He Walked Away From The Plane Crash With a Gemstone Discovery

African turquoise at an unheard-of price

When you’re in Africa, there’s no beating around the bush: You have to fly through it. A few years back, I visited that mighty continent on a mission to get up close and personal with the Big Five.

What are the Big Five? Why, only the most majestic animals the continent has to offer. The African elephant. The cape buffalo. The black rhino. The lion. The leopard. When sight-seeing these dangerous animals in the African bush, the best way to get around is by plane, hopping from location to location depending on the time of year and the migration of the animals.

The first four gave us no trouble; by plane and off-road vehicle, we spied these beasties in the brush. But the nocturnal leopard gave us a run for our money. To meet him, we had to take a quick plane ride north from Tanzania. Near the end of our flight, we started having engine trouble, and our pilot Abdu had to make an emergency landing. We came down hard and the trees tore the wings from the plane, but no one was hurt. As an apology, Abdu gave me jewelry featuring African turquoise, a rare variety of jasper mined in Africa. 

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Big Five Necklace, jaw-dropping jewelry that stars African turquoise! Called the “stone of evolution,” African turquoise’s unreal green-blue has wowed wearers for generations. Finished in yellow gold, we can offer this necklace at a fraction of the price the other guys charge because of our connections with miners in Africa.