Notwithstanding the rather dramatic title, some of you may have noticed that things have been a little quiet here of late. Balancing this little slice of the internet with a full time job means that every now and again Stripy Tapir has to take a little bit of a back seat, but I’m glad to report that I am now back and rearing to write.
The reason for my absence, was, as usual, travel- in this case to Geneva to rapporteur* the 18th CITES Conference of the Parties (never heard of it? This article is a pretty good introduction). Going to the CITES CoP is one of the best things I’ve ever done, but after 11 days of long hours and late nights it was with some relief that I approached the conference’s two day break. We decided take the cablecar to the top of Mont Salève in search of good food, fresh air and mountains.
I feel like getting to the top of somewhere where there were stunning views of Mont Blanc and returning with a memory card where 95% of the photos are of grasshoppers is peak Stripy Tapir, but here we are. Within 15 minutes of arriving on the alpine plateau we came across the first of many late summer meadows which were just bursting with the things. For someone who’s used to seeing their orthopterans try to blend in as much as possible with their surroundings these guys were marvellously bright and colourful- we found everything from fluorescent, highlighter yellow ones to big ones sporting a lovely terracotta red. The macro lens came out and more or less stayed on for the duration of our hike, which turned out to be a lucky break when the tiniest of juvenile lizards was spotted making its way through the grass.
If you ever go up Mont Salève – and I do suggest you do so if you ever get to spend some time in Geneva- by all means look up at the mountains (they really were stunning, each line outlined in a progressively lighter shade of blue until they blended with the horizon) – but don’t forget about the miniature wonders right under your feet.
* rapporteurs are people appointed by CITES Secretariat to report on the proceedings of their meetings. We write summary records, which are outlines of the discussions that are published the morning after each session takes place.
