Crazy River
Crazy River

Author: Richard Grant

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-10-25

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1439157642

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the acclaimed author of Dispatches From Pluto and Deepest South of All comes a rollicking travelogue from East Africa. NO ONE TRAVELS QUITE LIKE RICHARD GRANT and, really, no one should. In his last book, the adventure classic God’s Middle Finger, he narrowly escaped death in Mexico’s lawless Sierra Madre. Now, Grant has plunged with his trademark recklessness, wit, and curiosity into East Africa. Setting out to make the first descent of an unexplored river in Tanzania, he gets waylaid in Zanzibar by thieves, whores, and a charismatic former golf pro before crossing the Indian Ocean in a rickety cargo boat. And then the real adventure begins. Known to local tribes as “the river of bad spirits,” the Malagarasi River is a daunting adversary even with a heavily armed Tanzanian crew as travel companions. Dodging bullets, hippos, and crocodiles, Grant finally emerges in war-torn Burundi, where he befriends some ethnic street gangsters and trails a notorious man-eating crocodile known as Gustave. He concludes his journey by interviewing the dictatorial president of Rwanda and visiting the true source of the Nile. Gripping, illuminating, sometimes harrowing, often hilarious, Crazy River is a brilliantly rendered account of a modern-day exploration of Africa, and the unraveling of Grant’s peeled, battered mind as he tries to take it all in.

Somewhere Down a Crazy River
Somewhere Down a Crazy River

Author: Robyn Catchlove

Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.

Published: 2010-06-01

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1742621295

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Robyn Catchlove wasn't destined for married life and two and half kids in the suburbs of Adelaide. So, in her early twenties, she walks away from a passionless marriage to seek out adventure and lead the life she always dreamed of. As a spunky 25-year-old, she meets her match, Les Coles, in balmy Cairns, and together they set about building the boat of their dreams. By the time the Jean King launches, Robyn and Les are fiercely in love and ready to take on the challenges of the professional fishing game. This is the start of a gripping eight-year sea journey set in the hallucinogenic tropics of Far North Queensland. It also takes Robyn deep into the heart of the exclusively male world of professional fishing. It is physical, tough, and often perilous, but Robyn won't give up until she has not just silenced, but completely won over, even her toughest critics. Along the way, Robyn develops a remarkable bond with the environment, experiences a deep relationship with indigenous Australians, and collects a swag of colourful and gutsy fishing mates. But when her one true ally unexpectedly turns on her, Robyn is going to need more resilience and courage than she ever needed - even in the toughest storm at sea. Robyn's is a quintessentially Australian story about passions: where they can take you, how to walk away from them if they threaten to destroy you, and what is left if you have the courage to do so. Somewhere Down a Crazy River is also the only factual book ever written about the wild rivers area of Far North Queensland - hers is a wonderfully vivid and exciting adventure, recounting a true story of the land, as well as the amazing people who inhabit it.

A Mad, Crazy River
A Mad, Crazy River

Author: Clyde L. Eddy

Publisher: UNM Press

Published: 2012-05-15

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 0826351565

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When Clyde Eddy first saw the Colorado River in 1919, he vowed that he would someday travel its length. Eight years later, Eddy recruited a handful of college students to serve as crewmen and loaded them, a hobo, a mongrel dog, a bear cub, and a heavy motion picture camera into three mahogany boats and left Green River, Utah, headed for Needles, California. Forty-two days and eight hundred miles later, they were the first to successfully navigate the river during its annual high water period. This book is the original narrative of that foolhardy and thrilling adventure. “The point of his great adventure is not to make a name for himself, or to profit from a documentary film, or even to prove that quiet men of intellect can be as courageous as brawny frontiersmen. The point is the journey itself, the satisfaction of attempting the near impossible, and of surviving to tell the tale.”--Peter Miller, National Geographic Magazine, from the Foreword

River Monsters
River Monsters

Author: Jeremy Wade

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 2011-04-05

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0306819805

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist and fishing detective. For twenty-five years, I've explored our planet's remotest rivers and lakes, hunting for monster-sized fish. It's become something of an obsession for me. . . . Called "the greatest angling explorer of his generation" (Independent on Sunday), Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet's wildly popular TV series River Monsters, takes viewers where no wildlife program has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of our planet's inland waterways. Now, Wade goes truly beneath the surface, disclosing full details of how he tracks down and catches each species while also recounting the off-camera highlights of his extraordinary life. From his arrest as a suspected spy in Southeast Asia to a plane crash in the Amazon, every page of River Monsters is packed with adventure. Each chapter unfolds an enthralling detective story, where fishermen's tales of underwater man-eaters and aquatic killers are subjected to scientific scrutiny. Follow Wade step-by-step as, armed with just a fishing line, he closes in on his prey and separates fact from fiction. From the heart of the Congo, where he wrestles with supernatural goliath tigerfish, to the depths of the Amazon, where the most feared creature is one that could fit in your palm, the results are fish of staggering proportions and terrifying demeanor. Wade also reveals monsters from upcoming episodes, including deadly electric eels, a giant described as a cross between a shark and a chainsaw, and a snake-like beast that truly is the stuff of legend. In the tradition of the most gripping adventure writing, River Monsters shows that there's more to this world than what's visible on the surface. As Wade says, with a fishing line anything is possible--sometimes it can even reveal the future, or at least one possible version of it. In similar fashion, Wade's writings are much more than exhilarating stories: they reveal a vision of the world more awe-inspiring than any individual myth made flesh. Ultimately, River Monsters explores the real mysteries that still exist, capturing the story of one man's obsession -- and his relentless pursuit of the truth.