Tahir Shah

“With an enthusiastic team you can achieve almost anything.”

“The rain of Madre de Dios is similar to that of the Amazon, but there is a petrifying aspect to it, as if it seeks to wound rather than to nurture.”

“Running an expedition can bring out the worst in a man. It can make you a power-crazed monster.”

“Venture to a remote corner of a faraway land and, from the moment you get there, every person and every thing becomes an obstacle, designed to entrap you, to stop you proceeding on your way.”

“I struggled to think pure thoughts, as Hector sucked out my psyche with his eyes.”

“The inertia of a jungle village is a dangerous thing. Before you know it your whole life has slipped by and you are still waiting there.”

“Normally I would have been the first to go in search of cannibal monks, particularly as I had heard of a similar tradition at a nunnery in the Philippines. It's the sort of quest I can't resist.”

“In the world of the Machiguenga, sadness could be equated with anger, and anger was a perilous emotion, by which a foreigner could lose his life.”

“The last thing we wanted was for the Machiguenga to be sad again. Sadness appeared to bring out their violence.”

“As the head of an expedition, you can't pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in a while; a little growling goes a long way.”

“The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways.”

“As I see the world, there's one element that's even more corrosive than missionaries: tourists. It's not that I feel above them in any way, but that the very places they patronize are destroyed by their affection.”

“I was no longer troubled when he pulled out a machete in a crowded bar, tried to pick up schoolgirls, or threatened to scalp us, then rip off our heads and scoop out our brains.”

“As I saw it, a little threatening was a good thing. It kept the men on their toes.”

“Previous journeys had taught me the danger of taking too much stuff.”

“The only thing they valued higher than ammunition were Man United footballs.”

“My journey to the land of the Shuar tribe had taught me the importance of practical gifts.”

“In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense.”

“I felt sure we could gain the upper hand by putting ourselves in the mindset of the Incas.”

“Experience has taught me the power of trophies. You may have every knick-knack and useless contraption ever devised, but while they weigh you down, a simple trophy can go a long, long way.”

“Previous journeys in search of treasure have taught me that a zigzag strategy is the best way to get ahead.”

“As far as I was concerned, a little danger of head-shrinking is a small price to pay in return for a people who have remained true to an ancient code.”

“Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.”

“Through a strange kind of geographic arrogance, Europeans like to think that the world was a silent, dark, unknown place until they trooped out and discovered it.”

“Exploration is a dirty game.”

“There are two ways to find a lost city. The first is to rely on luck alone, the second is to control all the information.”

“Ours was not going to be a clone of the usual expeditions, oozing with sleekness. It was clear from the start that oddity was our advantage.”

“On a hard jungle journey nothing is so important as having a team you can trust.”

“Previous experience had taught me that any expedition marches on its stomach.”

“Only a man who has his health, a full stomach and wears clean clothes would ever entertain the notion of tracking down the greatest lost city on Earth.”

“The situation was different in the jungle. Every inch of ground had to be earned, and was done so through much exertion with the blade.”

“The porters could always be coaxed to continue a little further through driving rain by the mere suggestion of a Pot Noodle at the end.”

“There comes a stage at which a man would rather die cleanly by a bullet than by the unknown terror of the phantom in the forest.”

“The quest for a lost city erodes your body, damaging you beyond all reason. But it is your mind that bears the heaviest toll. Listen to the doubters, the worriers and the weak, and the vaguest hope of success evaporates.”

“Stories are a communal currency of humanity.”

“Nothing was really so important to my father as the achievement of selflessness. He rarely mentioned it directly, but tried to guide us to it in a roundabout way.”

“These days no one challenges us,' he said. 'And because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we have all become lazy.”

“My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.”

“I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.”

“Close your senses and the imagination comes alive. It's inside us al, dulled by endless television reruns and by a society that reins in fantasy as something not to be trusted, something to be purged. But it's in there, deep inside, a spark waiting to set a touch-paper alight.”

“Believe, and what was impossible becomes possible what at first was hidden becomes visible.”

“At the dealership, I pulled out the sieve and toyed with it threateningly. When the salesman was ready for me, I held it up, told him I was not a tourist and demanded a large discount.”

“There can be few situations more fearful than breaking down in darkness on the highway leading to Casablanca. I have rarely felt quite so vulnerable or alone.”

“Stories are not like the real world; they aren't held back by what we know is false or true. What's important is how a story makes you feel inside.”

“Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you reach a glorious plateau. Wearing those shoes is like wearing no shoes at all. The more scuffed they get, the more you love them and the more you can't imagine life without them.”

“My father never told us how the stories worked. He didn't reveal the layers, the nuggets of information, the fragments of truth and fantasy. He didn't need to -- because, given the right conditions, the stories activated, sowing themselves.”

“For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories.”

“Real terror is a crippling experience. You sweat so much that your skin goes all wrinkly like when you've been in the bath all afternoon. And then the scent of your sweat changes. It smells like cat pee, no doubt from the adrenalin. However hard you wash, it won't come off. It smothers you, as your muscles become frozen with acid and your mind paralysed by despair.”

“As a travel writer I've specialized in gritty, fearful destinations, the kind of places that make a reader's hair stick on end.”

“At the last moment, the fish and I exchange a troubled glance. The murrel seems to be demanding an explanation. Alas, I am in no position to start justifying the unusual treatment. What comes next is a new experience for both the fish and me.”