750: Chapter 741: Want to be on TV?
750: Chapter 741: Want to be on TV?
After resting in Malakal for one night, Gao Yang didn’t rush to leave the next day; first, he had to shop for some essentials.
In the savanna, many inconspicuous items are more important than a gun, such as fire starters, water bottles, and some insect repellents.
Most of the time, a knife is more useful than a handgun.
Gao Yang had arrived in haste, unprepared with many necessities, so he needed to purchase all the essentials before he could set off.
However, the everyday items that he needed wouldn’t be hard to find, and it didn’t take him long to get everything he needed.
At 9 a.m., Gao Yang timely arrived at the airport where he had rented the plane.
Of course, the so-called airport was no different from the last time he had been there, still qualifying as an airport due to the presence of a single dirt runway.
There was no control tower or air traffic control; Gao Yang could fly whenever he wanted.
He threw the purchased items into the plane, checked the aircraft once again, saw that the weather was still good, and then directly took off.
Although he had indeed learned how to fly in America, Gao Yang was still far from obtaining his flying license.
However, he had undergone formal training and was capable of flying solo—a feat most pilots in Malakal hadn’t achieved since flying here didn’t require a license.
It was Gao Yang’s first time flying solo, and he was a bit nervous at first, but his nervousness quickly turned into excitement.
After flying out far, looking down from the sky, he could no longer see the farms.
Instead, vast expanses of savanna stretched before him.
The familiar landscape, combined with the possibility of seeing the Akuri tribe from whom he had been separated for a long time, made Gao Yang’s heart throb with increasing excitement.
Gao Yang needed to fly for several hours to reach the coordinates where he had agreed to meet Catherine.
As he continued flying eastward, the landscape below changed from an almost treeless savanna to a sparse tree savanna, and as he approached his destination, more and more trees appeared on the ground.
When Gao Yang was not far from the desired coordinates, the terrain below was primarily forested, though there were still clearings, none were large enough for him to land.
Although his destination would be at the edge of the rainforest, where controllable landing spots would be even scarcer, Gao Yang wasn’t worried about finding a place to land because the film crew with Catherine, if they needed to transport supplies suddenly, depended on air transport, so there was a cleared temporary runway near their camp.
With only coordinates in hand, even after flying over the designated area, he still needed to carefully search for ground references before he could truly find the place.
Seeing that the GPS indicated he had arrived, Gao Yang lowered the altitude and started to circle in the air.
After adjusting the radio in the plane from the air traffic frequency to the frequency Catherine had provided, Gao Yang grabbed the communicator and loudly said, “This is Gao Yang, Catherine, can you hear me?”
“Received, Gao Yang, I’ve seen you already and was calling many times with no response.
What happened?”
Gao Yang, feeling quite embarrassed, said, “Sorry, you know I’m still a newbie, I forgot to adjust the radio frequency.”
“I’m on the ground waiting to pick you up.
Look ahead to your right, do you see a clearing?
I’m on the car here, the red off-road vehicle, do you see it?”
Gao Yang glanced in the direction Catherine had indicated, and he immediately spotted a clearing.
As he descended further, he could see a red car at one end of the clearing.
“I see you, but there’s a problem; this clearing is too small.
Isn’t there a larger place for me to land?”
Gao Yang, after all, was a newbie.
From his aerial view, the clearing looked too small.
Catherine, feeling helpless, said, “This is our temporary airstrip, the clearing is cleared of bushes, no rocks, holes, or the like.
If you want to find another place to land, it won’t be that easy.
Also, this clearing is four hundred meters long, with at least three hundred meters usable as a runway, which I think is enough for you.”
The clearing was an irregular rectangle, wider at one end and narrower at the other.
According to Catherine’s measurements, it indeed was sufficient for Gao Yang to land, but looking down from the air, the clearing indeed looked very small.
With no better landing spot available, Gao Yang had no choice but to land.
After circling in the air a few times and repeating the landing techniques in his mind, Gao Yang steeled his resolve and finally landed.
When Gao Yang had safely landed the plane, Catherine was already waiting by the car with a man.
After Gao Yang turned off the engine and jumped out, the two quickly approached him.
After a courteous hug with Catherine, she pointed to the man beside her and said, “Let me introduce you, this is Martin F.
Craig, the sponsor of our trip, and also our leader.
He insisted on coming to meet you.”
The man immediately reached out his hand to Gao Yang, enthusiastically saying, “Mr.
Gao, it’s so great that you could come, the entire film crew has been looking forward to your arrival.”
Gao Yang returned the smile, and loudly said, “Mr.
Craig, thank you for coming to pick me up.”
“Oh, just call me Martin, haha, Mr.
Gao, I of course wished to meet you sooner, as whether we can capture the footage we want, you are the key figure.”
After a laugh, Martin extended his hand in a gesturing motion and said, “Get in the car, Mr.
Gao, our camp is about a mile away from here, we’ll arrive quickly.”
Just then, Catherine gave Martin a slight smile and softly said, “Martin, could you go back to the camp by yourself?
I’d like to take a walk with Gao.”
Martin made a realization gesture, then slapped his head and said, “Ah, I really am a silly guy, of course, you can walk back slowly, it’s not too far anyway, just be careful, hey, Gao, give me the stuff to put in the car.”
Gao Yang naturally had no objections to Catherine’s request, placed his brought items into the car, but kept the shotgun on his back just in case.
The enthusiastic Martin quickly drove away, and when only Gao Yang and Catherine were left, Gao Yang, trying to strike up a conversation, pointed at the plane and smiled, “Leaving this here won’t cause any problems, right?”
Catherine grinned and said, “If you’re worried about it being stolen, you can be at ease.”
Gao Yang also smiled and said, “Alright, I was just saying.
Hey, Catherine, you look very pretty today, I mean, you look well.”
Catherine had reverted to the outdoor attire Gao Yang had first seen her in: a shirt and shorts paired with outdoor boots, no makeup, and her hair casually tied back, looking fresh and beautiful, and most importantly, healthy.
At Gao Yang’s compliment, Catherine spread her hands and smiled, “Well, it seems I’m more suited for life in the wild.”
After making a casual joke, Catherine put away her smile, looked at Gao Yang, and said, “Let’s walk and talk.
It isn’t nice to keep Martin and the others waiting too long.
The reason I wanted you to walk back with me is that there are some things I need to tell you in advance.”
Gao Yang curiously said, “What is it?”
Catherine sighed softly and said, “Martin hasn’t lied, the entire production crew is truly looking forward to your arrival, but to be precise, Martin is the most eager for your arrival.
You see, they hope you could appear on TV.”
Gao Yang was startled and said, “Appear on TV?
How is that possible!”
Catherine exhaled and said, “I obviously know you wouldn’t want to be on TV.
Alright, let me start from the beginning.
Martin is an independent producer, he has worked for BBC and he is good at making documentaries.
This time coming to South Sudan, Martin funded his own project to shoot a documentary about animals and the environment, and to recoup costs, he needs to be able to sell the documentary.”
After finishing, Catherine looked at Gao Yang and said, “There are already too many documentaries about animals, the market is limited, and if there is a lack of a particularly appealing hotspot, it’s foreseeable that such a documentary would not sell well.”
Gao Yang frowned and said, “I understand that, I think, I roughly guess what you want to say, is it about shooting the Akuri tribe after discovering their traces?”
Catherine nodded and said, “Exactly, there are hardly any true primitive tribes left in the world, and the Akuri tribe, undoubtedly belongs to those that are relatively most primitive, much like living fossils, obviously, if the Akuri tribe doesn’t want their life to be filmed, Martin wouldn’t be able to shoot it, but with you, it would be different.”
After giving it some thought, Gao Yang said in a serious tone, “This is actually not a big problem, I can ask about it.”
Catherine shook her head and said, “No, Martin doesn’t just want to shoot the Akuri tribe, he wants to film more details.
I haven’t told him your complete experience, only selected a small part that could be told to him, but this still piqued his interest.
Think about it, a modern person who has been accepted as a formal member by a primitive tribe; that’s very intriguing.
And with you there, you could display the life of the Akuri tribe completely to the world, meaning a potentially best-selling documentary, so Martin hopes that you would appear on camera personally.”
Gao Yang immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum and said, “You should understand, this is absolutely impossible.”
Catherine nodded and said, “I understand, and I’ve also told Martin, but there’s a lot I can’t say, so he is still holding onto the hope.”
Gao Yang gave a bitter smile and said, “It seems, Martin is bound to be disappointed.” (To be continued.
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