*****
For UK readers only: On Friday 11 August at 8pm on Channel Five, reptile enthusiast and wildlife photographer Austin Stevens, known as SnakeMaster, brings us a programme called Flying Snake, as he travels through Vietnam and Cambodia in search of the elusive golden flying snake. Among the mangroves at the mouth of the Mekong river, he comes across the nocturnal pipe snake and the rare tentacle snake, as well as a variety of other creepy-crawlies. I'm told he visits Angkor too. Current re-runs on satellite channel, UKTV History, include Dan Cruickshank's Around the World in 80 Treasures where he visits Angkor amongst a glut of well-known tourist haunts.
1 comment:
I watched the Austin Stevens' Adventures on tv tonight and was quite impressed with the photography in the hour-long programme. He started off at the mouth of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam but quickly moved onto the Tonle Sap and then camping in the forests near Angkor. In fact he based himself at Beng Mealea as far as I could tell.
His visit co-incided with the wet season, so the undergrowth was green and the shots on the Tonle Sap were pretty good. He is a bit bonkers in the way he handles the snakes he finds, and he found quite a few, though his 'golden fleece' was a flying snake which he caught up with at the end of the programme. As a temple-hunter myself, I wasn't too impressed with the number of snakes he kept finding in and around the ruins!! On my own travels I've been fortunate to by-pass most of them but I have seen a krait and a green viper - just not as close up as he did!
The filming was done in 2005 and I see my old pal Nick Ray and Hanuman Films were involved. Whilst Stevens is a bit over the top, I found myself actually enjoying the programme, and of course the location, very much.
Post a Comment