6 July 2021

Middle East trip, report 2

Here is the second part of my Middle East trip report: Libya, 2 days in November 1995 and 4 days in June 2021, 20 species including Cyrenaica vole and Cyrenaica shrew. This time I was in upland Cyrenaica, a very beautiful and mammal-rich part of the country. Highly recommended once the security situation improves a bit. Must be even better in spring. I saw five new species there, and am now missing less than 80 Holarctic species 🙂

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2 Comments

  • 6 July 2021
    Vladimir Dinets

    If the link doesn’t work, here’s the direct one: dinets.info/Dinets_Libya.pdf

  • 10 July 2021
    Charles Hood

    There was a period when Libya was briefly open for tourism… was this the mid-1990s? I was going to do a rock art trip when kids and job got in the way. I thought, “Well, I can go next year.” Never put off taking a trip: the borders may close at any time! Vladimir’s reports remind me of the great (and mad) expedition reports from the riskiest and most advanced climbers, like Reinhold Messner or HW Tillman, an Everest and Kilimanjaro climber who died at age 80, lost at sea sailing to Antarctica. I think it is fair to say he died doing what he loved.

    Another famous mountain climber (turned freelance writer) is Dave Roberts. He was interviewing Carsten Peter, the German volcanologist. He asked the volcano guy what scared him the most.

    Answer: “Teenage border guards in Africa high on drugs carrying Kalashnikovs.”

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