Mad Mike Hoare: The legend

‘Mad Mike’ Hoare became a legend as the leader of the ‘Wild Geese’ mercenary soldiers in the Congo, and notorious following his failed coup d’état in the Seychelles. He fought in the British Army during World War II and in the years after the war he became an adventurer, riding a motorbike from Cape to Cairo, searching for the Lost City of the Kalahari, and becoming the first to run safaris in the Kalahari desert and Okavango delta. As a ‘wind of change’ blew over Africa, Mike became a mercenary leader in Katanga in 1961. In 1964/5 Mike, now linked to the CIA, led South African mercenaries against communist rebels in the Congo. He and his men rescued hundreds of missionaries from barbarity. Mike ‘licks’ Che Guevara and becomes ‘the most famous mercenary leader in the world’ as he crushed the Simba rebel revolt. He went on to work in Rhodesia, Biafra, Cambodia, Angola and Mozambique. In 1977 he was technical advisor to the film The Wild Geese, shot in South Africa; Richard Burton played the Hoare character. In 1981, Mike and his Frothblowers hijacked an Air India Boeing 707 when his coup attempt in the Seychelles goes awry, they are tried in the Supreme Court in Pietermaritzburg and Mike served 33 months in jail before being pardoned. After twenty years living in France he moved to South Africa, where he continues to live an active life in his nineties.

Hoare „Mad Mike” a devenit o legenda ca lider al soldatilor mercenari „Gastele salbatice” din Congo si notoriu in urma loviturii de stat esuate din Seychelles. A luptat in armata britanica in timpul celui de-al doilea razboi mondial si in anii de dupa razboi a devenit aventurier, calatorind cu motocicleta de la Cap la Cairo, cautand orasul pierdut din Kalahari si devenind primul care a condus safari in desertul Kalahari. si delta Okavango.