Alby Mangels
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Albertus Zwier "Alby" Mangels (born November 16, 1948) is a Dutch-born Australian adventurer and documentary film-maker widely remembered for his "World Safari" adventure travel films.
Mangels, who emigrated to Australia as a child, worked in a large variety of jobs before setting off in 1971 with friend John Fields into what turned into a six-year odyssey through several continents, which they filmed. The resulting film was a considerable success and Mangels continued to travel and made two more World Safari films.
The films featured Mangels and his constantly-changing cast of companions travelling, on a shoestring budget and seemingly with little forward planning, throughout various wild areas. Mangles took a cavalier approach, both to natural and human hazards, relying on a variety of rickety vehicles, losing his ship to fire, travelling through a number of areas where guerrillas were active, and becoming involved in a number of unusual business enterprises. Mangels discovered that audiences responded to his risk-taking behaviour and featured more and more of it in his later films. While he may have played up the risks in some cases, he and his companions suffered a number of serious injuries along the way. He also spent some time living with the local inhabitants in many of these locations.
Mangels also became famous for an array of attractive female travelling companions, with a quota per film approaching that of James Bond. Mangels did point out (on-camera in his third film when meeting another one who had seen his previous films) that with the years it took to make each film the numbers were not so unusual.
Mangels' films are in some ways a precursor of films The Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, with a rugged Australian "wild man" taking seemingly crazy risks on-camera in a variety of exotic locations.
After the financial failure of the third World Safari film, Mangels dropped out of the public eye.
External links
- Biographical Site, including sightings (http://members.ozemail.com.au/~alcalder/alby.htm)
- Mangels' personal site (http://www.macbitz.net.au/safari/)