Swimming with the River Dolphin
- 12 Apr 08, 02:49 PM
Posted from: Manaus - Rio Negro
Today was a recce day with new Director James Smith. He is hilarious. We've just completed 72 hours of non-stop partying with a Brazilian eco-millionaire and his beautiful friends. We've fallen into random swimming pools at 4am and danced on the back of pick-up trucks as the dawn broke. We outstayed our welcome at a few nightclubs and danced as the cleaners swept up around our feet.
Being with a millionaire of course meant that the DJ played till the last person shambled off into the new day. Being the brother of a millionaire - as we all were - meant total VIP treatment for five days with the occasional luxury yacht and 20 models thrown in for good measure - to make the film look better you understand.
Bruce is a mean mover on the floor and his energy seems endless. I think we were filming a story about the wealth of the Amazon, and today was to be the day when our millionaire was introduced in the film on the helicopter. I don't trust helicopters, even after dozens of flights all over the world, I consider myself lucky to land in one piece. They tend to fly like bricks don't. No matter how well one is harnessed in, hanging out of the side of one just isn't fun with a 400mph downdraught on your head and thinking about bricks.
I crashed in the desert once with an Arab Sheikh. I've never trusted one since. James and I really worked the angles. He knew exactly what he wanted. Unfortunately, we didn't have the budget for Apocalypse Now. But that's Directors for you. He settled for Bruce paddling in a canoe and a helicopter roaring overhead to land and Bruce getting in to meet our eco-millionaire.
We were then to film them on the flight back to Manaus. Sounded simple enough as the huge Amazonian rainstorm loomed. We finished our recce and boarded the most unstable boat in the history of unstable boats. Just leaning over to scratch a buttock meant certain capsizing. We sat like statues as the two hour journey started.
Buttocks clenched in defiance of instability we bumped into some old friends of mine. I met them about five years ago and all of a sudden all thoughts of helicopters, eco millionaires, yachts and nightclubs paled into insignificance. These were truly beautiful friends who have been around for millennia - whose magic and mystery never cease to enthral and fill me with such deep joy.
Keith bumps into some old friends
I leaned over, fish in hand and the river dolphin came to meet me. She rose out of the water and gently took it. For some reason I began a conversation with her. More arrived. I asked the man who gave me the fish if I could join them. Before he replied, I was stripped to my underpants and swimming with some of the most wonderful creatures on the planet.
Keith swims with the river dolphins
The Rio Negro is black water. It's like swimming in Coke. Visibility about one metre. I remember the problems the divers had while we filmed the series Amazon Abyss a few years ago. So they had to be almost on top of you to see them. Now I was swimming with them and the almost sacred connection was remade. Stroking the bump on their heads and peering into their tiny eyes elevated me to a plane of awe like no other.
My Friends of the Amazon are truly friends for life - and probably lives before. Just wonderful. I cannot judge the ethics of 'taming' wildlife through feeding them with fish - and at the moment I'm unsure about it - but to have the chance of connecting with something so special means so much to so many. Raising awareness through connecting with species can only improve our understanding and love of the natural world.
As we returned on our unstable boat, buttocks grimly clenched - difficult now with wet underwear - I wondered which nightclub we were filming the beautiful people in. Which pool we might end up in. But my thoughts all the way back were of my Special Friends of the Amazon.
Comments
or to comment.