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fort

Underground escapism, or a stairway to heaven?

Posted on 5 January 2013 1 Comment

Bear Grylls style

After applying all our bushcraft to the urban jungle last week, I felt the need to go underground. Where life is damp, quiet, peaceful and untouched.

I got a tip that one of the bunkers of the Maginot line was accessible (when using climbing rope). Jumped in the car and left…

On our way to Verdun, passing by the famous paper factory

The Maginot Line (Ligne Maginot) was named after the French War minister André Maginot. It is a line of concrete forts, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defenses, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in WW I, and in the run-up to WWII. With other words, they were fed up with the Germans.

Generally the term describes only the defenses facing Germany, while the term Alpine Line is used for the Franco-Italian defenses.

The most impressive part (at least for any bat enthusiast) are the endless underground tunnels, reaching all the way to Switzerland. It were these tunnels that we tried to reach…

80 year old concrete => Stairway to heaven?

The main tunnel connecting the forts

Greater horseshoe bats

Cluster of greater horseshoes

Veines in the ear of a greater mouse-eared bat in hibernation

After several hours we were back in the humid woods surrounding the bunker

Amazing to spend time in this Maginot line, truly spectacular…

Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: bunker, fort, greater horse-shoe bat, grote hoefijzerneus, maginot, vleermuis

Das letzte licht

Posted on 29 May 2012 1 Comment

Last weekend I visited a french friend living in the Lorraine. Main target was seeing badgers near their dens.

Old war forts harboring Barbastelle bats in winter, now just had summer roosts of greater horseshoe bats. But they are still very beautiful to visit.

Wood warbler (fluiter) at work

After many hours of waiting near a badger den in the evening, systematically raising the ISO level of my camera every half hour, we got to see la mama and her three month old bambini as well as dad.

In the dark, they often came as close as 10-20m.

Big poppa. Looking at his crown jewelry we can only say RESPECT

Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: badger, das, fluiter, fort, forten, meles meles, wood warbler

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