Ruben Smit - Serbia

‘Dreams’

My assistant Jeroen and me arrived in Belgrade for my Serbian mission. For weeks I had been trying to make contact with local managers and rangers of the national parks and reserves in Serbia but nothing seemed to work. Milan (Radisics) did a great job to make contact! (Thanks Milan!). I really felt a bond among the resident Wild Wonders of Europe photographers!

Finally, about a week before we left Holland I made contact with Duska and Boris from WWF. Still a bit anxious what to expect we were surprised about the warm welcome at the airport in Belgrade.
After driving for three hours, Bojan from the reserve of Gornje p. in the upper Danube region awaited us in Apatin. We had our first views of the reserve just before dawn. And they were good and exciting.
I told Bojan about my Wild Wonders of Europe mission to shoot pictures of small creatures and let him know that we wanted to frame the European pond turtle. This big guy really helped us. He looks like a soldier (in his green suit with knife) but acts like a friendly giant. Soon we discovered that he had a mission too (more in a later blog).

The first morning we drove past a ditch that cuts off the wetland reserve but it is a very nice place to see and to discover the reserve from above. I couldn’t believe my eyes - White-tailed eagles were everywhere,  as well as black storks, wild boars, and red deer. Pretty strange to see all this large wildlife while I had to focus on the small creatures… And then the trees and the woodland! Wow, massive black poplars, free growing common oaks with diametres I only could dream of! This surely was a unique place!

I had chosen the pond turtle to be my target species because it’s an indicator species of wetland reserves with old growth hard- and softwood woodlands.
A turtle, that shouldn’t be too difficult! But it appeared to be different. Pond turtles are very shy (they dive into the water if you are within a distance of fifty metres or more) and live in, and nearby, deeper ponds with lots of dead wood. They were very hard to discover and moreover… to photograph. And then the temperature was rising over 32 degrees Centigrade and the ponds’ water levels were rising.

We found one pretty good spot on the waterside but I had to wade through the water to get there. Serbian wading boots are very special too. You wade in the boots instead of through the water…
In the meantime we were getting high by the petrol damp in Bojan’s old 4×4 Lada and got crazy by millions of mosquitoes. My head looks like a ripe strawberry and my arms have never been so thick (because of the bites!).
We were suffering from the long days (from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m.) and saw our dreams fade away.
Above all, Bojan also told us about a strange fisherman’s disease (bacteria) that could easily kill you if you were infected in the water. Oh my goodness! There was another problem - we wanted to get underwater to shoot pictures of the water vegetation…

But luck was on our sides. My assistant and Bojan found a female turtle that was returning from her breeding ground to lay eggs. Only once had Bojan seen a turtle out of the water so this was our chance! And so much more followed. And of course we dove into the water taking the (small) risks that usually is a part of the job as a nature photographer! More about my adventure to follow in the next blog!

With kind Serbian regards, Ruben

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