GOODBYE 2020

It’s time to say goodbye 2020! I’m sure many of you will find some kind of relief in these words. It’s been a very tough year for everybody and I don’t have to add antyhing else. We’re still constantly fired with news everyday that only talk about the pandemic we lived during this year and we’re still experiencing. This situation has affected us all in a way that it changed our lives and our thinking. But to manage this we have to remain positive and take the positive side of everything.

This year all my projects had to be somehow rescheduled for obvious reasons. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t do anything and actually quite a lot has happened. I made new friends and besides all the travel restrictions that didn’t allow us to travel around the world, this summer I was able to spend some days in Gran Paradiso National Park, in Aosta Valley, here in Italy. I’m really lucky to live in a country where there is so much to experience without travelling a lot, even on the nature side.

Gran Paradiso National Park is the oldest national park in Italy, established in 1922. It offers unique mountain scenery and a great variation of fauna. Here you can find the Alpine ibex, the symbol of the park, together with chamois, marmots, foxes, wolves and many others. It’s a true paradise, as the name of the park says! That was our much needed escape from the daily routine this year. We stayed in our tent and we finally enjoyed some time in the outdoors after being confined at home for most of our time.

After that, it was time to finish something that I already started during the previous months. Due to the restrictions and lockdowns, I didn’t have many opportunities to go out and take photos; so I decided to spend my time in another way. After a long work I was finally able to complete Acquerino Cantagallo Association website. For those who don’t know yet, Acquerino Cantagallo is a non-profit voluntary association committed to the protection and enhancement of the Acquerino Cantagallo Nature Reserve and contiguous areas.

They’re doing an amazing work in mantaining and promoting that area which basically is the forest area where I spend most of my time outdoor and I take most of my photos. I’m really proud to be part of this group, so early this year I offered myself to make a new website for the association. I have to say that I’m pretty happy about the final result; and I’m much happier to have given my small contribution this way. It’s also a great way to discover this little gem of biodiversity, luckily so close to my home! Check the website and let me know your opinion: Acquerino Cantagallo.

As I said before, the pandemic affected us all and changed our lives. But I think we have to make some reflections on this. Maybe what happened has actually taught us something. We should reconsider the way we live. We are all getting crazy and rushing everyday and everytime, but for what? Then, suddenly something apparently uncontrollable just stops everything and you feel lost. Suddenly you don’t know what to do. We should start to see life under a different perspective. We should learn to care more about the little things that we get and we experience everyday.

During these days when we were forced to stayed in our houses we discovered many things that were kind of lost in our everyday life. We started to be more creative and we did stuff that we probably never did before. We discovered the pleasure of spending more time with our loved ones. Finally, we found out that life is much more than what we were used to. And maybe this is because we’re kind of forced to follow a routine that goes along the path of our life, with only a few turning points from the main way.

That’s exactly where I want to start with the new year coming. I want to focus on these little things and take the best of everything, even in the worst situation. I want to enjoy life. Because it’s definitely the most precious gift that we got, and we should enjoy it every second until the end. I’m slowly building my path in this life, and I’m happy with what I’ve reached so far. I hope you will be able to do the same.

Before the final greetings, I would like to share something else with you. Just a few days ago I received the certificate of sponsorship for Wild & Free – Rehabilitation and Release “Save elephants with bees” project! Soon there will be a new beehive that will help resolving human and wildlife conflict on the borders of Arusha National Park, in Tanzania. Those who know me well already know that Tanzania has always had a special place in my heart, so I was very happy to be part of this project.

Soon I will be able to share the real photo of the beehive once installed, so follow my next posts. I really hope to be able to travel again soon, and go back to Tanzania to see its amazing wildlife and maybe also visit the project. You can read more about this project on my previous post “Save elephants with bees”.

Now it’s really time to say goodbye. New Year’s resolutions? Well, I would like to focus more on my photography. But from now on I would like to focus on quality. Until now I always went for quantity; I always wanted as many photos as I could get. Also because I know that I won’t be able to go back to all the places I visited so far more than once. But now I want to go for quality. I want to improve and take that “step forward” that I think I need to take. Keep following me to discover more nature and wildlife during next year.

I would like to thank you for the constant support you showed me so far and for appreciating my work; I hope you liked what you got from me during this year. I’m very happy to be in touch with such positive and inspiring people, and be able to share my passion with them. Get ready for more content during next year, I can’t wait to step back in my woods and start taking photos again. Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter using the box at the bottom of the page. See you next year on My Wild Path!

I wish you all a Happy New Year, stay positive and safe!