he first rays of sunlight were
penetrating the thicket of
palm fronds and turning
the little tropical bay into
an idyllic scene that even
the best postcards from the
South Seas wouldn’t do justice. It was just after 6:00
in the morning. Wonderful
aromas were wafting from
the tiny huts right next to the beach—it
was breakfast time in the little fishing
village of Gigaquit in the Philippines,
around 6,290 miles ( 1,000 km) southeast of the capital, Manila. Time seemed
to have stood still there. But not for us:
we had undertaken the difficult journey
there in order to explore the mangrove
zones and track down not only cardinalfishes and mangrove jellyfishes, but
also the “descendants of the dinosaurs”
in their natural habitat. Extensive, time-consuming research had been necessary
to get reliable information on the occurrence of the very rare Crocodylus porosus
in the Philippines. We had made contact with local fishermen and hoped this
would allow us to take underwater photographs of this ancient reptile, also known
as the Saltwater Crocodile because of its
high tolerance of seawater.
Del Carmen—a refugium for
unusual speCies
Immediately after breakfast, we set off
for the mangrove forest of Del Carmen,
some two hours away by boat. It is one
of the last remaining unspoiled areas
in the Philippines: of the around 5,000
km2 ( 1,930 square miles) of mangroves
that once cloaked the coasts of the numerous islands in the archipelago, only
some 1,090 km2 (420 square miles) still
exist. The destruction of the mangroves
has been due largely to the constantly
increasing need for firewood and timber,
