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Island adventures in Fiji
Fiji : little sandy islands you think you want to be stranded on, especially one of Fiji's party islands. Flying foxes (big fruit bats), drape themselves over the branches of breadfruit trees, then erupt in a storm of bickering. Frigate birds cruise low over waves that break on offshore reefs, prowling for chartreuse snack fish. Palms dance like swaying hippies along the crests of ridges in the islands’ interior. Shells with designs as intricate as Afghan carpets wobble up on the white sands.
No Breakfast with Tiffany
I’d just seen off David Attenborough and was in a hurry to meet Audrey Hepburn, as you do, when I bumped into Fast Freddie. By the unusually desperate look on his roguish face, I sensed problems. Despite my insistence that I was in a rush to meet the Ms Hepburn he pleaded a few moments of my time. We repaired to the airport bar.
September 11 - One Personal Memory
This was the story of two planes that came out of the clear blue skies that sunny September morning and crashed into the Twin Towers, those pillars of American achievement.This was as real as TV could get.I wanted all three of us to be home. Right away.
Conquering Mount Elbrus
Despite Mont Blanc's fame, Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 meters above sea level is in fact Europe's highest mountain. Set in the Caucasus range of mountains sandwiched between Russia and Georgia it lies on the European continent and extends significantly higher than Mont Blanc's 4,810 meters.
Night Flight Over the Amazon
When I was going to school back in San Angelo, Texas I would have never dreamed that sometime in my future I'd be flying in an old DC-7 loaded with cattle over the Amazon jungle at midnight. It all started in 1973 when the president and acting manager of a Bolivia agriculture cooperative contacted me.
Mexican Sailing Adventure
Log date June 22, 2006: Bear and I have been sailing for over 25 years in lake waters and in the Gulf of Mexico. We have several friends who have been after us to join them in the Caribbean waters and to simply “get out there”.
Champagne, Apple Pie and Elephants
Alan, a friend of mine had a car. I don’t just mean any old car, I mean a Rolls Royce; a white 1936 Rolls Royce Continental roadster. It was built for cruising the deplorable pre WW11, country roads (Germany excluded) of Europe. But it was no longer in Europe. In 1980 Allan had shipped it to Ecuador along with his other worldly goods.
Courage Under Fire
It was getting close to five in the evening when Raju, the forest guard’s son, came and informed us that a villager’s buffalo had been killed by a tiger. Since my friend’s father was looking after the rehabilitation program of the forest department for the villagers, it was his duty to investigate such kills and confirm that it was actually the doing of a tiger.It was not uncommon for villagers to claim that all the cattle that died in the region, whatever the reason for their death may have been, had been killed by tigers.
Elephant challenge
Pankaj and I decided that it would be a good idea to come back to our rest house in Gairal straight after lunch. We’d experienced as much excitement as we could have ever hoped for, the night before. Today we were back by half past three and after relaxing for around ten minutes, made our way down to the rocky bank of the Ramganga river. Our intention was to just relax and soak in all the freshness and tranquility nature could offer us.
Win some - Lose Some!
A former partner of mine had gotten himself into trouble trusting the wrong people and believing the Ecuadorian businessmen to be easy game. Some heavy construction equipment which his company owned was under embargo near Tena, in the eastern jungle area of Ecuador.