Imagine you are on a desert island just off Alaska and there is a storm surge. Would you rather camp on the beach, where the water can reach you, or in the forest, where branches can come crashing down on you?
We were faced with this decision a few days ago during our expedition to Porcher Island in British Columbia, Western Canada.
The tides were due to reach their monthly peak that very week, flooding almost the entire beach on which we had pitched our tents. On the first evening the tide reached our "kitchen", and the next day the storm made it even more exciting. Tyler and Ryan sacrificed themselves for the flood watch and patrolled up and down the beach until 3am to protect our tents from the worst. All we can say is: it's pretty exciting to sleep with the waves right at the entrance to your tent! Did we end up getting wet or did we have to move in the middle of the night?
You can see this on the channels of Tomatolix, Breaking Lab, Rick Azas and Theresa Kirchner! The four content creators accompanied us into the wilderness as part of our new ambassador program. Filmmaker Dennis Schmelz was also part of the trip and shares his experiences in his vlog. So be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss out on the incomparable animal sightings we were able to experience and how the four of them experienced the wilderness!
Our camp on the beach of Porcher Island, dangerously close to the waves.
We got our feet wet more than once.
A rare sight: A bald eagle sits in its nest with its young.
Nevertheless, the mood was good - also among the traveling Creators Theresa Kirchner, Rick Azas, Felix Michels and Jacob Beautemps.
However, Canada more than made up for the mixed weather!
With great animal encounters, like this kingfisher ...
... with beautiful sunsets on the beach ...
... and with exciting natural finds such as this whale bone that Felix found on the beach.
Together, the Creators have explored the forests of Canada ...
... and marveled at the giant trees of life.
But unfortunately it doesn't look like this everywhere: Rick does a handstand to show how big some of the deforested jungle trees were.
We also explored the Porcher Island forest bogs.
Rick even dares to jump into the bog for one of his challenges!
For one of his videos, Felix slipped into the role of a whale researcher for a day.
Jacob builds an underwater camera with Felix and marine biologist Tyra Bains.
Felix and Jacob take a look at which sea creatures have been released by the low tide.
In the intertidal zone, for example, you can also find starfish.
From our spot right on the beach, we were also able to watch many cranes flying by.
Nevertheless, we were on the lookout for one species in particular ...
... and towards the end of the expedition the orcas really did visit us right on the beach!
Our expedition was a complete success!
As always, we have also expanded the scientific monitoring of our protected areas. For the first time, camera traps, audio sensors and eDNA samples have been used in Canada. The results will soon provide us and you with exciting insights into the inhabitants of our forests.
Now let's take a deep breath and gather our strength so that we can give our all for wilderness protection again at the Dresden EIlbhangfest this weekend!
Everyone knows the breathtaking images from nature documentaries - wild animals in their natural environment, captured in perfect moments. But how difficult is it to take such pictures? That's exactly what I want to find out by accompanying a wildlife photographer on his extraordinary job.
I was on a research expedition with Wilderness International on Porcher Island in Canada. Together with a team of scientists, we tried to record which animals live there. Among them were wolves - a hotly debated topic here in Germany.
Expedition in Canada. Imagine being completely cut off from civilization for 10 days. No people, just the untouched wilderness. That's exactly what I experienced on a remote island in north-western Canada, just before the Alaskan border. There are probably few places that are as difficult to reach as Porcher Island.
