“As the head of an expedition, you can't pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in… — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
“The last thing we wanted was for the Machiguenga to be sad again. Sadness appeared to bring out their violence.” — Tahir Shah Sadness Copy Share Image
If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its… — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
“Normally I would have been the first to go in search of cannibal monks, particularly as I had heard of a similar… — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
“Inscribed on it was a verse from the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, the eleventh-century Persian mystic. Reading the words aloud I prepared… — Tahir Shah Omar-khayyam Copy Share Image
“Moroccan traffic isn't like normal traffic. It's armed combat, a war of wills, in which only the very bravest have a chance… — Tahir Shah Traffic Copy Share Image
“Prideep pointed to the flames of paraffin lamps as they came alive in the distance and cackled in awe at the experience.… — Tahir Shah Chef Copy Share Image
“The very fact that a Frenchman was prepared, after tow minutes of conversation, to be so friendly towards anyone, especially one who… — Tahir Shah Communication Copy Share Image
The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways. — Tahir Shah Behave Copy Share Image
“As anyone who's ever taken an Ethiopian bus knows, there is an unwritten rule that the windows must remain firmly closed.” — Tahir Shah Africa Copy Share Image
“In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense.” — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
“Back at the guest house I tried to acclimatise. A travel-worn adventurer had once told me that leaning with one's head dangling… — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones. — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had… — Tahir Shah Enough Copy Share Image
The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation. — Tahir Shah Body Copy Share Image
“Time spent in India has a extraordinary effect on one. It acts as a barrier that makes the rest of the world… — Tahir Shah India Copy Share Image
In India an explanation is often more confusing than what prompted it. — Tahir Shah Confusing Copy Share Image
Previous journeys had taught me the danger of taking too much stuff. — Tahir Shah Danger Copy Share Image
“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… — Tahir Shah Destruction Copy Share Image
The backstreet cafe in Casablanca was for me a place of mystery, a place with a soul, a place with danger. There… — Tahir Shah Backstreet Copy Share Image
Through bitter experience I have learned that it is best to promise little and then to reward hard work with generosity. — Tahir Shah Bitter Copy Share Image
“I had learned years ago never to give original documents to anyone if I could help it.” — Tahir Shah Documents Copy Share Image
The first rule of an expedition is that everyone should stick together. — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
“Through a strange kind of geographic arrogance, Europeans like to think that the world was a silent, dark, unknown place until they… — Tahir Shah Adventure Copy Share Image
Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship. — Tahir Shah Ability Copy Share Image
