Vagabonds in Madagascar. Part 1

[Tigger]

Barking mad is how i would have put it.

 

 

 

Maybe your right Brian, but they're barking in the right direction .

[Tony U]

Vagabond

Well at least you have got a tale to tell you should be able to write a book on that trip alone. I can't wait for Part 2.

 

 

Tony

[Elton]

Way to go, guys! You make those TV 'anglers' look like wimps!

[JV44]

Extreme Birdwatching at it`s most dangerous glad you are both ok as i find your reports an excellent read Steve.

[ayjay]

Extreme Birdwatching at it`s most dangerous glad you are both ok as i find your reports an excellent read Steve.

 

Steve's are good, but with Dave's reports it's just like being there!

[Dick Dastardly]

Way to go, guys! You make those TV 'anglers' look like wimps!

 

 

In one Murphy! The modern genre of "Adventure Angler" make me laugh! in fact no they don't make me laugh they actually get up my nose!

 

Before I go any further let me first point out that in all fairness Jeremy Wade did a bit of proper stuff with Paul Boote in his early days before doing it for camera and to a certain degree John Wilson as well.

 

But the majority of today's "Adventure Anglers" well if you count looking in a brochure/answering an advert in a magazine,getting your credit card out,dropping your Keck's and taking it dry from a tour guide/glorified travel agent, then having your hand held by a British guide as "Adventure" well!

 

The only difference I see between Robson Green's trips and most other "Adventure Fishermen" is that he has someone else filming him!

 

"Adventure" for me means hearing a snippet of a rumour of some big fish/unusual fish/bizarre location.Researching by bribing people,trawling the Internet,visiting museums,reading books in fact anything to piece the mystery together. Planning the travel to a budget you can afford (no matter how little that may be) getting to the place and actually being able to live there (learning languages,researching local laws,rules,customs,food,health issues and accommodation) Need to find out everything you can about the chosen species,decide on the equipment required to fish for them then get it! normally made yourself or by convincing a manufacturer that your not mad! All this has to be done before you get there else you are just wasting your chance,I say chance as us mere mortals are often limited by availability of time or limited finance.EVERYTHING must be done to the best to give you even a chance of success.

 

All that sorted and you can then go!...................and the journey it self (be it the two day car ride to Spain,the four week trek by bus and Shank's pony in India,the pant soiling trip in a clapped out ex Russian Military helicopter in Kazakhstan,which often drop out of the sky! etc etc) is an adventure.

 

Jeez I could write a book on what you need to do and the dramas and hardships you will have to be prepared to endure..................but the key word is YOU not just signing a cheque!

 

With the greatest of respect neither Dave or Norma have either youth or fitness on their side,I don't know their financial position either but what they do have is the aforementioned BALLS! and the drive to research their trips and "go it alone" That as Elton says is true "Adventure" not just paying to take a few photos from the safety of a tour bus! or to proudly display the specimen fish the guide caught you!

 

MEGA RESPECT!

Edited January 1, 2011 by BUDGIE

[Wordbender]

What a fantastic, albeit slightly harrowing, tale. And I was worried about having a ruck with a few young bullocks.

 

Roll on Part Two. Marvellous stuff.

[Vagabond]

"Adventure" for me means hearing a snippet of a rumour of some big fish/unusual fish/bizarre location.Researching by bribing people,trawling the Internet,visiting museums,reading books in fact anything to piece the mystery together. Planning the travel to a budget you can afford (no matter how little that may be) getting to the place and actually being able to live there (learning languages,researching local laws,rules,customs,food,health issues and accommodation) Need to find out everything you can about the chosen species,decide on the equipment required to fish for them then get it! normally made yourself or by convincing a manufacturer that your not mad! All this has to be done before you get there else you are just wasting your chance,I say chance as us mere mortals are often limited by availability of time or limited finance.EVERYTHING must be done to the best to give you even a chance of success.

 

All that sorted and you can then go!...................and the journey it self (be it the two day car ride to Spain,the four week trek by bus and Shank's pony in India,the pant soiling trip in a clapped out ex Russian Military helicopter in Kazakhstan,which often drop out of the sky! etc etc) is an adventure.

 

That as Elton says is true "Adventure" not just paying to take a few photos from the safety of a tour bus! or to proudly display the specimen fish the guide caught you!

 

Yep, that's how we see it.

 

However, no-one should undertake such a trip without weighing up the risks involved. The greatest risk is probably that of a road accident, followed closely by the chance of picking up a nasty bug. Appropriate medication and a comprehensive first aid kit, plus the knowledge of how to use it is absolutely essential.

 

As for guides, it would be stupid not to make use of local knowledge. Paul Boote, in his postings on here, tended to belittle the use of guides, but a careful reading of "Down the Crazy River" will show that few mahseer were caught until the local expertise of resident ex-pats and native Indian guides was enlisted.

 

As for hardship - if there is no other way, we will bivouac in the jungle, but if there is a handy lodge we will most certainly use it - no point whatsoever in hardship for its own sake.

 

As for finance, thank the stock market and the fact that until retirement, we each had two jobs - an academic post each, and also ran a family building company. The lifestyle of fishing far-away places is not cheap, but every penny spent has come from our own graft coupled with careful investment.

 

As for youth and fitness, I am 76 years young, and if one is not fit at the beginning of a foreign trip, a few days of scrambling up and down tropical ravines will soon bring one into trim. The only concession I have to make concerns a loss of balancing ability - I cannot keep my feet as well as when younger, so "rock-hopping" has to be done slowly and cautiously, and anything above a force 5 now has me struggling to keep my balance on a boat - so this last season's Channel trips will probably be my last. Norma, of course, is still a slip of a girl

[The Flying Tench]

Very glad you are both OK, but hope the hearing loss is not too serious. I fear the loss of you tackle bag might restrict the inland fishing, but pleased to see the excellent sea fish in part 2!