Then, as often in my life, a wonderful chance opened up as if on its own. Through an article on Panguana that I wrote for the Munich academic journal Aviso, in collaboration with my colleague Professor Ernst-Gerhard Burmeister, the married couple Margaretha and Siegfried Stocker, who are the owners of the Hofpfisterei, the biggest medium-sized ecologically producing bakery business in Germany, became aware of Panguana. When we happened to meet personally by chance in the State Collection of Zoology at an opening for the artist Rita Mühlbauer, who regularly creates art postcards for the Hofpfisterei and had also painted in Panguana, Siegfried Stocker told me that while reading the article he had spontaneously thought: “I would like to get involved in this!”
It was a long time before we truly developed our working relationship, which we cultivate today and about which I am really pleased. First we got to know each other over time, and the Stockers thoroughly weighed all the pros and cons of sponsoring Panguana. But in the end a dream came true for me: In 2008, Siegfried and Margaretha Stocker decided to support Panguana through the additional purchase of areas threatened by slash and burn, and to make a vital, long-term contribution to the expansion of the research station.
It is a partnership that is well matched. As my parents were pioneers, the Stockers were no less so. To bet on a purely ecological bakery business in the early 1970s was widely regarded at the time as quite risky. With their self-commitment to sustainability in their business model, the ecological cultivation of ingredients for the breads and the renunciation of all chemical supplements, they were far ahead of their time, very much like my father, who was already reflecting on ecological contexts at a time when ecology still didn’t mean anything to the broader consciousness of our society. When the Stockers decided to support Panguana, it finally became possible to take a decisive step forward.
In Peruvian environmental policy too, some things have changed for the better. Nature conservation used to be under the jurisdiction of the ministry of agriculture. However, since 2009, there is a newly created ministry of the environment. With this restructuring, it became possible to classify private and smaller tracts of land as protected areas. Though this meant starting over from scratch once again—after all, I had already filed an application with the original nature conservation authorities—I saw that it paid to redo all the work and in even greater detail. For meanwhile, thanks to our sponsors, we could expand the previously 460-acre land to 1,730 acres. We had it surveyed again and hope to be able to turn it as soon as possible into a private nature reserve. For then, our efforts for the conservation of the land will have a new, official status, in the eyes of the surrounding population as well as the authorities. It will be still more respected; for, unfortunately, there are still today far too many people who seek only short-term profit. A lot of animals live in Panguana, and there are also people who, unfortunately, see in them nothing but game to be hunted. But for us, of course, that is out of the question. On top of that, our forest contains a great deal of precious timber, and there are prospectors who move through the rain forests in search of mahogany trees. When they find one, they try to wheedle it out of the owner for fifty dollars or less, only to resell it at a profit many times that amount. Such a tree requires more than one hundred years to reach a size that makes it interesting to timber merchants, and then it ends up in Europe as window crosspieces. The wonderful lupuna trees, to which the Indians ascribed magic powers, are manufactured into plywood.
With his commitment Moro has managed to protect our animals and plants all these years. There is no question that it will be simpler for him when Panguana receives the official status of a nature reserve. Our Indian neighbors living at a distance of a few miles have also come to understand our aims and have promised to respect the land. We involve them in our plans too, and in return we support them in their concerns, so that the whole thing becomes a common effort, which can only be advantageous for all parties in the long run. For many people have meanwhile grasped that: Once the forest is destroyed, it will require centuries for it to grow back—if that happens at all.
Meanwhile, the climate is changing, and the rivers are drying out. The younger people might see that more than their elders. But I am certain that we can influence a great deal there. Today, Panguana already serves as a model research station. It can definitely achieve the same as a nature reserve. It doesn’t always have to be gigantic national parks—small areas, too, have their significance, and, of course, we will try to steadily expand the grounds.
Once again we are packing our suitcases. Our time in Panguana—for this visit—is approaching its end. Now it is time to head back to Pucallpa, and from there over the Andes to Lima. Here some pivotal meetings at the ministry await me, and I am already looking forward to being able to take another step toward our goal.
Everything began here in the jungle. During my odyssey, between death and life, I gained a completely new relationship to things. I learned that nothing, above all not life, can be taken for granted. Since then, I live every day as if it were my last. That also means never taking quarrels with me into the night, following my parents’ example. And the awe of nature—that was burned into my heart already when I was a child. I realized later that not all biologists think this way. My parents never instructed me; they imparted to me the respect for nature as a matter of course. Today I regard that as their most important legacy.
Those days are gone, and yet they shape the present. And the present, likewise, shapes the future. The rain forest is so indescribably manifold, and even though people have been working on it for decades, we understand only a fraction of what makes it up. In Panguana, too, after about half a century of scientific work, there remain endless things for us to discover. There are colleagues of ours who study a single fallen tree trunk for weeks and find hundreds of new insect species. To have Panguana declared a nature reserve—for me that’s only the beginning. I have many more dreams; one of them, for example, is someday to be able to perform canopy research at our station.
I often cannot help thinking about how wonderful it would be if my parents could see what we have achieved today. The fact that Panguana still exists after such a long time. How the area has grown and will continue to grow. The fact that so many scientists come here every year from all over the world and do their part to constantly improve our understanding of the rain forest’s wonders. I am sure it would make them happy. I have taken up their legacy on every level, keeping an eye fixed on the future. The future of the rain forest over which I crashed, which received me and saved me and gave me so much, is also the future of humanity, our climate and our planet Earth. Someone as deeply bound to it as I am will never stop working for its survival.
Acknowledgments
Panguana remains an inexhaustible Shangri-la for naturalist investigators and scientists. My colleague and I study the rain forest of Panguana, 2006. (Photo courtesy of Juliane (Koepcke) Diller)
My parents taught me to love the boundless diversity of the rain forest and ultimately made it possible for me to survive in it.
My new life I owe with certainty to the five woodcutters who found and rescued me after almost eleven days in the jungle. In particular I would like to mention Marcio Rivera and Amado Pereira, who brought me back to civilization.
The doctors at the Instituto Linguístico de Verano in Yarinacocha and their families, who so compassionately took me in, were responsible for my swift recovery. I will never forget their selfless dedication.
Without the families of Edith Noeding and Gaby Hennig, as well as many other friends who supported me in Lima, I would not have been able to reintegrate so quickly into my life after the crash.
In Kiel, my aunt Cordula Koepcke took me in and helped me find my way quickly and successfully in Germany and especially in school. She played a decisive role in ensuring that I could soon find a new, appealing home.
The whole Módena family in Peru—but first and foremost Moro, his mother, Doña Lida, his wife, Nery, as w
ell as his sisters, Luz, Pola and Gina, were constantly ready to help and took me into their families as if it went without saying. The fact that Panguana still exists today after over forty years is due solely to them.
Since my childhood our family’s good friend Alwin Rahmel in Lima has stood by me and helped me without hesitation. He rescued me from many difficult situations and led me through the labyrinth of the bureaucracy.
Professor Dr. Ernst Josef Fittkau advised me in Munich on my dissertation on bats and made it possible for me to return in such an intensive way to the rain forest of Panguana.
The director Werner Herzog led me back to the site of my memories, and it is thanks to his scrupulous film work that today I can deal much more calmly and openly with my fate and the reactions of the public.
I am extraordinarily grateful to Siegfried and Margaretha Stocker for their generous support of Panguana. Without their long-term commitment, our goal of turning the research station into a nature reserve would still be unattainable.
My agent, Christine Proske, from Ariadne-Buch, in Munich, as well as Bettina Feldweg and her colleagues at Malik-Verlag encouraged and reinforced my decision to publish my experiences in detail after such a long time. But without the excellent, sensitive work of Beate Rygiert, this book would never have come into being. Our editor, Gabriele Ernst, put the finishing touches on the German manuscript.
Tracy Ertl, of TitleTown Publishing, worked with great dedication to make this book available to English-speaking readers. My story has been served excellently by Ross Benjamin’s meticulous translation. Stephanie Finnegan’s attention to detail as the editor of the English version was also indispensable.
My husband, Erich, shares my enthusiasm for the rain forest and is my source of strength. Many a time, his energetic encouragement and his endurance have kept me from giving up.
Index
My parents at their workplace in the Natural History Museum of Lima, Peru, 1960. (Photo courtesy of Juliane (Koepcke) Diller)
Index of People, Family & Key Places
Note: Family members are listed individually with their given names in the Index of People and are listed by their familial names under the heading “Family.”
PEOPLE
A
Alida 16–17, 45, 196
Amasifuén, Nestor 101–102
Andreas 184–185, 199
Andreas-Salomé, Lou 165
Asheshov, Nicholas 121
B
Binder, Theodor, Dr. 119
Burmeister, Ernst-Gerhard 214
Buss, Hero 121–122, 144
C
Chano 171, 179
Cobb, Jerrie 104, 144
Cordier, Charles 12
Cuto (see Lozano, Nicolás Lukasevich) 48
D
Dávilla, Ricardo 48
del Carpio, Manuel 117, 119, 121, 133
del Pino, Amanda (see also Sister Amanda) 104
Díaz, Lionel 48
Diller, Erich 7, 210, 220
Don Amado 102–103, 117, 219
Don Beltrán Paredes 101
Don Carlos 101–102
Don Elvio 77, 171
Don Marcio 69, 102–103, 110–111, 117, 119, 172–173
Don Vittorio Módena (see also Módena, Vittorio) 49
Doña Josefa Schuler (see also Schuler, Josefa) 48–49, 160
Doña Lida 199, 203–204, 219
E
Ericson, Dave 133, 140
Escalante sisters 202
F
Fittkau, Ernst Josef 193, 204–205, 219
Forno, Carlos 123
G
Gina 219
Grandma Módena 48
Grzimek, Bernhard 162
Grzimek, Michael 162
H
Heidemann, Gerd 121–122, 138, 144
Hennig, Gaby 55, 219
Herr Wyrwich (see Wyrwich, Peter, Sr.)
Herzog, Werner ix, 61, 64, 69–70, 79, 83–84, 105–111, 113–114, 140, 156, 175, 212–213, 220
Holston, Fran 105, 133
J
Juliana (see also Koepcke, Juliane) 55, 83, 109, 111, 150, 172
K
Koepcke, Cordula 9, 19, 138, 151, 162–163, 165, 219
Koepcke, Hans-Wilhelm 4
Koepcke, Joachim 9
Koepcke, Juliane xiii, 5, 9, 12, 30, 38, 44, 56, 83, 99, 109, 117, 119–121, 127, 130, 137–139, 144–146, 152–153, 167–168, 174–175, 187
Koepcke, Maria 4, 8, 19, 24, 29, 119, 134–135, 137–139, 167, 174, 177, 187
Krieg, Hans 166
L
Lindholm, Dr. Frank 105, 117, 133
López, Mary Elaine 84
Lozano, Nicolás Lukasevich (see also Cuto) 48
Lyon, Nathan 133
Luz 202, 219
M
Manfred 199, 201, 203
Maulhardt, Hannelore 122, 143
Maulhardt, Heinrich 66, 122, 143
Michael 194–195, 199
Mikulicz-Radecki, Hilde von 176–177
Mikulicz-Radecki, Johann-Georg von, Dr. 136
Mikulicz-Radecki, Maria von (see Koepcke, Maria)
Módena, Carlos Aquiles Vásquez (see Moro)
Módena, Vittorio (see Don Vittorio Módena)
Moro (see also Módena, Carlos Aquiles Vásquez) 46–49, 52, 55, 77, 83–86, 107, 110, 143, 156, 157, 160–161, 169, 171, 175, 178–179, 185, 188, 191, 196, 199–202, 204–205, 210–213, 216, 219
Mühlbauer, Rita 214
N
Nelson 46
Nery 83, 86, 143, 157, 161, 211, 219
Noeding, Edith 55–56, 150–151, 187, 202, 219
O
Paredes, Beltrán (see Don Beltrán)
Penhaligon, Susan 172–174
Pereira, Amado (see Don Amado)
Peters, Clyde 95, 119–120
Pola 219
Presidente Gonzalo (see also Reynoso, Abimael Guzmán 189–190
R
Rahmel, Alwin 17, 33–34, 38–40, 55, 108, 174–175, 219
Reynoso, Abimael Guzmán (see also Presidente Gonzalo) 189–190
Ribeiro, Elisabeth 123
Rivera, Marcio (see Don Marcio)
Roveredo, Dr. Luis Felipe 137
S
Saldaña, Adolfo 78
San Martin de Porres 150
Schuler, Josefa (see Doña Josefa Schuler)
Scotese, Giuseppe 166, 172, 173
Sister Amanda (see del Pino, Amanda)
Söllner, Erik 107
Stapelfeld, Christian 48
Stein, Edith 165
Stocker, Margaretha 214–215, 220
Stocker, Siegfried 214–215, 220
V
Vásquez, Carlos (see Don Carlos)
Villacorta, Rodolfo 84
W
Wenninger, Robert 84, 117
Winter, Rolf 144–145, 147
Wyrwich, Peter, Sr. 17, 95, 101
Wyrwich, Peter, Jr. 17–18
Z
Zarbe, Mario 140
FAMILY
Father (see also Koepcke, Hans-Wilhelm)
4–5, 8–10, 12, 15–20, 22, 24–31, 33, 48, 43–44, 46–48, 53, 56–57, 66, 76–77, 79, 91–95, 101, 104, 110, 118–122, 124, 128, 131–141, 143–153, 158–159, 163, 165–168, 173–174, 176–179, 181–184, 186, 188, 191, 193, 199, 210–212, 214–215
Mother (see also Koepcke, Maria)
vii, xi–xii, 4, 7–11, 14–15, 18–20, 23–24, 27, 30, 33, 36–38, 41, 43–44, 46–52, 56–57, 61–62, 65–67, 71, 75–80, 84, 86, 90, 92–93, 95, 102, 110, 119, 124, 128–131, 133–138, 140–141, 145–149, 151–152, 155, 158–160, 163–164, 166, 168–169, 172, 174–177, 181–184, 187–188, 196–197, 206, 210
Husband (Diller, Erich)
7–8, 23–24, 29, 33–34, 38–39, 54–55, 57, 63, 73, 86, 107, 109–111, 113, 141, 163, 181, 210, 212–213, 220
Aunt (Koepcke, Cordula)
9, 19, 45, 135–140, 151–152, 162–169, 173, 176, 181, 190–191, 194, 219
Uncle (Koepck
e, Joachim) 9, 19,
Aunt (Mikulicz-Radecki, Hilde von) 19, 120, 176–177
Uncle (Mikulicz-Radecki, Johann-Georg von, Dr.) 136, 167
PETS
Ajax 12
Amor 176–177
Böcki 12
Florian 45
Kastanienäuglein/Little Chestnut Eye 11, 14
Kazuco 12
Krokodeckchen/Crocolizzy 11
Lobo 13, 45, 94, 98
Pinxi 52, 145, 147
Piups 11
Polsterchen/Little Pillow 11, 14
Professor/Franziska 13
Punki 52, 147
Skadi 12
Tobias/Bio 11–12
Ursi 146–147
KEY PLACES
Germany
3, 8–11, 13–19, 24–27, 33–35, 41, 43, 45, 48–49, 52, 54–57, 94, 111, 127–129, 136–139, 143, 147–148, 150–153, 162–167, 173–174, 177–178, 181–182, 184, 188–189, 193, 198, 200, 204, 209–210, 212, 214, 219–220
Humboldt House
8, 12, 14–15, 18, 44, 56, 176
Lima
xi, 4–5, 7–10, 12–14, 16–17, 24, 26–27, 29–31, 33–35, 37–38, 41, 41, 45, 47, 49, 52–58, 62–63, 69, 79, 85–86, 93, 108, 112, 122, 137, 139, 141, 143, 146–151, 153, 57–158, 162–164, 174, 181, 185, 187, 190, 194, 196, 198, 202, 204, 210, 216–217, 219, 222
Panguana
4, 5, 13, 30, 37, 40, 46–58, 65, 73–77, 84–86, 89, 91, 97, 104, 107–108, 110, 141, 143, 145–147, 150, 155, 157–163, 167–169, 173, 175–176, 178, 179, 181–188, 191, 193–195, 198–200, 202–206, 209–217, 219–220
Peru
vi, vii, 3–4, 7–11, 14–19, 24, 27–30, 33–34, 36–37, 39–40, 47, 54–56, 62–63, 66, 72, 75, 78, 108, 117, 119–121, 127–128, 133, 137–139, 150, 152–153, 155, 159, 164–168, 172, 174, 176–178, 181–185, 187, 189, 193–194, 196, 201, 203, 210–215, 219
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