Tarzan inspired this journalist to seek adventure

Tangling with a giant anaconda is just another day at the office for adventure writer Paul Raffaele. Photo: Paul Raffaele

When Paul Raffaele describes in gory detail the hazards that await those who dare venture into the Amazonian swamps to meet the infamous anaconda, you get the idea it’s just another day at the office for him.

Part Sir Richard Attenborough, part Indiana Jones and sure as hell, part Crocodile Dundee, the 73-year-old Australian adventure writer has had a gun trained at his head, an elephant charge at him, a bomb knock him out cold ... he has ticked the kind of boxes we can only imagine ... and lived to tell the tale like the storytelling journalist that he is. And even with his extensive travelling, everywhere from Tibet to deep inside Ethiopia, he doesn’t drive, making his mind up at 16 that the adventure in his life was sufficient.