During my pre-mission research I realised that the chance of meeting a sturgeon in the delta was close to zero. Unfortunately. So I took the chance to dive with the sturgeons at the Danube Delta Eco-Tourism Museum Centre in Tulcea before setting out in the delta. They have a special sturgeon aquarium including the largest and most sought-after species of them all, the great beluga.
A big herd of dozens of bison suddenly crosses the forest track ahead of us at full speed. A second or two later the large animals are already gone, impressingly fast and agile as they are. Well, I guess that was it. A bit of a disappointment of course, but at least we did see them. Living completely wild here as they do, I did expect them to be pretty shy and wary. Even though I had hoped to be able to photograph them… Luckily, I was soon to learn a few more things about bison.
After thousands of dives all across the globe – still, when I entered the Danube River Delta it was like a whole new world opened up for me. To be honest, it blew me away. The high variety of environments and habitats, all in various stages of the process of consolidation, an underwater flora creating dream-like landscapes I’d never seen before, abundance of fish life and some underwater creatures looking more like they came straight from a space cartoon for kids.
A fresh sunny autumn morning in the late October of 2013 in the Studen Kladenets (Cold Well) Game Reserve in South-East Bulgaria. The colours of the trees are like the design of blankets made by the locals in this region: from green through yellow and reddish to brown. The morning haze is slowly moving from the top of the Yumruk Skala (Feast Rock) down to the smaller hills. The narrow asphalt road along the recently fenced area of a few hectares is almost completely blocked by cars and people.
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 10th 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.