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- Herausgeber: Nature Press
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
Six months among lions, rebels, and poachers: How two intrepid students from Bern and Vienna rediscovered all sorts of previously lost animal species in the Central African Republic and founded a wildlife sanctuary. The Chinko Basin in the east of the Central African Republic is considered one of the last "white spots" in Africa. Until recently, it had been almost completely unexplored from a zoological perspective. Swiss biology student Thierry Aebischer and his Viennese friend and fellow student Raffael Hickisch were the first to venture into the area to conduct zoological research. During several research trips, the duo used camera traps to identify animal species that were thought to be completely extinct or regionally extinct. The work was carried out under the most adverse conditions – poachers, heat, lions, snakes, and then a coup and civil war in the Central African Republic. After the unrest ended and their studies were completed, the two young researchers returned to the area and, with the support of a hunting leaseholder, established a game reserve that provides jobs for locals. A fascinating research adventure reminiscent of David Livingstone's time. - Illustrated eBook with numerous photos.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
African Adventure
Kai Althoetmar
African Adventure
Two Students Explore Central Africa's Wildlife
Imprint:
Title of the book: „African Adventure. Two Students Explore Central Africa's Wildlife“.
Year of publication: 2025.
Publisher:
Nature Press
Kai Althoetmar
Am Heiden Weyher 2
53902 Bad Münstereifel
Germany
Althoetmar[at]aol.com
Text: © Kai Althoetmar.
Cover photo: giant forest hogs (camera trap image). All camera trap images: Thierry Aebischer/Raffael Hickisch, Chinko Project. Map: Peter Gerngross, biogeomaps.eu.
Hic sunt leones. Here are lions. This is how cartographers in the Roman Empire referred to unknown land beyond the borders. Terra incognita, white spots on the map. They were mostly in Africa. When Swiss biology student Thierry Aebischer was poring over a map of Africa in 2010, wondering which region might make for an exciting doctoral thesis, his gaze got stuck deep in the centre of the Lion Continent: in a corner of the Central African Republic, in the Chinko Basin, the almost deserted south-east of the former French colony, not far from the border with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Chinko Basin, including the headwaters of the Kotto, Mbari and Ouarra rivers, located around 600 metres above sea level, is a mosaic of large forest savannahs and tropical rainforests - three times the size of the Serengeti. The chessboard-like, constantly alternating structure of savannah and forest makes the landscape a hotspot of biodiversity. The 70,000 square kilometres are considered to be one of the last untouched islands of wilderness on earth and one of the most inaccessible corners of Africa.
The Chinko is called the ‘river of elephants’ by the locals. Tens of thousands of the pachyderms once roamed the forests and savannahs, saying goodnight to giraffes, buffaloes, rhinos and lions. Giraffes and rhinos are extinct there. The elephants face the same fate, that was clear, but what, Aebischer wondered, still creeps and flies through the bush there today? The more questions Aebischer asked the experts, the fewer answers he received. No biologist or conservation expert could tell him which animals still live in the Chinko. ‘Wherever I asked, all I ever heard was: ‘We don't know anything,’’ says Aebischer. There was hardly any scientific data on the area, which is the size of Austria. The region had not been explored for over hundred years. The last explorers there were probably Frenchmen with pith helmets and hippopotamus whips.
Together with his friend, the Viennese student Raffael Hickisch, Aebischer came up with the idea of an expedition into no man's land, an advance into the centre of Africa. Some would say it was a joke idea. Only photos of a Swedish big game hunter named Erik Mararv, who has been running a solid hunting camp in the Chinko Basin far from any civilisation since 2006, gave the two pioneers an idea of what treasure still lay hidden there.
‘So we cheekily contacted Erik and asked if he was interested in doing research in his hunting zone,’ recalls Aebischer. The two paid the big game hunter a visit in Sweden in June 2011. Erik Mararv, a peer of Aebischer and Hickisch, informed the two students about possible risks and side effects, found them otherwise fit for the tropics and invited them into the wilderness.
