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Near misses on bird trips (1 Viewer)

Andy Adcock

Worst person on Birdforum
Umm al-Qaiwan
Mine, missed the Bali bombing by a couple of weeks having caroused in the Sari club, every night for almost a month at the end of a long trip.

Missed a suicide bomber on the train station in Colombo, Sri Lanka by a couple of hours, multiple dead.


Been through the windscreen of a minivan in Gambia

Narrowly avoided being killed by a Buffalo which went on to seriously injure another tourist in Kruger


Bitten by an Adder in Russia

Foot down a hole in Ghana, ten stitches.

Hoping that's going to be it!
 
Andy....are you sure your ancestors didn't invoke the wrath of a witch? That is a hell of a lot of close calls over the years!

The closest call I can claim is heat stroke from a ill-fated trip to look for newts in San Diego, which involved traversing a steep poorly maintained shade-free trail in summer in the inland portion of the county. The crappiest thing is we failed to find Newts, and one some of my more fit friends carried on further down the trail, they found a breeding pair of American Dipper, exceptionally rare for the county!
 
Two blokes with knives trying to separate me from my money on a bus in Java. They underestimated how hard I am to separate from money!

Being charged by an elephant in Kruger.

Stung by a scorpion in Thailand.
 
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Andy....are you sure your ancestors didn't invoke the wrath of a witch? That is a hell of a lot of close calls over the years!

The closest call I can claim is heat stroke from a ill-fated trip to look for newts in San Diego, which involved traversing a steep poorly maintained shade-free trail in summer in the inland portion of the county. The crappiest thing is we failed to find Newts, and one some of my more fit friends carried on further down the trail, they found a breeding pair of American Dipper, exceptionally rare for the county!
The chanelled, psychic powers of BF members I think.

To add to that list, my wife was badly stung by a Scorpion in Namibia
 
I was walking along a track in the middle of nowhere in Montana when I heard a dry rattle coming from the ground. I looked down to see that my left foot was about to descend on a writhing rattlesnake. I may have set a new record for the backward standing jump.
 
Stepped on a huge alligator in Texas in 1990. Fortunately it went into the river.

Almost arrested for 'spying' in Sfax, Tunisia in 1992. Had my passport and field guide, narrowly convincing the incredulous policeman.
 
Not as close a call as some of you guys, but was forced to travel with armed Cameroon soldiers, one of whom was being instructed on how to use his hand grenade(s) just before getting in our minibus. I would have been much happier without the grenades (or indeed the 5 unnecessary soldiers!)
 
Charged by an Elephant in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve (I was in a 4x4 truck with some other guests and a professional local driver)
Walked within 2 yards of a Florida Cottonmouth (can’t recall the name of the reserve but most of the distance was vertical as we were on a boardwalk)
 
Almost arrested for 'spying' in Sfax, Tunisia in 1992. Had my passport and field guide, narrowly convincing the incredulous policeman.
Same in Turkey supposedly 'spying' a Turkish airfield which was beyond the visible horizon! Added concern of 6 more police turning up in a van to add to the original 2. Took ages to convince them with trip photos and ID guides. By the end of it though it was all smiles and recommendations for our next stop in Side.
 
Was apprehended by Argentinian military (or police, not sure) and quickly discovered that my Spanish was not, in fact, limited simply to "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish, not really, only a very small amount" and did actually extend to "I am only here to watch the bids. Look, like these here."

They shrugged and went off, beginning my quest to figure out whether "pajeros" or "aves" was the best word to have used. Luckily, my Spanish was so bad it sounded like I'd said "pajaros" and not "pajeros".

(Pajaros does mean birds; pajeros suggests self-pleasuring. Close-run thing.)
 
I was walking along a track in the middle of nowhere in Montana when I heard a dry rattle coming from the ground. I looked down to see that my left foot was about to descend on a writhing rattlesnake. I may have set a new record for the backward standing jump.
These are the day to day risks of a birder so didn't include my almost stepping on an erect Cobra in Goa whilst watching a Golden Oriole or an interaction with a very, large Reticulated Python in the Philippines.

Same in Turkey supposedly 'spying' a Turkish airfield which was beyond the visible horizon! Added concern of 6 more police turning up in a van to add to the original 2. Took ages to convince them with trip photos and ID guides. By the end of it though it was all smiles and recommendations for our next stop in Side.
I was arrested by armed guards near a gas terminal in Russia. I was in shorts, shirtless, covered in insect spray but they suspected me of photographing an 'installation of the Russian federation'. I had no papers so was handed over to armed police wh spread eagled me against their vehicle and I was detained until my father in law appeared with my documents.

Not as close a call as some of you guys, but was forced to travel with armed Cameroon soldiers, one of whom was being instructed on how to use his hand grenade(s) just before getting in our minibus. I would have been much happier without the grenades (or indeed the 5 unnecessary soldiers!)
Nepal, forced to sit between two, armed policemen on the way up to Pulchowki.

Another strange, firearms incident was when we arrived at our accommodation in Kruger, South Africa, we returned one day to find a vary large African man in our room, I was in between 'fight or flight' but when he started coming towards me with a large gun, that was quickly decided. It turns out that he was the previous occupant of the room and was a tourist guide, he'd forgotten his Elephant gun which had lain, unseen, loaded, under our bed.

Charged by an Elephant in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve (I was in a 4x4 truck with some other guests and a professional local driver)
Walked within 2 yards of a Florida Cottonmouth (can’t recall the name of the reserve but most of the distance was vertical as we were on a boardwalk)

A very close call when this Hippo attacked out boat, he got VERY close
 

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I've been in close proximity to Rattlesnakes and most recently Cottonmouths on multiple occasions. I never really consider them "close calls" since most snakes have no interest in biting a person. In fact they are usually the highlights of a trip out. As long as you don't step on the snake or do something stupid like try to catch it!
 
Closest for me was in Cornwall for a Blue Rock Thrush, 1997? It was on some very high cliffs around an old tin mine and was suddenly seen. Everyone ran along the correct path but I took what I thought was a better path about 20 feet above a sheer drop to the sea. Turned out to be a rabbit path and me not being a rabbit started to slide rapidly toward the drop. Absolutely terrified I froze and came to a stop about 10 feet from the edge. Enter a chain of birders holding onto each others tripods (ooer) edging toward me until I managed to reach one.
As Oscar Wilde once said "I cacked me kecs"
 
Managed to get cut off by the tide while watching waders in the U.K. Not much fun swimming in freezing water with a full compliment of birdwatching optics and multiple layers of winter clothing id just arrived as well which topped it off!
 
Managed to get cut off by the tide while watching waders in the U.K. Not much fun swimming in freezing water with a full compliment of birdwatching optics and multiple layers of winter clothing id just arrived as well which topped it off!
I had something similar happen in China. I was out on some mudflats when the tide came in behind us. I hit some quicksand and was up to my crotch before I knew it. Our guide, Forrest Lin, and his other customer, Peter Kaestner, had to pull me out.
 
As encounters with officialdom have been included in this thread so I thought I would recount this incident.
After a week driving around Israel birding I arrived back at the airport to discover that my passport was missing, I went to the nearest official and told him the problem upon which he clapped his hand to his forehead and said "Oh my God!". He told me to stay where I was then disappeared returning with two security officers, a man and a woman in their mid twenties and both looking like film stars. In silence they emptied my suitcase, put it on a turntable and x-rayed it from all sides. They then went through my belongings very carefully. When the man came to my bins he looked through the barrels presumably looking for a bomb, then he did what a birder would do if he was trying out a new pair. He replaced the bins then came to my bird book and which point he broke the silence and said "I've got this book!". It turned out he was a birder. After that the atmosphere changed and indeed became quite jolly. For a short time I was having a better time than the other passengers waiting patiently in the queue to Israeli security. When they finished their search they brought in the original officer. I asked him if I could go. He said no, that would be decided by the police. I was escorted into an office where a surly-looking copper was sitting behind a desk. He looked me up and down then waved a hand and said I could go.
There then followed the small matter of getting into the UK without a passport. When I reached passport control at Heathrow the official pointed me to an official standing on the other side of the barrier. After telling him I had lost my passport he asked for my name, address and employer. He then waved me through. That was it.
There was an aftermath. About a year later I received a packet in the post. In it was my missing passport with the corner cut off and a letter. This was from the foreign office. A member of the Israeli public had found the passport, handed it in to the local police who sent it to the British Embassy in Tel Aviv who passed it to the Foreign Office in London who passed it to me. Amazing.
 
In my early 20's I was doing VSO in Nepal and during the training period attended a Forestry conference in Chitwan. With a day free at the end, myself and three other volunteer delegates wanted to get in to the National Park for birding / wildlife. Between us we used our very basic Nepali to ask a local village teenage lad if he knew someone who could take us, rather than pay for an official tour. He said he could do it, a fee was negotiated and we set off on foot. After some time we were in dense woodland, well off track, and all heard a sort of high-pitched squeal from one side and some rustling in the understorey from the other. Our 'guide' in his basic English shouted something about running and we looked around to see him looking very panicked and already effortlessly climbing a tree. This was all the impetus we needed and faster than any of us would have thought possible we were all up in our respective trees. With the advantage of a higher view over the thick undergrowth it soon became obvious that we had wandered between an Indian Rhino and its young, the latter of which had given an alarm call. After a while the pair wandered off and we cautiously returned to ground level and left the park rapidly.
 
As encounters with officialdom have been included in this thread so I thought I would recount this incident.
After a week driving around Israel birding I arrived back at the airport to discover that my passport was missing, I went to the nearest official and told him the problem upon which he clapped his hand to his forehead and said "Oh my God!". He told me to stay where I was then disappeared returning with two security officers, a man and a woman in their mid twenties and both looking like film stars. In silence they emptied my suitcase, put it on a turntable and x-rayed it from all sides. They then went through my belongings very carefully. When the man came to my bins he looked through the barrels presumably looking for a bomb, then he did what a birder would do if he was trying out a new pair. He replaced the bins then came to my bird book and which point he broke the silence and said "I've got this book!". It turned out he was a birder. After that the atmosphere changed and indeed became quite jolly. For a short time I was having a better time than the other passengers waiting patiently in the queue to Israeli security. When they finished their search they brought in the original officer. I asked him if I could go. He said no, that would be decided by the police. I was escorted into an office where a surly-looking copper was sitting behind a desk. He looked me up and down then waved a hand and said I could go.
There then followed the small matter of getting into the UK without a passport. When I reached passport control at Heathrow the official pointed me to an official standing on the other side of the barrier. After telling him I had lost my passport he asked for my name, address and employer. He then waved me through. That was it.
There was an aftermath. About a year later I received a packet in the post. In it was my missing passport with the corner cut off and a letter. This was from the foreign office. A member of the Israeli public had found the passport, handed it in to the local police who sent it to the British Embassy in Tel Aviv who passed it to the Foreign Office in London who passed it to me. Amazing.
This happened to me in the 1980's in Florida when I was young enough to have to carry ID to get in to nightclubs. I rang the local consular office in Georgia and explained the situation. and they said they'd' inform both departing and arriving airports. On arrival in to the UK, I was asked all sorts of questions that only a native would know the answer to, who do you bank with, which bus would you take to the City, where do you work etc, I'll be it would be a lot more involved now! Never got mine back.
 

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