Now THAT would be a good show.
Posted on 04/17/2002 3:32:49 PM PDT by vannrox
Once described as a "brave madman", an adventurer is looking for six "mentally deranged" fellow South Africans to follow him down 3 000km of churning Zambezi river water, dodging sharks, hippos and snapping crocodiles. Now Greeff wants to introduce the challenge to six willing South Africans and a six-member British team - an ambitious project he hopes to sell to television stations. "The team that wins will then get challenged by another team, so the project will be ongoing. There will probably be no monetary prize, but the people involved will get international recognition," he said. "I know what I will produce will be the best," he said. "Team members must be reasonably fit - I'm not looking for tri-athletes or super-fit machos - but the most crucial criteria is experience in hard conditions, a sense of humour, a level-headed approach to stress, pain, sleep-deprivation and extreme discomfort." Wanted: madmen to swim the Zambezi
Louie Greeff, 50, of Johannesburg, attracted international media attention last year when he paddled the mighty Zambezi from its source in Zambia to the ocean on the Mozambican coast.
'Preferably insane'
"I'd like to get the Brits involved because they've got balls - but I know the South Africans will be able to kick serious butt," the author and adventurer said.
Greeff is the owner of Beyond X-treme Challenges, the company that is organising the competition. He said the challenge would cost about R14-million to put together and he would be looking for sponsors.
There was "nothing more exhilarating than jumping into a river full of crocodiles" and he is hoping the challenge will spark much-needed camaraderie among South Africans tired of the disappointing performances of their national sports teams.
'I'm not looking for tri-athletes or super-fit machos' "I paddled the entire river at the ripe age of 48. I was in the water for seven to eight hours every day for nine weeks. I had a broken middle finger before I started and got double pneumonia three weeks into the swim that plagued me for six weeks until the end," he said.
He said he was looking for "mature" challengers who were "preferably insane".
"We accept monks, nuns, the mentally deranged, cancer-stick addicts, lawyers, and those who are not afraid of the unknown."
The challenge is set to begin in July and end in September. It will comprise nine stages incorporating river-gliding using an inflatable glider and flippers, bungi-jumping, abseiling and white-water rafting.
Greeff said that three years of research had gone into the challenge and a team of experts, including game rangers, medical officers and crocodiles hunters, would accompany teams "to make the event safe".
Interested? Then send your details and a photograph to Greeff at 103 Eleventh Street, Parkhurst, 2193.
Perhaps they might find a few volunteers among displaced Zim farm workers who now have to cross the Limpopo and avoid its crocs to get to South Africa.
Hmmmmmm... maybe Tony Blair will volunteer.
I don't think he has the 'nads, but he certainly is mad.
Now THAT would be a good show.
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