MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE JUNGLE. Adventures of a NZ Forester in W Papua & Sumatra

In his latest book, Ross heads into the remote, unmapped jungles of Indonesian West Papua to set up a base camp from which to survey & establish a new forestry concession. He’s spotted the perfect camp site from the air, but there’s nowhere to land an aircraft, so first he must find his way to it by water, riding a drum of avgas in an overloaded dug-out canoe across the open sea and up a tangle of crocodile-infested, mangrove-clogged creeks. The new concession is located in an area where there are no roads, no communications, few villages, and no airstrips—only dense jungle inhabited by a few small, primitive, nomadic tribes, some of whom still practice cannibalism & head hunting. There are no maps, no medicines, & no trappings of civilization. It’s just the way Ross likes it! And with the only decent bathing spot around infested with crocodiles, thousands of miles of jungle to lose his survey crews in & a mysterious Papuan with blood on his hands for a body-guard, what could possibly go wrong? And when that’s all sorted it’s time to take on the jungles & tigers of Sumatra. Throw in the odd corrupt official, heart-stopping boat ride in the dark, wild buffalo encounter & a round-the-world trip with more crossings of the Argentinian-Brazilian border than Ross cares to remember, Book contains 100 photos. REVIEWS: Ross is one of those NZ foresters who are prepared to accept any challenge & his latest book "Meanwhile Back in the Jungle" tells of his time in Indonesian West Papua surveying & planning for a new forest operation in areas where maps did not exist & the only access to the interior was by helicopter landing on river flats, meeting jungle tribes who had never previously had outside contact. The second part of the book covers his time in Sumatra planning & managing the forestry operations & plantation development for a successful pulp mill. None of this would have been possible without Ross's mastery of Indonesian which he speaks fluently. A great read. Geoff Patching - Perth, W Australia