 |
| Frank Gardner recounts his fascinating expedition in today's Sunday Telegraph |
"THE forest descended to silence. As quietly as possible, I opened a pack of Cheddars - my lunch - and tried to crunch them without a sound."
And then . . .
"A piercing scream split the air."
This how BTO president and BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner describes one of the magical moments spent this summer in a hide in a forest near Trg pri Lozu in Slovenia.
The purpose of Gardner's visit was to realise a long-held dream to see brown bears in the wild.
The scream was not a bear, nor a human, but what was it?
He continues: "The app on my phone quickly identified it as being the call of a Black Woodpecker, a magnificent species, but nowhere to be seen."
Gardner never did see the woodpecker, but, after an hour, it was mission accomplished - a young male bear suddenly appeared from nowhere.
He continues: "For a long time, I watched in awe as this great powerful animal - the second biggest land mammal in Europe after the bison - padded ever closer, oblivious to my presence."
The tale is told in a fascinating feature in today's edition of the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
The BBC correspondent relies on a wheelchair having lost the use of both legs in a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia some 20 years ago.
He has not allowed a his disability to restrict his travel. To see the bears, he drove solo 1,000 miles from England via the Channel, then Belgium, Germany and Austria (staying overnight in an hotel in Salzburg) to Slovenia in single weekend.
A man of many parts, Gardner is also a writer of fiction thrillers. His latest novel, Invasion, has enjoyed critical acclaim since it was published by Penguin in May.
Frank Gardner's latest novel
No comments:
Post a Comment