themes

markhor

national geographic 25

In July — August 2013 I travelled as a member of an international biological expedition through Pamir and Alai. My job was to create photographs of the nature and wildlife of this region and to document scientific findings. The fieldwork of me and 11 other people was supported by the National Geographic Society (USA) that after our return received from me a selection of 25 photographs presented in this theme for use in their publications.

pamir-alai

native land

In the north-eastern corner of Ukraine, steppe and forest meet together and merge to a biogeographic zone “forest-steppe“. It was the place where I was born and grew up, and where I learned to love nature. In my time there I had always been attracted by exotic fauna and flora — animals and plants from distant lands and other continents. Local wildlife and landscape appeared too familiar, trivial, boring... After I moved over 2000 km west, to urbanised Central Europe, I realised how wonderful the nature of my native land is and enjoy every encounter with it.

gallotia

Gallotia is an endemic genus of lizards of the Canary Islands. It is one of the most ancient clades of lacertids that has unique traits in anatomy, behaviour and ecology, and includes some of the most interesting European lizards. Gallotias were the first exotic lizards that I got an opportunity to keep in my terrarium when I was 16 years old. Having this special nostalgic relationship to these animals, I decided to see and photograph as many as possible species of Gallotia in their natural environment.

frescoes of nature

Fine graphics that lichens create on stones and wood have always been fascinating me. They are true artwork of nature. In these theme I present my images of such “frescoes” that I bring from various regions of the earth.

steigerwald

Steigerwald is a region in northern Bavaria that still has extended forests with plenty of wildlife, including many threatened species. Unfortunately, this area hasn't yet received the status of a national park — as I heard, due to opposition of local agroforestry. Steigerwald is one of my favourite destinations that can be reached in less than an hour of drive from my home. I go there usually in spring, to photograph amphibians, reptiles and flora.

jedol' fard'

Meet the world's most endangered canine — the Ethiopian Wolf. Only less than 500 of them survive in Ethiopian highlands, and this number is decreasing. Jedol' Fard' is the name of this beautiful creature in Oromo — the language spoken by people in the region of Bale Mountains, the last stronghold of nearly a half of the world's population of this animal. This species is endemic to highlands of Ethiopia where it is under growing pressure through human population growth, infrastructure development and agriculture expansion. Soon it may become extinct due to habitat loss and diseases.

kreuzotter

Although the Common Adder (Vipera berus) has a huge distribution range that extends over thousands of kilometers — from Eastern Siberia to Western Europe, Germans have managed to drive this species in their country to the brink of extinction. Now, the “Kreuzotter” is classified in Germany as “critically endangered” and officially protected by various public rules. In reality, their habitats continue falling victim of industrial economy and of German love for sterility of the environment. This theme is a growing collection of my photographs of German Vipera berus and of its vanishing habitats.

the caves of franconia

The Franconian Switzerland in the north of Bavaria has over 2000 caves. Most of them are small and can't be entered without special equipment; some that are large have been public attractions for centuries and lost their natural look long time ago. However, there are still caves in Franconia with natural looking interiors and surroundings that are worth attention of a nature photographer. In this theme I collect images of landscapes and wildlife of the Franconian Switzerland. Most of them are associated with caves or rock formations.

kapadokya

The area in Central Anatolia, within the triangle of Nevsehir, Aksaray and Kayseri, features one of the most unusual landscapes on the Asian continent. Rocks, originally formed by lava from surrounding volcanic massifs, were constantly changing their shapes for many millions of years due to erosion by wind and water in the harsh climate of continental Anatolia. This resulted in unique and impressive scenery of this place known as Kapadokya, or in English — Cappadocia.

mosel

Mosel is better known to the world as the origin area of German quality wine. Actually, it is the river Mosel that gave the name to this region in western Germany — near the border to Luxembourg, Belgium. The Mosel region was densely populated and heavily economically used for thousands of years. However, remains of wild nature can still be found and are nice to see — as a contrast to surrounding civilization.

hochkalter

Hochkalter is the second largest massif of the Berchtesgaden Alps. The Alps are among most favourite tourist destinations in Europe. The mountains at Berchtesgaden near the Austrian border in Germany are protected by a national park that attracts thousands of visitors every day, in every season. Still, it is possible to escape human civilization and find wild nature high in the mountains if you left the tourist roads. The world is absolutely different up there.

the virungas

Virunga Mountains is a chain of 8 volcanoes in East Africa, along the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire). The slopes of Virungas are home of many endemic and endangered species of animals and plants. Among them are mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei).
When I was staying in Nkuringo village at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda I created some panoramas of this area.

the impenetrable forest

The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in western Uganda is a typical tropical forest — dense, humid, with giant trees, ferns, lianas and epiphytes. Even more than in northern forests photographing here is a challenge due to very low light and high contrast between sun lit leaves and deep shadows. Also the sense of thicket has to be reproduced in such images. That can't be done with usual landscape lenses. I created this small series of photographs on my way through the forest from Buhoma to Nkuringo using a standard lens.

chimpanzees and butterflies

Kibale Forest in the west of Uganda is known worldwide for its primates. 13 species of them (excluding humans) can be found there. But, first of all, it is the place with the greatest population density of chimpanzees in the world. Due to overproportional presense of chimpanzees who chase and eat many tree animals, most monkeys became rare. After I visited Kibale Forest in 2010, it remained in my memory as a place full with chimanzees and fantastic, colourful butterfies.

mount gahinga

Mt. Gahinga is one of three Virunga Volcanoes on Ugandan territory. Since the crater is at 3,474 m altitude, there are clouds even when the sun is shining brightly. Cold wind was blowing, and I was feeling as if I had come on a hot day in a room with an air conditioner. It was noon in June, in Equatorial Africa, and I was wearing a fleece jacket. The crater was filled with dense mist, and first I couldn't see what was inside. Then the wind blew the cloud off and revealed the light green surface of the crater swamp. It was like in a dream, or like on a different planet.

albertine rift

We have to thank the tse-tse flies. They prevented cattle keeping and, to a large degree, agriculture from spreading onto the plains at Lake Edward and thus saved there the savannah. Today, this territory is officially protected by a national park. After my visits to Kenya in previous years, I wasn't hoping to find untouched grassland in a national park anymore, but a wonderful surprise was waiting for me at Ishasha River in western Uganda.

abu markub

The Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) is one of the most impressive and curious animals I've ever seen. Centuries ago, the Arab explorers were calling this bird "Abu Markub — father of the shoe" having noticed the shape of its enormous bill. The Shoebill has the largest bill among birds and is related to storks but its systematic status is still disputable. Still very little is known about this bird to science. Shoebills lead a solitary life in papyrus swamps where they avoid encounters with humans. One of such places is the Mabamba Swamp at Lake Victoria where I had a chance to see a couple of them.

bwindi

The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is regarded to be one of the most biologically diverse forests in Africa. It is a true rainforest, spread over a series of steep ridges and valleys, with average annual rainfall of almost 1,500 mm. It dates to before the Pleistocene Ice Age, making it over 25,000 years old.
Giants live in Bwindi — the largest and most endangered primate species of the world.

bobak

Bobak, or Steppe Marmot (Marmota bobak) is one of only two marmot species that live in Europe. Actually, it has a huge distribution range reaching in the west from eastern Ukraine to western Altai mountains in the east. Bobaks need steppe habitats with low grass. In the last two centuries almost all such areas became agricultural land, and these animals disappeared. Currently, their European populations are surviving only in eastern Ukraine and adjacent regions of Russia. I visited one of them in early spring 2010.

a tribute to house sparrow

Not many wild animals live with humans, and even less depend on them. House Sparrow is the only wild bird that not only has been living in our close neigbourhood for thousands of years, it developed so strong relationship to our species that it probably wouldn't survive without us. However, instead of showing respect for these little companions, people even in our modern educated society often disregard house sparrows or even condemn them as vermin. This is my photographic tribute to this wonderful bird.

alder gorge

I know this place as “Olkhovaya Balka” (Alder Gorge) since I was at school. It is near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. Going there now — after many years — I was afraid to find this wild forest littered, or even logged, and the lakes cleared and used for commercial fishery. Nothing bad had happened. I was happy to find this place undesturbed, and it appeared to me even more abandoned than ever. This year I went there to look for amphibians but it was obviously too early: There was still much snow in the forest, and the lakes were under an ice shield. But the view and the mood were great.

pomorze

Middle Pomerania was formerly a German province at Baltic Sea coast. After the 2nd World War it became part of Poland's territory. Since then agriculture, roads, villages and towns remained almost unchanged and much more nature friendly than in Germany where industrial agriculture, construction of roads and tourism led to dramatic degradation of natural habitats. With membership in the European Union that is demanding from Poland economy and infrastructure development such idyllic places and their flora and fauna may disappear very soon.

oriente

The east of Cuba lies in tropical climate and harbours animals and plants that aren't found anywhere else on the island, and many animals living and plants growing in Cuba aren't found anywhere else in the world. Oriente is economically underdeveloped and hence the wildest region of the country. There is a great variety of habitats ranging from savannah and coastal semi-desert trough dry coastal forest to pine forest and mountain rain forest. Cuba is my favourite country and the east is my favourite part of it. I've been two times there and hope to return some day.