Biggles in Siberia

Only a complete idiot would go flying in a very mountainous area in low cloud and drizzle – enter Rick.

I squeezed myself into the impossibly small cabin of that little yellow plane together with 3 other loonies and a slightly overweight pilot and took off into the murk. In the seat next to the pilot the sights were spectacular and given a special effect with the low cloud.

After 25 mins  we landed on a 100m cart track in the middle of the Siberia Valley.

We then had to ford a river of slightly chilly water (up to your thighs) before starting our 3 hour tramp through the rainforest to a river bank where 2 dead trees would signify the spot where a jet-boat would pick us up. (Actually there was a large notice as well saying imaginatively “Jetboat pickup.” Which helped enormously)

Had it been clear and sunny instead of raining and cloudy it would have been amazing, however despite the weather it was still pretty good, and as they say here, “Yis, but if it hadn’t been raining you wouldn’t have seen all the waterfalls!”