This is the story of 12 years of work (or rather, life) and my departure from NACRES. The word “departure” really grates on my ears, because my heart and soul are still there. My friends and so many years of memories are there… but, it is a departure nonetheless.
I tried to write about this so many times, but I always felt like I couldn’t find the right words to say what I wanted, so I kept dragging my feet. I probably won’t be able to say it perfectly now either, but I can’t put it off any longer… so, I will let the photos do the talking and try to give you at least a small glimpse of what it means to exploring Georgia’s wildlife with NACRES…
Let’s go!
Despite the huge variety of work we do, NACRES is, first and foremost, about intensive expeditions into the wild.
And no matter what the specific goal of an expedition is, “default mode” is always the search for the Leopard. So, it’s no surprise that even the matchboxes there are branded for the occasion 😉
Nor is it a surprise that people wanting to join our expeditions try to sneak on board like Father Cornelius in The Fifth Element 😊
Planning is everything in an expedition. You have to use every gram of experience and imagination to minimise surprises in the field.
Because, even though it looks delicious in photos, running out of food and rely on berries is a nightmare.
I admit, the berries were a bit of an exaggeration here, but we have often been left with nothing but sausage and bread. It gets so boring that eventually, you just completely refuse to eat.
At times like that, you even get sick of Nutella.
And when that happens, you’d give anything just to see something different. Even eating plain dough makes you happy.
ℹ️ This is “Gordila.” It really is just plain dough and probably terrible for your stomach, but when it’s hot, paired with Tushetian sheep cheese made by shepherds, it is truly a miracle.
Of course, we aren’t always in a crisis. Often our hosts spoil us… however, when the “Johnny Factor” kicks in, you aren’t safe from running out of food even in a guest house.
The expeditions themselves are diverse, differing based on the type of research we aim to do…
On expeditions, we set up camera traps,
We stretched ropes,
We observed animals,
We plucked grass,
We rummaged through bear poop 🤷
We made this…
Don’t ask. I have no idea what is this.
Next…
To get around, we used cars,
We used horses,
Feet,
Knees,
Everything…
And this happened in good weather,
In rain,
In hail,
And in freezing frost…
