David Grier: Why a crazy man’s effort matters?

David Grier

Frankly speaking, the first time I heard about the name of “David Grier”, it was a facebook (shame?) friend of mine who told me to become one of his fans, or friend him …. can’t even remember … I skipped the invite (so do I with all those funny- and not so funny- facebook invites that wants you to accept some blurry-not-even-understandable-by-the-developers-privacy-issues facebook application)… but anyway, this post is not about facebook privacy issues ….

Then I went on another online presence I have which is twitter and there comes up again this name from another online friend. I do admit I was not  scrutinizing twitter streams as I did before so, yes, I almost missed this one – the good thing is- you have other people looking out for you, then you only have to do some more research and then write a blog post … ain’t blog nice? lol)

So who is David Grier: he’s another South-african crazy man who have decided to do a challenge in Madagascar. Remember the story of Rian Manser who did a “around madagascar on kayak“? Well, maybe David Grier got inspired, since- instead of flying to Mada then kayaking, he decided to paddle from South Africa, then have adventures inside Madagascar and…paddle back to South africa… the adventure is still going on and you can follow him  on twitter

Talking about twitter, his twitter bio says he’s a chef … Is he doing this challenge in a quest for that rare spice that will add that “secret ingredient” to his recipe? I doubt it, but if he does that, then I won’t even ask for the bill if I were the one to eat at his table … It must be way beyond what I can afford …
So what the hell is he trying to achieve? Let me not try to interpret it as I may just screw his message. (that’s also a nice trick for not having to summarize what’s written on all of his multiple online presence)
On his facebook profile, his bio says:

Follow David’s progress on his latest Miles for Smiles initiative – a 5 month paddle, run and kite surf adventure to, across and back from Madagascar.

I already reported on what’s on his twitter bio, but you should definitely follow him on twitter as he regularly updates it (despite the challenging telecommunications issues that he surely faces, but hey- that’s proof that you still have connection even if you’re in the jungle in Madagascar …. well, at least in some parts of Madagascar)…It looks he’s uploading from his nokia phone- which is even better- no need to look for cybercafé and other internet spots…

Still on this telecommunication issue, my hats-off to David Grier as he can even upload some vids on his youtube channel ….Awesome (and a lot of patience too)… Well, in fact, it’s a channel to his “Madagascar challenge 2010″ AKA “Miles for smiles”

Guys, one post won’t cover it all, and despite my provoking title, I say it again: hats-off to David Grier for this phenomenal challenge…

So Madagascar-tourism-players, what about making Madagascar a destination for extreme-sports practitioners? Remember, we had our national Zoto who run across the country, now we have south africans challenging themselves;back to the eighties, we had the Camel Trophy 4×4 raid … there probably are other challenges that has already been done … Feel free to share them in the comments (or follow David Grier’s adventure)

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