When Colón, better knows as Columbus, on October the 11th in 1492 set foot on – what he believed to be India, but was in fact one of the Bahama islands – he witnessed a totally new world. People with ‘red’ skins, to be called Indians and above all an overwhelming natural world described in his letters back home to the Spanish King as refound Paradise. And not just wanting to make a good impression on the King that the expensive expedition was well spent money, but he was really impressed by the abundance of nature.

I look down and meet a pair of hard-boiled white eyes staring back at me from Virginia’s freshly cooked zander fish soup. It is lunchtime with Cristian and Florin under a pergola dressed in grapevines. Finally I am here, in the village Crisan after flights, road trips, hotel nights and an extensive riverboat journey.

Silent, motionless, perched on a ledge at Las Batuecas, intent on capturing nuances of ancient lines that depict the might and manner of wild goats, I gain awareness of a large bird, voicing its coarse, high-pitched song in peaceful interludes from the trees behind me.

After our successful crowdfunding campaign, Associação Transumância e Natureza (ATN) has now bought 6 Tuareg-style tents and produced a complete all-included program (meals, tents, sleeping bags and mattresses) to use mainly for school groups who want to visit the area. The ATN team will be in charge of all the logistics for these educational trips to Faia Brava Reserve.

At the time of the previous World Wilderness Congress in 2009, I was quite busy becoming an ecologist in the lecture rooms of the VU University in Amsterdam. Just four years later I find myself sitting amongst great colleagues in a huge conference hall in Salamanca, listening to the closing remarks of what has been the 10^th edition of this Congress, the world’s longest-running international conservation event. And what an inspiring experience it has been! Let me just make a little trip down memory lane about how wonderful WILD10 really was.

The period from July to October is a risky one in Western Iberia every year. You cannot imagine how high the temperatures can get and how scarce the rains most often are. This means a great risk of fire. Even if fire is a natural phenomenon here and has always been, the frequency has increased to very high and dangerous levels that are not natural. Not because of the climate, but rather because of humans and their habits.

Since the concept of rewilding was defined and expanded by conservation biologists Michael Soulé and Reed Noss in a paper published in 1998, projects and initiatives aiming to restore large wilderness areas, natural processes, corridors or keystone species have flourished all around the world.

“A little to the left,” says Adrian. “No, stop!” screams the other Adrian. Petru, the Major of the county of Armensis, steps on the brake — just in time!

For the vision of Europe as a wilder place to succeed, with much more spaces for nature and wildlife, it is crucially important that new generations also get the opportunity to discover, feel and respect nature.

It’s such a joy to see your kindreds succeed and walk their talk! Some months ago, when I met Cristian Ilea, he was talking about the storks and the live video stream and the difficulties of such an enterprise and… and I, for one, was vaguely tired of big words and shiny futures of never happening ideas.