A Little Bigfoot: On the Hunt in Sumatra

Book excerpt: In the course of Pat Spain's time filming wildlife-adventure TV series, he's gotten pretty used to being uncomfortable. There've been rabid raccoon attacks, days spent in the baking equatorial African sun, and consumption of many revolting local delicacies like fermented mare's milk. And then there was Sumatra. On the Hunt in Sumatra details the two weeks Pat spent soaking wet with a National Geographic film crew tracking the legendary Orang Pendak through the forests of Indonesia, while tigers, leeches, amorous orangutans, Coldplay fans, a guide named Uncle Happy, two shaman, car demons, and rogue cameramen tracked them. It is, without a doubt, the most inhospitable terrain Pat's ever encountered, with the highest likelihood of grievous bodily harm. But the payoff is the theory he reached about Orang Pendak, and a 5 a.m. EDM Tai Chi party.