In the last months Anke Sparmann, author of German GEO Magazine, travelled across European nature reserves. The cover story of GEO’s September issue – published on August 19 – features her journey into a continent getting wilder day by day.
Anke experiences the astonishing comeback of some mammals and bird species in Europe and learns about the idea of Rewilding. She takes her readers into some Rewilding Europe project areas: Western Iberia in Spain and Portugal and the Eastern Carpathians in Poland and Slovakia. She wonders how rich our nature used to be – and what it takes to bring back the variety of life to the sparsely populated corners of our continent.
Discovering Dutch Oostvaardersplassen, a place famous for its dense wildlife, Anke feels reminded of National Parks in Africa. She realizes that our wildlife has the potential for an almost unbelievable recovery. Will we ever see it happen on a broader level? It is on us to decide, Anke writes: “What kind of nature do we want?”
She finally visits an area in Germany where the grey wolf has moved in again. Here as in other wild places the GEO author experiences the magic of being in the company of wild animals: „It felt like reaching a clearing after a long walk through a dark forest. It felt like coming home.“
The article is illustrated with pictures from Wild Wonders of Europe.
Read more on the GEO website.
