IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE BACKYARD OR BRAZIL, FAMILY MAN LIKES AN ADVENTEROUS SETTING.

Byline: RICK COCA Valley News Writer

You think you've got bad travel stories?

Max Wurzel of Sherman Oaks once sat out a long coup in Niger, nearly lost an arm in Peru and passed kidney stones in the Sahara Desert.

In fact, in his 47 years of exploring some of the most wild and untamed jungles and rivers of the world, the 85-year-old New York native has seen the best and worst mankind and nature can dish out.

And he's loved every second of it.

Since 1959, Wurzel's fascination with off-the-beaten-path adventures has taken him to Africa, Central and South America, Asia and New Zealand.

``My first trip was to the Mexican jungles, hunting plants with a plant collector,'' said the fast-talking Wurzel, a man whose energy belies his age. ``I really had a hard time on that trip. I got pneumonia, poison oak. I was stuck in the jungle (near Oaxaca). I had to take oatmeal that I got from the natives to suck the poison out of me. That was a rough first trip, but I survived, as usual, you know.''

On his next trip in the 1960s, Wurzel, who according to his wife, Mickey, makes friends easily, traveled with a friend on a four-engine airplane to Central and South America in search of exotic animals.

Wurzel said he met his friend, a pet store owner from Long Beach, after Wurzel bought an anteater from him (which Wurzel kept in his backyard). Wurzel saw the Amazon River for the first time on that trip as they made their way south to Iquitos, Peru on their month-long trip, the first of several together.

Wurzel said his friend brought back anteaters, birds, snakes and exotic fish.

``In those days, you could get away with murder,'' Wurzel said about how easy it was to take fauna out of its native habitat in the 1960s. ``These days, you can't take the animals out ... which I'm thankful for.''

After that, it was the first of several trips to Africa to climb Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. On that trip, Wurzel traveled with a group across the Sahara Desert in a Mercedes-Benz dump truck converted into a touring bus. The trek was supposed to last six weeks, but because the group got held up in Niger due to a coup attempt in neighboring Nigeria, the trip lasted four months. While crossing the desert, Wurzel passed kidney stones.

``Boy, that was a crazy trip,'' Wurzel said.

Wurzel said he's made more than 20 trips through the years. He once got permission to travel deep into the Thai jungle -- during the Vietnam War. And then there was the time in the 1970s in Tingo Maria, Peru, when he nearly lost an arm.

Wurzel said his group of six were hiking across the jungle-covered mountains there when they came upon a landslide that buried and killed three people just minutes before. Wurzel's group continued on.

``As I was climbing I got a cut on my elbow,'' Wurzel said.

He washed off his elbow in a nearby river, which he believed may have been contaminated due to waste from a village upstream. His wound became infected.

``My tongue was swelling, my lips were swollen, my elbow was swelling,'' Wurzel said. ``It looked like a piece of meat.''

During Wurzel's seven-day trek to get out of the jungle, he came across an English doctor moving quickly in the opposite direction. Wurzel asked for some medical assistance.

```Listen, Mister,''' Wurzel said the doctor told him. ```I'd like to help you, but I'm going to cut a guy's leg off -- he's got gangrene.'''

Wurzel eventually found his way to an airport and boarded a cattle plane, full of frozen meat carcasses, and flew to Iquitos, Peru, before returning to the states and receiving treatment to save his arm.

In Brazil, he's traveled thousands of miles by boat through the Amazon River, enjoying respectful interactions with indigenous tribes such as the Tukano and Yanomami Indians.

``I see that the Indians have been very mistreated in the Amazon,'' Wurzel said. A photography enthusiast, Wurzel has hundreds of slides and photos of South American indigenous tribes.

At 85, Wurzel has no plans on giving up his back-packing adventures. He retired from his gardening business just two years ago. Before that he worked for 27 years as a department of Water and Power gardener in charge of maintaining the grounds for all the power stations in the San Fernando Valley.

The World War II Merchant Marine veteran likes to point out that he weighs three pounds less than he did in high school and college. As a child, he spent a decade in an orphanage that eventually paid for his studies at an agriculture college in Pennsylvania.

Today, Wurzel's backyard is a virtual jungle, filled with palm trees, staghorn ferns, bromelias, banana trees and ginger plants. There's also a hammock to relax on. Wurzel is a member of two gardening clubs, and the backyard's jungle-like effect ``almost'' keeps the itch to travel at bay.

Wurzel's wife, Mickey, 83, a retired waitress who last worked at Du-Par's restaurant in Studio City, has learned to live with her husband's long trips, not to mention his tastes in plant life and collection of hundreds of indigenous knickknacks, keepsakes, and even a ``school'' of stuffed piranhas displayed in her living room -- complete with open jaws exposing razor sharp teeth.

Mickey has kept herself busy through the years by volunteering for groups such as the American Cancer Society's Discovery Shop in Northridge, as well as pursuing her lifelong love of partner dancing. Max was never much of a dancer, Mickey said.

``Up until a few years ago, he couldn't tell ... a waltz from a swing,'' she said. And so they pursue their own interests apart, while enjoying vacations together -- the kind sans canoes, machetes and first aid kits.

Mickey said that Max's ability to make friends with complete strangers has benefited him in a number of ways. Her living room is a testament to his popularity and curious nature.

``When he comes back, my house is like a museum from all the things he brings from his trips,'' Mickey said. ``And people he meets, he always invites them to come here -- and they do.''

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Photo:

(color) Max Wurzel is not ready to give up exploring some of the most out-of-reach rivers and jungles.

Rick Coca/Valley News