Crocks are getting a bit of news lately - Olympic Rowing on a river known to have crocodiles. It does bring back memories, right? Late '67 I was on the south coast of Papua, oil exploration. We had some in the area, "No Swimming".
Looking at that twisting Sepik River, you could describe it almost as a maze. And as in a maze, it looks like fun from above, but when you are in it you must have wondered if you were just going round in a loop as you tried to go downstream, with every tree and muddy bank looking the same.
That's why I put that photo at the top -- so those who read Part 2 woud say why it took so long to get back down the river in a boat But when you're on a river it doesn't seem to have twists an turns -- it just seems to go on forever: until you nearly hit a small flowing island that had broken off and is now in the middle!. zhugh
Ah, yes. It's like retracing your steps and you see everything with new eyes. What if you'd run into that island? Pre mobile phone, did they have air-sea rescue? Probably not. The people who live there must be self-sufficient to the max.
If we'd hit that island at dusk, as it was, I think we'd have been sharing somethinghouse-sized with several largs crocodiles. I hope they wouldn't have minded. Atually, no one would have ever know what happened to me and the Papuan operating the outboard motor. We just wouldn't have turned up amywhere.
Crocks are getting a bit of news lately - Olympic Rowing on a river known to have crocodiles. It does bring back memories, right? Late '67 I was on the south coast of Papua, oil exploration. We had some in the area, "No Swimming".
Yes Graham, next things they wil be holding the Olympic rowing the Sepik.
No one would get very far, I can tell you. Anyway the crocs are now down in the Mary River -- so gradually creeping south.
Hugh
Looking at that twisting Sepik River, you could describe it almost as a maze. And as in a maze, it looks like fun from above, but when you are in it you must have wondered if you were just going round in a loop as you tried to go downstream, with every tree and muddy bank looking the same.
That's why I put that photo at the top -- so those who read Part 2 woud say why it took so long to get back down the river in a boat But when you're on a river it doesn't seem to have twists an turns -- it just seems to go on forever: until you nearly hit a small flowing island that had broken off and is now in the middle!. zhugh
Ah, yes. It's like retracing your steps and you see everything with new eyes. What if you'd run into that island? Pre mobile phone, did they have air-sea rescue? Probably not. The people who live there must be self-sufficient to the max.
If we'd hit that island at dusk, as it was, I think we'd have been sharing somethinghouse-sized with several largs crocodiles. I hope they wouldn't have minded. Atually, no one would have ever know what happened to me and the Papuan operating the outboard motor. We just wouldn't have turned up amywhere.
Hugh
I’m sure no one on the Sepik has ever heard of Aie-Sea Rescue — even today. You can’t get more remote than where we were.
Mobile phones didn’t exist back then.
Hugh