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Bunkers and Lens Tissues — Back in September 2007, Jeremy went on a trip to Dogubayazit in eastern Turkey and Armenia on which I took part as a cameraman for the Ark Hunter film, together with Ashish. Our team existed of people from all countries and nationalities. The different cultures and backgrounds gave us good laughs because of our different views on situations. But even though we were so different, we were a one of a kind team that achieved some great results. After our team met up in Istanbul after some regular expected unexpected delays and situations, we took an airplane to Van in south east Turkey to where our taxi driver was waiting for us with a sign in his hands reading “Jemy Wailes”. This had to be our guy. We drove for hours across deserted plains, dusty roads and had to pass many militairy chechpoints before getting our first glimpse of the mountain of Ararat. All this time our cranky, fasting taxi driver never said a word and just kept staring in the distance as if we weren’t even there. After our four and a half hour drive, we finally arrived in Dogubeyazit and checked in to our ‘hotel’. The number of stars painted on the building probably meant something else than what we are used to in the west, because the walls were cracked, the bathroom was dirty, and Ashish’ white bed sheets had vivid red blood stains in it. Who knows what he was sleeping on. The next morning we got up at 04:30 AM to shoot a time lapse of the sun rising over Dogubeyazit. The way the sun rays hit the sand polluted atmosphere was just gorgeous. The whole town lit up with a golden glow. It’s something I’ll never forget.

Daily Mail feat. Ark Hunter — The mystery disappearance of a Scots explorer who devoted his life to searching for the fabled Noah’s ark is to feature in a new film. Donald Mackenzie has not been seen since failing to return from an expedition on Mt. Ararat in Turkey. The self-dashed styled missionary had set off alone to the hazardous region on the fringes of Iran to trek down the final resting place of Noah’s mythical vessel. But after calling one of his three brothers in September, 2010, his despairing family have waited in vein for news of Mr. Mackenzie, of Stornoway, Lewis, in the western Isles. The only evidence he had even been in the area was his white vauxhall combo van, parked in a village at the foot of the mountain. Now his relatives are pinning their hopes on a new film, which they hope will spark renewed interest in Mr. Mackenzie’s case and uncover the truth about what happened to him.

Ark Prophesies Resurrection — Would you ever imagine that Jesus was resurrected on the same day Noah’s ark landed on the “mountains of Ararat”? “And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). It gives a whole other meaning to be writing this blog in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month (7/17/2011). This date has more importance than you probably ever realized! Please keep reading.

What is Truth — We live in a day and age when truth is no more than a preference. “What is truth for you, might not be truth for me”. You’ve probably heard someone say this before. “Truth is only relative” has become the mantra of my generation. An atheist once said to me, “there is no absolute truth.” I asked him, ‘are you sure? Absolutely sure?” Pilate stood right in front of Jesus and asked, “What is truth?” How can so many not see the truth when it’s standing right in front of their eyes? So many people have asked me, “what happened to all the water if there was a great flood?” It’s called the blue planet! 72% of the earth is covered with water! How can it be so easy to miss the truth?

Why is this movie important? — When the disciples asked Jesus: “What will be the sign of your coming, and end of the world?” Jesus’ response was simple: “But as it were in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.” (Matthew 24:37). Jesus says, if you want to know the signs of my coming, study the days of Noah before the flood. When conditions which existed before the flood are repeated, then know that the end is near. Unfortunately, many Christians today are gradually considering the story of Noah and a world wide flood as merely an allegory for God’s judgment and not an actual event. They don’t consider the fact that Jesus referred to the great flood as a real event in Matthew 24:37. Most Christians don’t know, however, the massive amount of evidence for a great flood. The movie was shot in over a dozen countries and shows just some of the most incredible anthropological, archeological, geological and paleontological evidence you could ever imagine.

Avoiding Jail Abroud — A few years ago, I was in eastern Turkey along the border with Iran and my team and I were driving in a van on a dirt road that had a lot of construction. I looked out the window and thousands of bones were sticking out of the dirt road. I saw arm bones, femurs, skulls – they were all human. Literally thousands. The Turkish construction crew plowed across an Armenia graveyard to build their new road. I grabbed my camera and was ready to hop outside and the Turkish driver said I would get my head blown off. I need my head, so I stayed in the van. I lived with the Matigsalug tribe in the jungle of the Philippines. In the picture above, I am directing about 30 men from their local militia group in a reenactment of Pangayaw, also known as vengeance killing or blood for blood. Surprisingly, even such a ravenous tribe had a story about a great flood.

Giant Skull in Village — There’s a village in eastern Turkey that I’ve been to a number of times where a human skull was discovered. It’s no ordinary skull – it’s the size of a motorcycle helmet. The Bible says, “there were giants on the earth during those days.” These giants existed before the great flood ever took place. There are a lot of these stories that are never going to make it into the movie, so I’m glad to tell you about them on this blog. The village it was discovered in is called Arzap. When translated from Turkish to English, Arzap means “village of the eight.” Sound familiar? In the Bible, Noah wasn’t the only man to get on the ark. It was Noah, his wife, his three sons and their three wives – eight passengers. Is it strange that something like a gigantic human skull, the size of a motorcycle helmet, would be found in this village? Well, not really. I’ve found some of the strangest things there, including a femur bone, a few fingers, and was taken to the tomb of Noah’s wife, who was supposedly buried in this village. The village chief told me that someone found the grave, dug it up over the night, and escaped the country with over $50 million in jewelry and gold. Is it true? I don’t know, but I did go down inside of a large underground tomb. And there have been on several occasions Kurds who have come up to me and given me maps to the Armenian gold. The above picture is a human femur bone I stumbled across while I was trekking through the mountains.

Pocket Full of Ancient Coins — I was standing on a dirt road inside a village in Turkey, just a few miles from the base of Mt. Ararat, when these boys came running up to me, hands extended, all yelling at the same time. It was hard for me to make out the cacophony until this one boy grabbed my hand and dumped these coal-black coins into my palms. They appeared very old and some of the coins had distinctive king-like figures on the surface. After a few minutes of examining the coins, I realized these coins appeared to be ancient. The boys told me they had found the coins in the mountains outside the village. This was once the Kingdom of Urartu, which dates back to 1300 B.C. I knew those coins had at least some historical value, so I bought most of them and stuck them in my pocket. The next day I was due to leave Dogubeyazit and head back to Istanbul to catch my flight home. I was concerned about how I would get the coins out of the country. That night in Istanbul, we had a few shots we needed to capture on the street.

Sun News features Ark Hunter — A scottish Ark hunter who has been missing in Turkey for three months is set to star in a new feature film. Donald Mackenzie from Stornoway, on Lewis, disappeared in September on Mount Ararat searching for the resting place of the biblical boat. Now US film-maker Jeremy Wiles says footage of Donald from 2005 will feature in his next flick ‘Ark Hunter’ – due for release in two years. He added: “Hopefully Donald will be found by the time this movie comes out.” Donald’s family celebrated his 48th birthday last week in his absence.

Dreams Come at a Cost — It’s been just over 6 years since I started working on this movie. When I started, I had absolutely no experience in filming. Over time I “learned the ropes” and figured out what not to do. “Get your hand off the zoom” was one of the first bad habits I had to break to capture a great image. When does following your dream get to the point where you question your sanity? Have you ever faced this issue? If you’ve gone after a dream, then I bet you have. Well, let me be honest… If I were keeping count, there have probably been several hundred times that thought has run through my head. Is it just self doubt or a bit of reality trying to put some sensibility and reason into my hard head? Yes, I know the facts: 1) The movie has no budget. 2) It is being made by someone who’s never made a movie. 3) I’ve gone broke 7 times trying to make it. 4) Ok, shut up I don’t want to hear your list. That’s real depressing stuff.

Searching the “ARK”ives in Russia — I’m here in freezing cold Russia (currently 6 degrees) searching federal archives for any trace of photographs that were taken by the White Russian Army of Noah’s Ark. In 1916/17 Vladimir Roskovitsky, a Russian airforce pilot, spotted a large wooden object while flying over Mt. Ararat in Turkey. He reported back to Tsar Nicholas II what he saw. The Tsar sent 150 soldiers to the mountain to measure and take photographs of the object. It’s been said that the results and pictures of the remains of Noah’s Ark came to the attention of Leon Trotsky, who may have placed them in a file destined to be kept permanently secret. Col. Alexander Koor was an officer in the White Russian army in 1915. He later moved to Los Angeles where he substantiated the story of Russian flyers who had flown over the mountain and reported seeing an object buried in the ice. He stated that he saw the findings when they came down from the mountain. There have been others who’ve accounted for the 1916/17 expedition as well.

Donald Missing on Ararat — In 2004 I met a Scottish man near Mt. Ararat in Turkey. His name was Donald Mackenzie. We stayed in contact and decided to climb with each other in 2005. Our expedition reached 13,500 feet when we got stock in a heavy blizzard and had to come back down after 9 days on the mountain. Donald is the man at the far right in the above picture (I am at the far left). I was informed in November, 2010 that Donald has gone missing while searching for Noah’s ark on Mt. Ararat. I soon helped to organize an expedition to search for him, but after 4 days on Mt. Ararat he was not found. You can follow the search for Donald on this blog

5,000 Miles Across China — Ok, this is one long blog, but so is this trip and the amount of information I’ve come across regarding Noah’s ark and the great flood here in China! I travelled through India for several weeks and met with a Swami Gi (guru) who told me the Indian story of the great flood. For the past several weeks I’ve taken trains, planes and driven thousands of miles across China researching if the ancient Chinese history have any reference to a flood or Noah’s ark. For the moment I’m here in Beijing just miles from Tienanmen Square where 20 years ago a few days back thousands of student protestors were slaughtered.

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