A Mizo Expedition

jonahpach · Post by **jonahpach** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:33 am

Hello Everybody! I had an opportunity to get "back to nature" on an expedition into the wild and remotest corner of Mizoram state last weekend and ended up following some poachers and a bit of impromptu fishing on the way back. Will submit some photos.

Jonah

Post by **dev** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:56 am

Stalk em Jonah at least they'll always be looking over their shoulder forever

.

Regards,

Dev

Post by **Vikram** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:36 pm

While doing these things, take very good care,Jonah, for these people are not always harmless to humans.Thanks for what you are doing. Look forward to your pictures.

Best-
Vikram

Post by **dev** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 11:36 am

Then Vikram neither is Jonah, he looks deceptively mild but if you see his Popeye type of forearms and his dead eyed dick shooting you can rest assured it will always be 'poor poachers'.

.

Regards,

Dev

Vikram";p="6039 wrote: While doing these things, take very good care,Jonah, for these people are not always harmless to humans.Thanks for what you are doing. Look forward to your pictures.

Best-
Vikram

Post by **kanwar76** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:14 pm

Good work Jonah,

Will be waiting for the pics...

-Inder

jonahpach · Post by **jonahpach** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:11 pm

Sorry guys I had a lot of work to catchup on and my dialup is acting up these days. Also I seem to have run out of spinach lately dev.

Here goes nutthin..

It all began on a clear and sunny day.. I had to visit and survey a remote site for one of my ongoing projects..
Chalfilh Tlang 4880 ft.

Our destination was a remote village on the northern eastern most corner of Mizoram state. The PWD map categorised the map as a 'fair weather jeep road'

Since we didnt have one, we had to hire a jeep at the end of the tarmac road.

What a wild ride it turned out to be

The Occational sky in broad daylight!

duh huh.. more to come folks have to go now

mehulkamdar · Post by **mehulkamdar** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 6:09 pm

Jonah,

Fantastic pics. Will be waiting for the rest whenever you have time.

Cheers!

Mehul

PS Are there any hand made Bamboo fly fishing rods available in India? Several friends here have been asking and my good friend and business partner Mark who is a popular member here also wanted to know.

jonahpach · Post by **jonahpach** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 6:49 pm

For those who came in late..
As the story goes, our hero stepped out into the wilder hinterlands of Mizoram and experienced the joys of following some poachers and being feasted upon by blood sucking mosquitoes and leeches!

A real 4x4 on a bloody unreal 'jeep road'

On hiring the jeep the driver sez "You guys are really lucky no other vehicle has gone down this road today.. Otherwise we would have to wait for it to come back before we can set off" Meaning It's a real one way road.
A view of some of the scenery.

We Tried to dig our way out of this one butt..

It was the end of the road for us.. Due to a slight drizzle and a 4 km uphill mudroad (The road was too much even for the jeep) the rest of the trip had to be completed on foot

A Mizo Bowie in Action.. and Hey presto, Bamboo Walking Sticks!

"One for the road" Someone was smart enough to pack some Mizo Rice Beer.. No mugs though.. But a few whacks with a bowie and again Hey Presto Drinking Mugs!

Halt who goes there!
The Remnants of a suspension bridge.. Good thing we left the jeep.

Ps.. We contacted some poachers during this time but that is another story!

Its pitch dark and 12:00 Am. in the middle of a a bloody forest! Where are we?? Care to guess?

Bloody Blood Sucker!

Guys all of this took me approxx 2hrs and 45 minutes more next week!

Post by **Mack The Knife** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:23 pm

This is getting to be a most interesting thread and these two statements have me intrigued to say the least....

"I had to visit and survey a remote site for one of my ongoing projects.."

"We contacted some poachers during this time but that is another story!"

Look forward to the rest.

Mack The Knife

P.S.: Did the GPS work satisfactorily all the time considering the top cover?

Post by **Vikram** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:23 am

Great pics,Jonah.Thanks for your time and efforts.What rifle is that? .22?
Like Mack The Knife,I too am intrigued by your remarks.Very curious.

Best-
Vikram

jonahpach · Post by **jonahpach** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:32 am

Hello mehul I dont think there are any manufacturers for the type of bamboo rods that you are looking for. The only ones that I have seen are a joke! A couple of years ago I looked into importing some tools to manufacture split bamboo flyrods from the US.
AKA: http://globalflyfisher.com/rodbuilding/bamboo5/
But the project didnt take off. Even tried to smuggle in some Tonkin Cane from China! (for growing) Which is the best cane to manufacture flyrods.. Almost succeeded. But the chinese supplier I contacted was a bit too greedy.

About the Curious comments :

"I had to visit and survey a remote site for one of my ongoing projects.."

"We contacted some poachers during this time but that is another story!"

lets just say "curiousity killed the cat" and any further comments on this matter from my side would kill the cat which would unfortunately be me!

Better pics ahead! (Daytime)

mehulkamdar · Post by **mehulkamdar** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:43 am

Jonah,

The Chinese are not shipping their bamboo rods to the US anymore as they seem to have jumped on the machine produced bandwagon and hand manufacture does not seem to be their cup of tea anymore. In any case with Walfart selling their junk in quantities large enough to almost bankrupt the US, why should they think about quality handmade bamboo rods?

If, however, any Indian entrepreneur decides to offer these over here, there is a market for them.

Cheers,

Mehul

jonahpach · Post by **jonahpach** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:58 am

Mehul During that time I was thinking on the lines of starting a cottage industry for the Indian market with Indian bamboo whilst starting a bamboo farm with the original tonkin cane imported from china! And then maybe entering the export business as our skill developed!
I maybe able to come to the US next year.. maybe something could click into place.

About Rusty's question about the GPS.. YUP had to search for openground to get any reliable reading.. Was a problem though as the sky was overcast most of the time.

Jonah

Post by **dev** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:30 pm

Hi Jonah,

Real adventure this one. I remember how i lost this adventure bug...rain, leaches, mud...that does jog the memory. What thunderstick were you carrying? Looks mighty fine.

regards,

dev

jonahpach";p="6156 wrote: Mehul During that time I was thinking on the lines of starting a cottage industry for the Indian market with Indian bamboo whilst starting a bamboo farm with the original tonkin cane imported from china! And then maybe entering the export business as our skill developed!
I maybe able to come to the US next year.. maybe something could click into place.

About Rusty's question about the GPS.. YUP had to search for openground to get any reliable reading.. Was a problem though as the sky was overcast most of the time.

Jonah

jonahpach · Post by **jonahpach** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:48 am

just a .22 dev, A local government official asked me to carry (Just in case) as i hadnt brought any fire arm of my own! Anyway didnt get to fire a single shot that night as I was to damn tired. The next day was a lot more fun as we got to rest by a river for a whole day.
Will post some more pics this weekend.
Jonah

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