Flying over Africa

Last year, Wildlife Conservation Society biologist Mike Fay spent eight months flying over Africa in a Cessna 172, surveying the impact of human habitation on the wilderness.  His photographs and field reports are available through the National Geographic Society's web site.  They offer a fascinating picture of a continent's people, their struggles to survive, and the natural world threatened by agriculture, mining, logging, and other human development.

Dr. Fay's previous adventure, Megatransect, a 2000 mile hike through Central Africa in 2000, provided a wealth of data about rainforest species, and led to the development of a national park system in Gabon:

"At the turn of the last century, Mike Fay had a hunch that there were still interesting things be found deep in the forests of Central Africa. Planning a route through wildest areas that are still left, farthest from villages, roads and the rest of human civilization, Mike pioneered the Megatransect, a 2,000 mile walk, through the heart of wildest African rain forest.

'Scientists call standardized surveys along lines “transects”; the Megatransect was the longest, greatest transect of its kind ever attempted. Over a 456 day period, Mike discovered landscapes unknown to the outside world, mammals that did not know the fear of hunters, and new insights into what African wild places mean for people and vice versa. The conservation results from his journey are unprecedented: a new national park system for the country of Gabon (which had never before had even one national park) and a commitment of millions of dollars for Central African conservation."

Dr. Fay's Megaflyover research is still being processed, but will likely lead to renewed commitments to the people and wildlife of Africa.

It's great to see that the spirit of adventure lives on in today's aviators and that many of them are still committed to adding to our base of knowledge about the world.  Charles Lindbergh would be proud...

 

Comments

[orikinla osinachi]

I am an African from Nigeria.

Wild Life to us is our main source of protein in the rural areas where hunting for game is like fishing.

The villagers eat dogs, monkeys, antelopes, crocodiles, etc.

We think Wild Life Conservation is a White man's idle passtime.

The most endangered specie of wild life is Man.