Here some fresh news of our last mission, in collaboration with the Argentinian environmental NGO - Fundación ProYungas - we currently rely in Formosa. Climate change, now it is 32 degrees C° in the winter!
The goal : Protect the Bermejo River (for its color Vermilion) and La Estrella Bañado basin on the border between Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, whose price varies constantly and offers a unique biodiversity in the world and extremely rich and preserved c 'Quite simply, one meets there the animals by the thousands! Caimans, capybaras, hundreds of kinds of birds, snakes, etc.
Friends jurists and lawyers, the protection is quite original here: the purpose is to create the first ever protected river landscape here, like natural parks.
Our Help : Aerial photographs showing the changing course of the river, and high biodiversity areas that should receive special status.
Here are below the translation of the report made by ProYungas on our action. You'll have the story of the mission directly under the recipient’s pen !
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« Since last August Adrien and Clementine, founders of " Wings for Science " and amphibious ultralight pilots, fly over the Petrel LS over the Banado La Estrella (“Star Bath”) in Formosa for Proyungas Foundation.
The base of operations is based in Las Lomitas, the "capital of the Star Bath", from where they overflight the flooded area to study the distribution of water, the implementation of the different activities and the state of biodiversity.
“Wings for Science” was born in 2008 in France, when following the overflight of an archaeological site required by INRAP, Clementine and Adrien discovered a new archaeological site.
On this occasion, they realized that the sky offers a different perspective on the problem studied. In this event, they called for the project and are made gradually know, until the mouth to the ears do its work.
This year 2016, they left Sao Paulo in Brazil with their new machine and traveled the Atlantic coast to its southernmost point in Ushuaia, Argentina.
Having completed various projects in Argentina and Chile, they reached Tucumán at the request of ProYungas, in collaboration with the Embassy of France in Argentina. They they will continue their expedition and their work further north collaborating on environmental and social projects.
The first flight with ProYungas was over the Route 28 to the area of Vertedero, which allowed to observe the flooded forest and "champales" that form from the dead tree trunks by flooding, and observe the Campo del Cielo’s Pilagá community (amerindiens).
In the second flight, they entered the Banado la Estrella and especially the area of Fortin Soledad where they flew over and photographed gigantic palm trees in the vicinity of populated areas.
The variety of birds and vegetation that can be observed from the Wings for Science’s plane highlights the importance of this wetland for conservation of biodiversity in the Gran Chaco Americano.
At the next flight, they flew over the El Descanso’s Pilagá community on the north shore of the Bañado.
On the flight operated by Adrien as the captain and Sebastien Maliza (NGO Proyunga) as a passenger, they performed what is probably the first ever landing of a seaplane in the waters of the Banado.
Flights continued above the Bañado’s water, throughout the extended area until the Ingeniero Juárez area. At the end of the flight, we got a full mapping of the Bañado and its surroundings, which will allow us to study and protect this amazing wetland, in accordance with the local Government which agreed to promote this environmental area. »
Under this link you can find (in spanish) a long interview with pictures explaining with details the mission.
And below you will hear us speak in spanish in a short video made by the local TV "La Gaceta" > the article online over here).
