MY RENDEZVOUS WITH THE RIVER REBELS; When Katharine Houreld went to the oil-rich Niger Delta to report on a wave of expatriate kidnappings, she didn't expect to be confronted by boatloads of heavily armed masked men - or get caught up in the dramatic release of one of their hostages.

From: The Mail on Sunday (London, England) | Date: March 22, 2006 | Copyright information

Byline: KATHERINE HOURELD

The fetid, malarial swampland of the Niger Delta was once known as the White Man's Grave. I can see why.

The 100-degree heat, crippling 80 per cent humidity and swarms of disease-ridden mosquitos make this one of the least hospitable places on Earth.

My discomfort is intensified by the fact that I am inching my way through vast, primeval wilderness in a 12ft glassfibre boat, which feels worryingly unprotected. For more than two hours we manoeuvre through an ever-shifting labyrinth of tidal creeks. All around us are tangled mangrove forests, ...

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