Ode to Ad

Dedicated to: Adrianus Franciscus Johannes Marinus Maria Konings

I have a very close and dear friend named Ad maybe you know him too he is a cichlid god.

I wanted to go collecting so he invited me on an expedition With 7 other Ad groupies, off to Tanganyika to go fishin'

16 hours on a bloody flatbed truck, cichlidiots chanting " Lake Tanganyika or bust " Thru the dusty bush, with rain, wind, and fire, we just kept thinking " In Ad we trust ".

The sun was long gone and the stars graced the lake, down at the dock in Mpulungu on a boat with no lights, or flotation device, speeding to the Kalambo Lodge venue.

I woke to waves breaking, on the sandy beach; I headed to the deck for a look on the horizon, which was Crocodile Island, looking exactly like it does in the book.

Each day was a new Ad adventure, and some of us could barely float.

We went to see cichlids, and cichlids we did see, most were brown, brown, and green Altolamprologus to Xeno's from Kambwimba to Nangu and everywhere in between.

Each evening we gathered in the bar with our fearless leader and his sidekick Toby watching Ad's slides, telling fish stories, and celebrating why I love this hobby.

The cichlid boys were in bed by nine, while the cichlid girls stayed up late each night out on the deck, we contemplate life, watching the local's fish on the lake with lights.

A 3-hour hike to Kalambo Falls he told us, but hours later when I was about to expire as this Ad adventure nearly killed us, a death march in Zambia, a land of rock and fire.

Each morning I'd watch the lake and sigh, this is just another fricking day in paradise Tanganyika is so impressive, so magnificent; I can't believe I saw it with my own eyes.

It's changed my life, and my appreciation of cichlids, in many ways I will never forget. To share it with you and my best cichlid friends is so special, I'm forever in your debt.

The bloody truck is broken; so we hitchhiked in the Congo, on our way back to Lusaka, two days later in California, and finally home, I realized I had left my heart in Africa.