JOSÉ B. RUIZ – NARODNI PARK CESKE SVYCARSKO, CZECH REPUBLIC - MISSION PART TWO II

Day 4.
Today the photographer of the Park and friend, Vaclav Zoika, has accompanied us through the forest of Fagus trees to reach some of the highest parts of the sandstone hills and formations. With the help of a rope we have photographed from some rocky platforms over the forest. Can you imagine a photographer weighing 120 kg, plus 17 kg of equipment and tripod climbing a rock! That has been possible because of the help of my colleagues and the easy ways that Vaclav found.

- The rocks are very fragile and the erosion from water and wind makes deep scars in them.

On the rocky tops we found some engravings. I particularly liked one of the moon. It is from 1550 BC and maybe has a connection with this place named “silver mountains”. There is also a mine for prospecting the mineral several hundreds of metres way into the mountain.

- Not so happy, this moon engraved in 1550 BC seems to be worried about the
future of all those mad small creatures on Planet Earth.

The forest was great, with thousands of tons of dead leaves like a big carpet covering the ground. Deep autumn experience. We saw some wildlife as well, but the landscape took all my concentration. It is very difficult to photograph inside the forest, with all the chaos of trunks. Perfect for Jan Töve, but I’m still learning composition. Some pictures came out but because of the beauty of this splendid protected area.

- In the Type 1 protected area there are some treasures hidden,
like this small fagus tree forest covered by the leaves.

We came back really tired, long walks, some climbing, lots of weight to carry and plenty of hillsides. Anyway it was really worthwhile!

- The fog comes up from a pond in a riverine forest, creating a mysterious
atmosphere like an impressionistic painting.

No hope for the plane, today the wind has been really strong all day, and a shy sun appeared only for minutes between the clouds. The pilot of the Cessna phoned tonight to say tomorrow the wind will be even worse. So, the plan for tomorrow is working hard again and we will try to reach some open views of the landscape, although the light won’t be there.

Please note that blogs reflect our photographers' opinions and not necessarily those of the directors of Wild Wonders of Europe.