he calls the AIDS highway because the virus began to appear in towns along the highway shortly after the road was paved in the 1970s. He reminisces about his childhood time living in Africa.

For his journey to Mount Elgon, Preston enlists Robin MacDonald, a hunter and safari guide. They travel along the Kinshasa Highway in two Land Rovers. Preston is concerned about possible inter-ethnic violence near Mount Elgon between the Elgon Masai and the Bukusu on the southern side of the mountain. As they drive, the two jokingly discuss the possibility of Preston contracting Ebola in the cave.

Preston mentions that Robin MacDonald’s wife Carrie, the MacDonalds’ two sons, two American friends, three other professional safari staff, and one armed guard are also along. Clearly worried about the possibility of contracting Marburg in the cave, Preston has brought along a three-page document with treatment and quarantine instructions that he plans to give to his friends if he develops a headache (322-23). Reaching the town of Kitale, at the base of Mount Elgon, at sundown, the group is immediately accosted by sex traffickers.