No messing around with those crocs

[Rajan Parrikar]

South African adventurer Hendrik Coetzee was killed recently when a crocodile took him in a river in the Congo.  Richard Bangs writes about the dangers of croc photography.

I found myself in cold sweat nightmares imagining the yellow chisel-sharp teeth of a giant croc ripping my skin apart. This would be the most awful way to die. But I thought about the alternative...law or graduate school leading to a real job... and facing crocodiles seemed the delightful evil of two lessors.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-bangs/full-of-croc-why-not-to-m_b_794986.html

[JBerardi]

I found myself in cold sweat nightmares imagining the yellow chisel-sharp teeth of a giant croc ripping my skin apart. This would be the most awful way to die. But I thought about the alternative...law or graduate school leading to a real job... and facing crocodiles seemed the delightful evil of two lessors.

Well, building a false dichotomy is one way to justify your reckless behavior, I guess..

[Jeremy Roussak]

Well, building a false dichotomy is one way to justify your reckless behavior, I guess..

Quite. And despite spending a little time thinking about it, I can't quite grasp what the rather silly mangling of the cliché is supposed to convey.

Jeremy

[David Sutton]

Quite. And despite spending a little time thinking about it, I can't quite grasp what the rather silly mangling of the cliché is supposed to convey.

Jeremy

Ego?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... the rather silly mangling of the cliché….

Speaking about mangling metaphors... how about this: the guy would rather be eaten by crocs than by rats (in reference to "rat race") 

[Jeremy Roussak]

Speaking about mangling metaphors... how about this: the guy would rather be eaten by crocs than by rats (in reference to "rat race") 

Well, I've some sympathy for that point of view. It's probably no more painful and certainly a lot quicker.

Jeremy

[BFoto]

Speaking about mangling metaphors... how about this: the guy would rather be eaten by crocs than by rats (in reference to "rat race") 

It's not a metaphor if you have to reference it! lol

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

It's not a metaphor if you have to reference it! lol

Referencing is a curtesy gesture for connect-the-dot challenged 

[Riaan van Wyk]

Metaphor or not, I would rather not be eaten by anything.

[Robert Roaldi]

What an odd series of comments. Adventure used to be admired, now cynics ridicule it.

He was obviously using hyperbole to cast aspersions on the cubicle life. There's no need to take it personally.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

… He was obviously using hyperbole to cast aspersions on the cubicle life...

Seriously? And I thought...

[feppe]

Adventure used to be admired, now cynics ridicule it.

It's not only cynics, unfortunately. Just look at the dwindling funding of space exploration in the western world. Fortunately big business(men) is/are picking up where governments are quitting.

There is a backlash evident in the popularity of extreme sports, but I'd say that's a niche and not exactly adventure in the traditional sense.

Then again there is much to be said about unprepared idiots getting lost in high seas once their GPS runs out of batteries, or getting stranded on mountainsides known for avalanches - and it's the tax payer who picks up the bill for the rescue efforts.

[David Sutton]

What an odd series of comments. Adventure used to be admired, now cynics ridicule it.

Well, without reference to the late Mr. Coetzee, but just a comment in general, there  is a big difference between adventure and an adolescent “testing oneself against nature”. The latter objectifies the natural world and its creatures. It treats the world without respect as something “out there.” As a thing to be overcome. There lies a real cynicism.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Well, without reference to the late Mr. Coetzee, but just a comment in general, there  is a big difference between adventure and an adolescent “testing oneself against nature”. The latter objectifies the natural world and its creatures. It treats the world without respect as something “out there.” As a thing to be overcome. There lies a real cynicism.

Exactly. There's an important difference between courage and stupidity.

Jeremy

PS: I think our avatars should meet, David

[David Sutton]

PS: I think our avatars should meet, David

Steady on old chap. Harm can come to a young avatar being introduced into society too early.

[JBerardi]

There's an important difference between courage and stupidity.

Jeremy

And you lose that difference when you compress the world into "this or an office job".

Honestly, thinking about the level of skill, expertise, planning, precaution and above all patience that must go into proper crocodile (or really any wildlife) photography, I think the office job might be a lot more exciting in practice. And afford me more actual time to shoot.