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In 1995, when Christian Moullec noticed that wild geese were having trouble migrating from Germany to Sweden, he decided to help them. Whenever the weather was good, he would fly with the birds.
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A meteorologist by training, Frenchman Christian Moullec is by no means a pilot, but he was inspired by an Austrian zoologist known as “the man who walks with geese.” Moullec adapted a two-seater ultralight aircraft to fly alongside the vulnerable species, guiding them on their migration routes.
For nearly a year now, Moullec has been working on a daring project: taking tourists up into the sky to fly with the birds. From March to October, when the weather is good, visitors will experience 15 hours of flight, and 35 minutes of self-driving with Moullec. People will see from above castles, deserts, bridges, cities and mountains, sometimes to destinations as far away as Edinburgh, Scotland, Venice, Italy.
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Who are your customers? What will they experience?
My clients come from all over the world and are all people, especially Europeans. Flying inspires me with a great respect for nature and I am able to convey this respect to my clients.
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There are also people with disabilities and those who want to experience a wonderful time in the sky with the birds before leaving this world. This touches me, perhaps the most beautiful thing is to fly in the sky with angels who are birds.
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When did you start flying with birds?
In 1995, I wanted to fly with little white geese into the wild in Lapland [northern Sweden]. At first it was too difficult for me. The birds did not want to follow me.
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Can you share some of your favorite stories from flying with birds?
I loved the great flight with 33 white-fronted geese from northern Sweden to south-west Germany. My wife was on board and she was 5 months pregnant and expecting our first son. The trip lasted 5 weeks. We hope to continue the migrations to make the project of white-fronted geese in the wild a success.
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What did he do when he flew in the air with the birds?
We fly over beautiful valleys, near the largest ancient volcano in Europe [Plomb du Cantal]. When there are clouds, we fly above them. I also like to take photos of these flights. It is my opportunity to witness the disappearance of migratory birds in Europe, due to the use of chemicals in agriculture.
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One third of wild birds have disappeared from Europe in the last 30 years, because of humans. It is a disaster. My beautiful pictures of flying birds should be used to talk about this problem.
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The famous French writer Victor Hugo said that beauty is more useful than usefulness, so I hope that my beautiful pictures of birds in flight will be useful to migratory birds and humans.
Lam Tue (According to Elaina Zacho/NatGeo)
My beautiful pictures with flying birds should be used to talk about this issue.
