When I heard that Rhodope Mountains have become the seventh Rewilding Europe’s area, the very first thought that crossed my mind was “Rhodopes cannot go any wilder”. I have always considered Rhodope Mountains as wildlife heaven due to the relatively small, even negligible human disturbance. Few months later as a Rewilding Europe volunteer, I set out on a journey to find out what can make the Rhodopes wilder than the wild place I last visited before.
The Oder Delta, straddling the border area of Poland and Germany on the Baltic Sea coast, has today officially become part of the Rewilding Europe initiative. After three years of intensive preparations with many different authorities and stakeholders, four organisations agreed to start working together to put the area on the European map as an inspiring example of rewilding, for the benefit of both people and nature. An event held today in Tanowo on the Polish side, with many local partners and stakeholders present, marked the start of this initiative.
Rewilding Europe has now released the second edition of its “Wildlife Watching Hides – a practical Guide 2.0”, the only available publication on the market for info about how to design and build professional wildlife watching tourism hides.
Seven different hides are now available for wildlife watching and photography in the Campanarios de Azaba Biological Reserve, on the Spanish side of the Western Iberia rewilding area. Spring is the best season to visit this area and to enjoy its opulent nature, strong colours, magnificent landscapes and unique biodiversity.
The lucky winners of the Christmas draw in our rapidly growing Travel Club were drawn on December 20, 2013 by Frans Schepers, Managing Director of Rewilding Europe, Ilko Bosman, Finance and Operations Director and Iva Tontcheva, Communications Manager.
As global tourism grows and tourists seek new experiences and destinations, adventure travel continues to expand. From 2009 to 2012, the adventure travel market had an estimated average yearly growth of 65 percent.
Rewilding Europe has just released a wildlife watching hides design guide, a valuable tool for nature entrepreneurs who are planning to put up a wildlife hide.
With the economic value of wildlife as its special focus, a seminar called ”LARGE 2012” was held at the Museum of Modern Arts in Stockholm, Sweden on January 31, organised by the Swedish Ecotourism Association together with the ”Big Five” national large carnivore information center.
Right at dawn, the first eagle lands outside. A magnificent adult Golden eagle! 15 metres away. Through my telephoto lens I can see straight into the amber-coloured, piercing eyes of the eagle. The eagle gaze is not easily forgotten. I have seen golden eagles thousands of times, but almost always only at rather long distance, through powerful binoculars or telescopes. They are wonderful to see every time, but seeing them up close is a completely new dimension.
From 9 to 14 October, Rewilding Europe organized a Training Seminar on Wildlife Watching and Conservation Enterprise Development in Finland. Representatives of the five rewilding projects from various European countries travelled all the way up to Finland to learn from first-hand experience in the Kuhmo region, which is famous for its bear-watching facilities.