Post Description

EP 02: BEYOND BORDERS
All of Korea was once an ancient mountain kingdom. It is now a land divided by conflict – and a very dangerous border. Here, where North meets South, in a region isolated from the outside world for sixty-five years, there has been an extraordinary resurgence of life. The Korean demilitarised zone is now one of the wildest and most pristine wildlife habitats in Asia.

Episode 2 begins in the capital city, Seoul. A thriving metropolis of twenty-five million people known not only for its prosperity, but for its proximity to North Korea. We see this advanced yet vulnerable city through the eyes of a 19 year-old free runner called Rae. Like all young men in Korea, Rae must serve in the army but for now he is free. He runs through city streets and out into the open to observe a divided land. Seoul on one side and the mountains of the DMZ on the other.

The narrow strip of land between North and South Korea has become a veritable Eden for wildlife and is by far the richest habitat on the peninsular. Devastated by one of the fiercest conflicts of the twentieth century, this whole area was destroyed, scorched and lifeless. But this, and the subsequent absence of humans, provided a fertile bed from which new life could flourish.

Cranes, a symbol of peace in Korea, were among the first birds to return to the DMZ, flying across the barbed wire fences that keep the human populations apart. Now the DMZ is a migration hotspot for one of the world’s largest populations of the rare red-crowned crane and is thus one of the most important sites for migrating birds anywhere in Asia.

A small population of wild boar survived the war and has now taken over as the dominant species in the DMZ. Typically nocturnal, the DMZ boars roam in large numbers during the day gorging on snakes and, sometimes, on each other.

The boar population is only one of many to experience extraordinary rates of growth inside the DMZ. Huge communities of crabs have spread throughout swamps shaped by old trenches and bomb craters. Thriving societies of bees and hornets fight deadly battles that have been playing out here for thousands of years, while alien-looking spoonbills have conquered the pristine islands off shore.

The DMZ is filled with rare creatures thriving in the most unlikely wildlife reserve on the planet. There are even a number of unconfirmed sightings of one of the rarest and most beautiful animals – the Amur leopard. Only sixty remain in the world, but it is possible that a population of these leopards resides in the mountains of the DMZ.

What is certain is that a critical habitat exists between the two Koreas. Despite political differences, North and South have a shared natural history – proof of the resilience of nature and its ability to transcend human conflict.

De laatste uit deze serie.

Een bedankje aan diegenen die de moeite hebben genomen om een reactie achter te laten