In April 2012, a brown bear was found illegally killed by poisoned bait just outside the village of Psaradhes here in Prespa. As the animal was far too heavy to move, and the mountain soil too rocky to dig a grave, the bear was instead covered with a plastic tarp and mounded over with stones. … Continue reading A Bear Unearthed
I'm deeply honoured and utterly thrilled to learn that Irreplaceable: The Fight to Save our Wild Places has been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation. Congratulations to all the fantastic finalists, and enormous gratitude to those people - in various parts of the world - who shared their vital stories of … Continue reading Irreplaceable: Wainwright Prize Shortlist
It's hard to believe that the Wainwright Prize is only seven years old, such is the excitement that surrounds this book award for nature writing in the UK. In that short period of time, the prize has been awarded to works that have immediately become modern classics, books whose brilliance will endure well into the … Continue reading Irreplaceable: Wainwright Prize Longlist
If “a culture is no better than its woods”, then WH Auden would be rightly disappointed by large parts of the world if he were still with us. There’d be Romania, one amongst many countries miserably failing to preserve its woodlands, where a violent logging mafia clear-cuts vast and spectacular beech forests irrespective of EU … Continue reading Ancient woodlands are more vital than ever
The presence of limestone and granite in Prespa's single, mountainous watershed means that plants that prefer one or the other as their dwelling ground can both find a home here, from delicate mountain violas to towering lizard orchids. On the Greek side of the lakes basin alone, over 1,800 species of plants have been recorded. … Continue reading Prespa: A Journey from Home pt. 4
Julian Hoffman 