Showing posts with label Commemoration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Commemoration. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The next leg
Here are some pictures to put the next leg of the Amazon 5000 in perspective. The first is the spot where Mickey is being dropped off after the kidnapping ordeal. An outpost on the border of Ecuador and Peru called Conanaco (quite nice place).
And the next picture is a zoom out that shows the next section of the trek.
I think this pretty much says it all. If you want to follow along and see their progress - here is the link to the beacon tracker.
And the next picture is a zoom out that shows the next section of the trek.
I think this pretty much says it all. If you want to follow along and see their progress - here is the link to the beacon tracker.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Kidnap and Escape
I have done my best to make this as accurate as possible - as I get more information I will make corrections. This is continued from Part I - The Kidnapping.
The expedition team had been captured Sunday afternoon leaving Sunday evening to be a real nail-biter for the folks back here in Orlando. Outside of a satellite phone call that Mickey placed to Noga over the protests of the kidnappers - there was no other correspondence from either the team or the kidnappers. What the kidnappers were learning was that kidnapping Mickey is like grabbing a tiger by the tail. Anyone who knows his also knows this. He continued filming while they told him not to, he used the satellite phone, and by Monday - he and the team had set up camp while the kidnappers kept a sage distance (of about 300 feet) from the encampment.
Meanwhile - back in the US and Israel, plans for the rescue were underway. The coordination had led to a plan. The message sent using the Delorme Device was at this location
https://explore.delorme.com/textmessage/viewmsg?mo=e621e8b2311142e8ad9e90965e599e1b814320
Here is a map of the crew and kidnapper movements during this time.
Because of the road access, and the fact that we had a satellite signal, a team was able to get to the location and determine that Mickey and crew were in fact at the same location. Late Monday evening a car was sent from the oil company to the location. Two representatives spoke with the tribe holding Mickey, and while they were leaving they spoke in English (which the tribe does not understand) - to be at a set of coordinates on the road at 4 AM for extraction.
This would lead Mickey to start planning a daring night escape. Instead of unpacking gear on Monday evening, the team kept everything in their packs. They planned to use hammocks to sleep (which is common). At 2:30 AM using night vision goggles and infrared night equipment that was packed for the expedition - Mickey and team left camp and slowly and quietly made their way to the location on the road. For those of you who might have had the experience of navigating through the jungle to find a spot on a road at night, while sneaking past guards and wearing a 50 pound pack - this is not an easy task.
Once at the car - the team was driven all the way to Rio Napo where they were greeted by representatives of the government, and others. We will have more stories and footage later - but for now the team is safe and is planning on being taken to Cononaco near the border with Peru to continue the expedition. And, while this gets them past the territory where they might be kidnapped by tribes in Ecuador - they will have an entirely new set of challenges facing them ahead.
The expedition team had been captured Sunday afternoon leaving Sunday evening to be a real nail-biter for the folks back here in Orlando. Outside of a satellite phone call that Mickey placed to Noga over the protests of the kidnappers - there was no other correspondence from either the team or the kidnappers. What the kidnappers were learning was that kidnapping Mickey is like grabbing a tiger by the tail. Anyone who knows his also knows this. He continued filming while they told him not to, he used the satellite phone, and by Monday - he and the team had set up camp while the kidnappers kept a sage distance (of about 300 feet) from the encampment.
Members of the tribe that captured Mickey
Meanwhile - back in the US and Israel, plans for the rescue were underway. The coordination had led to a plan. The message sent using the Delorme Device was at this location
https://explore.delorme.com/textmessage/viewmsg?mo=e621e8b2311142e8ad9e90965e599e1b814320
Here is a map of the crew and kidnapper movements during this time.
Because of the road access, and the fact that we had a satellite signal, a team was able to get to the location and determine that Mickey and crew were in fact at the same location. Late Monday evening a car was sent from the oil company to the location. Two representatives spoke with the tribe holding Mickey, and while they were leaving they spoke in English (which the tribe does not understand) - to be at a set of coordinates on the road at 4 AM for extraction.
Mickey in Captivity
Mickey has this effect on me too.
This would lead Mickey to start planning a daring night escape. Instead of unpacking gear on Monday evening, the team kept everything in their packs. They planned to use hammocks to sleep (which is common). At 2:30 AM using night vision goggles and infrared night equipment that was packed for the expedition - Mickey and team left camp and slowly and quietly made their way to the location on the road. For those of you who might have had the experience of navigating through the jungle to find a spot on a road at night, while sneaking past guards and wearing a 50 pound pack - this is not an easy task.
Once at the car - the team was driven all the way to Rio Napo where they were greeted by representatives of the government, and others. We will have more stories and footage later - but for now the team is safe and is planning on being taken to Cononaco near the border with Peru to continue the expedition. And, while this gets them past the territory where they might be kidnapped by tribes in Ecuador - they will have an entirely new set of challenges facing them ahead.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Encounter and Kidnapping
Imagine the jungle, deep jungle - no sun overhead - trudging along. At night you hear sounds, animal sounds and what you think are human sounds. Each day you hear more of the sounds that you are sure are not animals - but humans. You know there are hostile tribes in the area you are traveling through - the most dangerous being the Tagaeri Tribe (more here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagaeri ). We have had encounters with them before and felt lucky to escape.
In this case - there were tribal indians stalking the expedition crew and around 12 PM on August 4 - they made their move. It was not the feared Tagaeri - but instead the a group Huaorani tribesmen and soldiers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaorani . The presence of soldiers does not mean safety - in the jungle, the tribe and the military are pretty much the same people. It does mean well-armed, though. The expedition crew was quickly surrounded, searched, led to 2 waiting boats and taken to a "secure" location.
Mickey has been in these types of situations before. He quickly hid his beacon satellite tracker on his body, and got a message off to Noga - his wife. If the tribe took his other equipment, he could at least be tracked on beacon. Of course anyone who has ever relied on beacon knows that it has a mind of its own, and for 2 hours Noga watched an unmoving satellite tracking screen with no updates.
Here is the message:
"I have been captured few minutes ago by a military unit and by the Haurani tribal men on location deep in the jungle. They surrounded us with aimed guns and searched our gear and are taking me and my expedition team under guns to a secluded location! I need you to track me on Google map to the location I'm being taken to and follow me to assure my and my team safety"
Meanwhile back in the jungle, Mickey and crew were being guarded by about 15 armed men (it is kind of hard to count guards while they keep moving and have guns). Also when guarding a group it is a good idea to not have the group know exactly how many people are there and where they are. The group gave the team about 300 feet to set up camp. Mickey decided not to put up tents, to sleep in hammocks - and also keep all equipment packed up. Unfortunately, the team did not want to use the cameras (understandably) - but this did not stop Mickey who wanted to keep filming away (and he did).
A night in the jungle under guard can be scary, however back in the rest of the world - news of the kidnapping had gotten out and was on the news and quickly making its way through Facebook and the social media. Also with an Israeli-American involved - it had the potential of becoming an international incident. To make it even more suspenseful - we knew exactly where Mickey was (thanks to the beacon tracker). There would be no news until the next day, and you my friends get to hear about that tomorrow too.
In this case - there were tribal indians stalking the expedition crew and around 12 PM on August 4 - they made their move. It was not the feared Tagaeri - but instead the a group Huaorani tribesmen and soldiers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaorani . The presence of soldiers does not mean safety - in the jungle, the tribe and the military are pretty much the same people. It does mean well-armed, though. The expedition crew was quickly surrounded, searched, led to 2 waiting boats and taken to a "secure" location.
Mickey has been in these types of situations before. He quickly hid his beacon satellite tracker on his body, and got a message off to Noga - his wife. If the tribe took his other equipment, he could at least be tracked on beacon. Of course anyone who has ever relied on beacon knows that it has a mind of its own, and for 2 hours Noga watched an unmoving satellite tracking screen with no updates.
Here is the message:
"I have been captured few minutes ago by a military unit and by the Haurani tribal men on location deep in the jungle. They surrounded us with aimed guns and searched our gear and are taking me and my expedition team under guns to a secluded location! I need you to track me on Google map to the location I'm being taken to and follow me to assure my and my team safety"
Meanwhile back in the jungle, Mickey and crew were being guarded by about 15 armed men (it is kind of hard to count guards while they keep moving and have guns). Also when guarding a group it is a good idea to not have the group know exactly how many people are there and where they are. The group gave the team about 300 feet to set up camp. Mickey decided not to put up tents, to sleep in hammocks - and also keep all equipment packed up. Unfortunately, the team did not want to use the cameras (understandably) - but this did not stop Mickey who wanted to keep filming away (and he did).
A night in the jungle under guard can be scary, however back in the rest of the world - news of the kidnapping had gotten out and was on the news and quickly making its way through Facebook and the social media. Also with an Israeli-American involved - it had the potential of becoming an international incident. To make it even more suspenseful - we knew exactly where Mickey was (thanks to the beacon tracker). There would be no news until the next day, and you my friends get to hear about that tomorrow too.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Press Release: Augut 3, 2012
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