In Trouble Again: A Journey Between Orinoco and the Amazon

by Redmond O'Hanlon

Paperback, 1990

Status

Available

Call number

918.704633

Collection

Publication

Vintage (1990), Edition: First Edition, Paperback, 288 pages

Description

In 1986, Redmond O'Hanlon decided to undertake a four-month trip through Venezuala, up the Orinoco River and across the Amazon Basin. The trip involved the risk of contracting dysentery, rabies and river blindness, encountering jaguars, vipers, anacondas, 640-volt electric eels, and giant catfish known to bite off human feet. He struggled to find a willing travelling companion. In Trouble Again is the gripping, hilarious and unpredictable account of that trip, as one intrepid ornithologist and his unsuspecting Oxford chum stumble from one catastrophe to the next.

User reviews

LibraryThing member pamplemousse
This is armchair travel writing at its finest. O'Hanlon's account of his journey along the river systems of Venezuela is funny, exhausting and enthralling, as he battles swarms of black fly, poisonous snakes, grumpy colleagues and recalcitrant guides. He is as observant as only a dedicated
Show More
naturalist can be, and his account is the next best thing to being there. No, actually I would say it is better than being there, since it has convinced this reader that this is one place I will never wish to visit, notwithstanding O'Hanlon's entirely matter of fact acceptance of all things parasitic, mouldy and otherwise gross. But for reading while snuggled up in a comfortable arm chair with a ready supply of coffee and croissant to hand, this is a wonderful account.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Sandydog1
I have a colleague who was an explorer in the 1970s, back when you couldn't buy batteries or camera film in the African bush. I LOVE exploration/adventure stories from the 1960s to 1980s, when there were still lost lands, and the earth hasn't shriveled up from all the stressors so elequently
Show More
described by [Thomas Friedman].

This book describes a 4-month exploration of Amazonia and although it ends rather abruptly, is a classic example of one of my all-time favorite genres.

O'Hanlon tells us that, when you shoot a Howler Monkey out of tree, and run over to kill it, IT COVERS ITS HEAD WITH ITS HANDS. I don't miss too many meals, but that kind of fellow-primate cannibalism would stop me cold. I'll stick with 12 hours of shuttling around Central American habitats in the beautiful eco-tour buses. When the sun sets, its off to a delicious meal, cold local beers and luxury ecolodge beds, free of black fly swarms, ticks, terantulas, mosquitoes, bullet ants, chiggers, etc.

I'll skip the yoppo pipe that causes your head to explode in projectile brown snot and puke. I'll skip the fear of 6-foot long silent curare arrows. And I'll definitely skip dining on any primate body parts.

But, I'll continue to read about them.
Show Less
LibraryThing member hickmanmc
I'm a sucker for a book about adventures in another land and O'Hanlon's account of trying to meet members of the Yanomami tribe (supposedly the most violent people on earth) does not disappoint. O'Hanlon is a very entertaining writer and his native companions including the macho (and apparently
Show More
self-proclaimed King of Virility) Chimo and several other men from villages in that area make this one crazy trip. They travel through dangerous jungle, meet dangerous animals, insects, fish and all kinds of stuff that make you wonder: why would people even go there? You will be left wondering if O'Hanlon is insane but even if he is, he's a heck of a writer. If you are a male, you will have nightmares about the Candiru fish. Google it and shudder.
Show Less
LibraryThing member judithann
Quite exiting, for a travel book: Will they ever get out of the jungle? Will they be eaten/killed by the terrible Yanomami, a people that live deep in the jungle?

[I read the Dutch edition: Tussen Orinoco en Amazone. Best wel spannend eigenlijk, voor een reisboek: zullen ze ooit weer terugkomen uit
Show More
het oerwoud? Worden ze opgegeten/gedood door de verschrikkelijke Yanomami, een volk dat ver in het oerwoud woont?]
Show Less
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
In Trouble Again is on the National Geographic list from where I learned about it. It is of that genre of biting British humor that reminds me of college, Monty Python, Black Adder and similar distant memories from the 70s and 80s. O'Hanlon is obsessed with dicks - other peoples and even animals,
Show More
but this ceases after his own is attacked by large ticks he contracted from the corpse of a dead wild pig. The trickster tricked (and ticked). It is an example of stomach curdling material, yet oddly it all seems to work - jungles are both riotous of and to life. I give him credit for going into dangerous places and partaking in powerful drugs with barely contacted tribes. The book has a sense of place, one can follow along with maps and birding books and anthropology. It's comforting to know the places he visited in the remotest corner of Venezuela are largely still intact.
Show Less

Original publication date

1988

Physical description

288 p.; 5.17 inches

ISBN

0679727140 / 9780679727149
Page: 0.3696 seconds