Richard Fowler

Richard Albin "Aukcoo" Fowler (September 17, 1947 – March 7, 2016) was an American wilderness guide, naturalist, and former U.S. Army Ranger based in Iquitos, a city in Peruvian Amazonia.

Life and career Fowler was born in the U.S. state of Florida in 1947. The Vietnam War began when Fowler was eight years old. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1967, a few days before his 20th birthday. He was assigned to a long-range reconnaissance patrol in the 101st Airborne Division. He served two tours of duty, and took part in the Battle of Huế, the Battle of Hamburger Hill, and the Tet Offensive. He made a living as a wilderness guide, catering to those who preferred a jungle experience based on survival skills. In his study of nature, he became a specialist in reptiles. Another commenter described Fowler as a "hero of people whose personal libraries consist of exactly: Soldier of Fortune back issues, Gary Larson cartoons, Apocalypse Now: The Picture Book, and Heart of Darkness". Indeed, Fowler sometimes advertised in Soldier of Fortune, a mercenary magazine published in the US. "He told us that his home was the jungle," wrote Lawrence Winkler, one of Fowler's clients. "Iquitos was just a refueling stop, a few days of spirits and smokes and señoritas, and story-swapping sagas, too incredible not to be true."

In the works of travel writers Fowler features in writer-filmmaker Tahir Shah's travel books Trail of Feathers (2001) and House of the Tiger King (2003). Shah writes that when he first arrived in Iquitos, he searched for a guide to take him into the Amazon rainforest for his Trail of Feathers expedition. An American expat called Max tells him, "You need a man who can trek through the rain-forest in the dead of night ... A man who can kill an anaconda with his bare hands; who can live on a diet of tree grubs washed down with his own urine; a man who's taken ayahuasca a hundred times, who'll protect you if it means sacrificing his own life ... a man who has no fear." Max then presents him with Fowler, who, according to Max, fulfills all the above requirements. He recounts his experience in his 2016 travelogue, Stout Men.