It was a highly unusual situation.

The crazed nomad was hitting himself with a large stick attempting to scare me into giving him my camera.

Think of it as a non-contact hold up by intimidation.

What he'd under estimated was my lack of compassion, I figured on waiting until he either got bored or knocked himself out.

What I'd missed was that one of his other two   co-conspirators, another heavily tattooed Nomad had jumped on the female member of our team of kayakers as she tried to kayak away and held her at the bank, making throat-slitting gestures at me. He wasn't letting go of her kayak and something had to give soon.

Nothing about this in Lonely planet.

In my judgment we had two choices, give them the camera or launch a pre-emptive strike. The only complication to fighting was that we were in the middle of a first descent of a river in The Zagros Mountains in South Western Iran. As a first descent the character of the river was unknown   and if it continued like it had for the last couple of kilometers, class five (very demanding) with many portages, we'd barely make it another couple of kilometers before nightfall. Potentially, this would allow them to return with more people if we got the better of them in some contact sport. A decision was needed..........

It is a land of many names: Persia, Land of the Ayatollah's, The Islamic Republic: Iran. More recently infamous as a member of the axis of evil, it is a land of great history and spectacular geography. Bordered by three large mountain ranges, Iran is beginning to receive attention from exploratory kayakers.

In June 2001 Dave Manby, a veteran British kayaker completed the first descent of the spectacular nine day trip on the Bakhtiari, ultimately a tributary to the Tigris. He described it as 'the best river trip I've done in twenty five years kayaking'. It was on his recommendation and my search for the best White Water that bought me to Iran on Dave Manby's latest trip to descend the Bakhtiari River.

Naturally over half of the experience of a trip like this is the journey to the river. The three female members of the trip had to be veiled and in long sleeves and trousers at all times, a show of respect for Islamic law. The men were attired in long trousers and long sleeves, no small request with the daily temperature averaging 37 deg C.

For the third time this trip I'm having a football conversation with the relentlessly inquisitive public, they normally go something like this.                                          

'Where you from Mister?" asked two teenager

"I'm from England, uh, Inglistan" I replied                      

"Ah David Beckham?" They respon

"Yes", my response obviously a challenge to see if they can recount the whole of the English football team.    "Seaman, Rooney, Gascoigne' Says one.    

"Owen, Michael Owen, David James yes?" says the other.                                             

They run out of football players and finish, as everyone does, with  "Welcome to Iran, welcome to Iran", and leave, beaming.

We descended three rivers in our five weeks in Iran. With   few exceptions the welcome and support we received in Iran was phenomenal, an extension of the Islamic tenet to give hospitality to travelers. Probably our most extreme example came at the end of our first river trip.

We had kayaked for four days and intended to catch a train at the small settlement of Tilli Zang where we pulled out of the river. The train never materialized leaving us stuck overnight in Tilli Zang, population 50, + chickens. It was no real problem as we'd been self sufficient for four days and nights. But our Iranian Friend Abbas Sayidi, a local English teacher, who had joined us in the raft insisted on finding accommodation for us.

He eventually ended us getting keys to the local Mosque. We spent the night in a carpeted, air conditioned building trying to imagine the same being reciprocated in a church in England or the USA for a group of Iranian travelers!

Our second river trip, The Bakhtiari turned out to be one of the most spectacular multi day trips I've experienced anywhere in the world. Box walled canyon follows box walled canyon. Add to that hundreds of cascading waterfalls flowing from the canyon walls, continuously moving white water, pristine beaches for camping and geology to rival the Grand Canyon -the river trip of dreams.

It was our final foray into the Zagros Mountains that led to our stand off with the nomads.

The result? Negotiation was difficult if not impossible. And even if it had been an option we were not a formidable force, we were a least a days help from an, apathetic at best, police force. Ultimately the only feasible decision was to hand over the camera.

Having given them the Camera, they let go of our hostaged female kayaker and we were on our way, tails between legs.

It was very unpleasant,   but as a group we were unanimous that while it was a nasty incident the out come could have been a whole lot worse.

Are you likely to find us in the Zez catchment again?

No.                                                                                                                                       

In Iran?

There is no reason not to on many levels.                                                                             

Our initial goal of finding world class boating was achieved. Over and above that was the charm and inquisitiveness of a people, isolated by their clerical dictatorship, that want to know more about the outside world.

Their charm and assistance helped me learn more about my outside world, I'll be back.