Aaron Gekoski Was a Successful, Bored And

MY YEAR OF LIVING DANGERAARON GEKOSKI WAS A SUCCESSFUL, BORED OUSLY AND FRUSTRATED BUSINESSMAN. NOT ANY MORE. HE TELLS MEN’S HEALTH HOW HE GOT OUT OF THE OFFICE AND INTO THE WILD ANSWERING THE CALL Navy SEALs on a training exercise near BY AARON GEKOSKI PHOTOGRAPHS AARON GEKOSKI Coronado, AND GEMMA CAITLIN California. 122 MAY 2012 MAY 2012 123 PIC TO FOLLOW AS IPUKIN GFINISHE ON THE CONVULSING SHARK THAT LAY DYING ON TOPD OF ME, I HAD A FLASHBACK – ONE THAT SHOWED MY PREVIOUS LIFE. Just a few months earlier I ran flat in Brixton, we formed rela- person I was becoming, or the I’d always been seduced by the a successful modelling agency tionships with models and clients, world I’d subjected myself to. The idea of disappearing into the bush in London. I had a designer flat, and the business kept getting bet- people in my life were commodi- for a while and leading the simple drove a late-model Mercedes and ter and better. It was easy money ties, stepping-stones on a path to life. I would make fires (by rub- ate in Michelin-star restaurants. and we got to look at beautiful financial gain. As the week drew to bing sticks together of course), Fast forward to the present, women all day. a close, I’d escape to blind drunk- hunt and skin my catch for dinner and here I was: lying in a pool During the next few years enness for two nights, before before sleeping under the stars. of guts, in a tiny rowing boat in we immersed ourselves in the repeating the cycle of discontent Life would be free of materialism, the middle of the Mozambican industry. We hit London’s best at 9am on Monday morning. free of whining models, free of channel, filming a shark’s last nightclubs and mingled at exclu- Other than partying, I’d lose commitment. Free. moments. There wasn’t a long- sive model-only parties. Clients myself in wildlife documenta- And then one day I did it. I told legged model or sushi bar in sight. would fly us – replete with a gag- ries and films on great adventur- Rich I wanted out of the business, Yet I had never been happier. gle of girls – to hang out on private ers. These people didn’t exist: bought a backpack and booked It hadn’t always been like this. yachts. I was a red-blooded male they lived. There had to be more a three-month tour of Asia. It Until that point I’d led a fairly in his mid-20s with a permanent than this modelling microcosm. wasn’t quite McCandless sta- normal existence: school, univer- erection. I kept wanting to pack up and tus, but it was a start. I had saved sity, some overseas travel, a job in As the agency grew, so did the leave without saying a word. I enough money to last a year or marketing and then I starting my responsibilities. Despite living longed to emulate Christopher two, whilst I figured out what own business. During my early every teenage boy’s dream, I hated McCandless from Into The Wild. to do with my life. 20s, I worked for the Men’s Health being a “grown-up”. There were UK edition. See the subscription mortgage payments, bills, peoples’ advert in this month’s issue? I incompetencies, paperwork and wrote lots of these for the London- emails – so many damn emails. based brother magazine. My phone rang relentlessly: 30, In a bid to earn money for 40, 50 times a day. Aside from a WHATJUNCTURE ARE THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES ONE TO CHANGING someone else’s hard work (whilst quick trip to the gym at lunch- YOUR LIFE? hopefully getting laid in the pro- time to frantically throw around cess), I started TIME: I worked damn hard, and using ‘time’ as an excuse to not shake some weights, I couldn’t escape. It things up was an easy one. I was lucky though; there were no wife, or kids a modelling became di!cult to breathe. to consider. If I had, perhaps I would have found the time (weekends and agency with And then stress took hold. I evenings), to learn a new skill. If you’re deadly serious about pursuing a my best friend found it hard to sleep, worrying new career, could you go part time whilst you chase other options? You will ANSWERING have to make some cut backs, but believe me, it’s a small price to pay for a THE CALL from school, about clients and employees. My happier, more fulfilling life. Navy SEALs Rich. Much to hair started receding, leading to on a training MONEY: I had to make some sacrifices so I could chase endangered exercise near everyone’s sur- obsessive hairline examinations. wildlife around the world, but they weren’t important ones. Now, I shop Coronado, prise, our half- Whilst I never had a full-blown at Pick n Pay rather than Woolworths. My flat’s a little cosier and more California. modestly decorated than my London pad. And I drive a clapped out 1975 assed agency panic attack, I felt perpetually yellow Mercedes, rather than a souped-up one. It’s got way more character quickly snow- close to the edge. As a couple of though. Financial cutbacks can be part of the fun. balled, and pretenders, life had been fun; I CONFIDENCE: It was scary leaving behind my stable and regular income, we became an had enjoyed setting up the busi- along with the quality of life I’d become accustomed to. Many people speak overnight suc- of changing career paths, but few ever do it. I just asked myself, “what’s the ness and watching it grow. But real worst that can happen?” The modelling industry wasn’t going anywhere. cess. Based out life? That was harder to deal with. Pose yourself the same question. It’s better than muttering those two of our shared Worst of all, I didn’t like the 124 MAY 2012 MAY 2012 125 remote villages where people still turise). But more than anything, alive. No longer did I dread getting lived the same way they had for I learned how much trouble our up every day. Now this was living. thousands of years. We formed wildlife is in. Flagship species such as the close relationships with the local I started investigating other black rhino, giant panda and fishermen and became integrated wildlife crises and discovered Sumatran tiger dominate the into their families. We witnessed it’s not just sharks that are killed precious column inches dedi- not just the sharks’ struggle for sur- every day; but rhinos who are cated to animal conservation. Yet vival, but also the community’s. drugged, before being dehorned the Black-faced Honeycreeper, With fish stocks diminishing, and left to bleed to death; or tigers, Madeiran large white butterfly, and in order to make ends meet, slain for nothing but their paws; or Tecopa pupfish and Holdridge’s local fishermen have started to manta rays hacked up for their gill toad are all animals that have catch sharks. Their fins are then rakers, finger-like projections that slipped away with little more than exported to Asia to create a gelat- help them retain food. After drugs a croak. inous broth, shark fin soup. In and human tra!cking, the trade Most people don’t know it, Thailand, in its inimitable way, financial terms, a day’s shark catch in endangered wildlife is now the but turtles, tortoises and terra- was a debauched gateway into is equal to two-month’s working third largest criminal industry in pins, a group known as cheloni- the world of travel. It was there in a local lodge. It’s hard to blame the world. The sheer volume of ans, are in serious trouble. Some that I became hooked on div- the local fishermen: the land here tragic cases hurt my head. I was scientists believe they are now ing. Despite being brought up in a is infertile, making it di!cult to desperate to share my findings, so the most threatened vertebrates country renowned for its crappy grow crops. The ocean is both began writing and submitting arti- on earth. Around the world, they beaches, the ocean has always their supermarket and bank. cles to magazines. To my surprise, are hunted for a surprising vari- been a source of fascination. I’m Filming, conducted in the sti- editors were hugely supportive ety of purposes: in Mexico their Tmesmerised by its sheer power, fling heat of Mozambique’s sum- and wanted more. fat is a major ingredient in cos- unpredictability and everything it mer, was exhausting. The sun, sea Chris and I decided to go on a metics; in China their body parts contains - 50-ton whales, fish that and sand relentlessly battered 4 000km road trip to Namibia’s are used in traditional medicine can change sex and the planet’s our bodies and equipment. Film- Skeleton Coast, on an undercover and in Madagascar they are ille- most finely honed predators. ing thrashing sharks caught on mission to report on their annual gally exported by their shell-load I made the decision to dive long-lines, as they fought for their seal cull. Every year, up to 85 000 for the exotic pet trade. One of into the world of underwater lives, was dangerous work. On one seals are clubbed to death here for Madagascar’s five endemic spe- filmmaking.

Load more