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Alan Thompson - Surviving Croc Attacks!
Read on to find out how ex-MoS & Trade resident (& now DTPM regular) Alan Thompson survived a Crocodile attack whilst canoeing in the Jungle - bumping in to Ibiza hostess Jo Mills along the way!
"Well I'm back from my break in Africa and feel wonderful. Had a great time and am well rested but nearly didn't make it.
Spent the first week in Swaziland, stayed with my partner's parents who live in Simunye. The first few days were spent chilling out and eating lots. Managed to play a little golf as there was a course on the grounds near the house. Then headed to Kruger National Park in North East South Africa where we spent the weekend in two separate camps, one of which was an amazing tented camp. Got to see the Big 5 within the first day. Also did an awesome night drive which was spectacular.
From there we drove back down to Swaziland through South Africa. Stayed in Swazi for another two days before heading off for a 6-hour drive to Ballito, a small coastal town north of Durban in South Africa where we were staying at my partner's beach house for the week. The drive down was great, just taking in all the sites and sounds of the African countryside.
 Ballito was so different from Swaziland where it was very dry and bushy, here it was on the coast and very green. Did a Micro-light flight up the coastline, which is very beautiful, rugged and wild. Also did my first ever tandem paragliding. I was a little hesitant as I suffer slightly from vertigo. We drove for about an hour inland from Durban to a spot at the top of a hill with great views across a valley and farmland.
The flight itself was so peaceful; I felt so at ease up there in the thermals. It was so quiet and the feeling of floating on air is amazing. If you haven't tried it I highly recommend it. I'm even thinking of taking a course!
 From Durban we flew to Johannesburg for my one and only gig in South Africa at Therapy. I was delighted to find out a couple of days before hand that my mate, Smokin' Jo was also in town to play at the afterparty for Jamiriquai who was playing that night too. Called Jo and we managed to hook up for dinner before the gig at a great restaurant called ICON. We were both due to play our gigs at the same time of 1am so didn't manage to hook up later.
My gig as I said was at Therapy, the Saturday night at Gass Club. The club is probably one of the best in the country. Promoter and resident DJ Stuart Hilary was my host for the night. It was strange, going into a club  environment after two weeks chilling. But got back into things after a few vodka's! Had a great set and really enjoyed the crowd who were well up for it. Didn't stay on after my set as we had an early flight to Zimbabwe for the last leg of our holiday.
Arrived in to Harare and was met by our pilot for the short flight to our camp for that night in Manna Pools national game park in North Zimbabwe. Stayed the night there before meeting up with our guide and back up team for our three-day canoe safari on the lower Zambezi River. We were lucky enough to be the only people on the tour.
 Set off on the river on Monday afternoon. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I have done safaris in the past in the usual way of a jeep and walking but this was something very different. The first afternoon was spent leisurely paddling down the river to our first night stop where the back-up team had set up camp with all the facilities you would need including an outside shower in the bush…
The following morning we set off at 6am after being woken for breakfast at 5! This was strange for me as this is when I normally go to bed. We had been briefed of the dangers of the river - hippos, crocodiles etc - but what happened that afternoon shocked us all.
I was sitting at the front of the canoe with my guide behind me and the other canoe behind us. As we were paddling down the river near the bank I saw a rather large crocodile, about 16 feet up on the bank. I thought nothing of it as we had seen lots already. As we approached, the croc it slid in to the water just like the others had done previously. But as we got closer to the spot where the croc had been, I could see that it was lying just below the surface.
Before I knew it we were on top of the croc who came out of the water with it's mouth wide open and went for me! It missed me by about 10 inches but did get the canoe, which rocked from side to side. It's amazing how you never know how you're going to react in these situations until they happen to you! Luckily for my guide and me I did the right thing and just froze, if I had got up or jumped we would have both ended up in the river as croc food. The whole thing happened so fast. It was over in seconds.
It scared the living daylights out of me I can tell you, and I was shaking for the next hour. Of course we had to carry on paddling as there was nothing else we could do. After about 1½ hours we took a rest on the shore of the river where we went over the whole thing. The guide who had been on the river many times over the years had said that he had never seen anything like it in all the time he has been guiding and that we were very lucky to be alive!
 The rest of the afternoon we took it easy until we came to our next stop for the night where we talked about the day's events at the campfire. Spent another day on the river before heading back to Harare then on to Johannesburg for our flight back to London. It was good to be home in one piece, literally, although the weather was very depressing.
till next time, Ciao"
Alan xxx
Check out what he's up to, where he's playing in the world and his charts @ www.djalanthompson.com & www.trustthedj.com
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