GRETA SANTAGATA

Day 5 of the anti-poaching camp in Cyprus (after day 4 I was too tired to even put a sentence together). In the last 48 hours I got chased off by a poacher (but I outran him) after removing some of his traps, I filmed another film crew who is here to film CABS (!), I was intimidated by a police officer (yes, the people who should be doing our work and who recommended I leave Cyprus before something bad happens to me) and I have been massively disappointed by a team of journal

Day 3 of the anti-poaching camp in Cyprus. I walked for 8 miles in the almost palpable blackness of the night in the middle of the British Eastern Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia (ESBA), carrying two rescued owls in my bag. Their tiny claws scratching against my back, begging me to set them free. These were only two of the 15000 birds that get killed every night in Cyprus and that we had to walk past, unable to set them all free, while trying to dodge the trappers that were s

Day 2 of the anti-poaching camp with CABS. Last night we infiltrated one of the hottest spots of bird trapping and I got a taste of what trapping in Cyprus really looks like. Every tree, every bush, every corner of the land has an active electronic decoy and nets carefully placed around them. When you see how meticulous these trappers are, you realise there is no chance whatsoever for a migrating animal to get out of this place alive. Yet, this is one of the main migratory ro

Day 1 of the anti poaching camp in Cyprus. I arrived at midnight at Larnaca airport and was welcomed by a British ex army guy who looked a bit like Bruce Willis and asked me if I paid for good medical insurance because apparently he got shot at the other day and was chased by poachers in pick-up trucks. He also nonchalantly took his phone out of his pocket and showed me pictures of dead hoopoes - which finally got me a little worried. It looks like I have arrived in a bird wa