Early September, we went to Switzerland for a few days. Our trip was both business and pleasure. Gabi attended a conference in Zurich, while I did some wildlife photography, and we also hiked together in the Swiss Alps for fun. One of our main destinations was the Swiss National Park (map). It was really nice, even though we didn’t see much wildlife there, except a few alpine marmots (Marmota marmota). We really enjoyed these sightings, however, it was very difficult to photograph them through the big grass. In the Alps, marmots live in the alpine meadows and subalpine grassland. They usually hide in their burrows that can be 20 meters (60 feet) long. It was surprisingly hot in the mountains when we were there, and these rodents seemingly enjoyed the unexpectedly warm sunshine a few last times before retiring to their winter burrows for hibernation at the end of September.
Swiss National Park
Alpine marmot in the Swiss National Park
We also wanted to see the famous Ibex Paradise Pontresina. We hoped to see some alpine ibexes here, but we didn’t have such luck. These animals live in Val Languard (map) above Pontresina at altitudes of up to 3000 meters (9800 feet). We did a huge and difficult hike in the region, but we had to be satisfied with just a few glimpses of marmots on the meadows. It would have been great to see the ibex, but we still enjoyed the beautiful views of the snow-covered peaks and the small cute rodents.
Hiking trail in Val Languard with a nice view
Morteratsch Glacier under Piz Bernina (4049 m, 13284 ft)
While Gabi spent two days in Zurich attending a scientific conference, I went to the Bernese Oberland looking for the alpine ibex (Capra ibex). These wild goats are extremely great climbers and they live in the steep alpine terrain of the Alps. Their food consists of grasses and other plants. My previous research showed that my best chance is on the Niederhorn (map) which is an approximately 2000 meter (6500 feet) high peak. Here, the animals are used to the hikers so my only job was to find them. Fortunately, there’s a gondola that I could use to reach the peak, so I was able to spend most of my time walking on a beautiful and relatively even terrain along the ridge.
The Niederhorn Ridge with Burgfeldstand (2063 m, 6768 ft)
Niederhorn from Burgfeldstand
The mighty Bernese Alps – Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau (4158 m, 13642 ft)
Of course, I saw some marmots here too and many bird species as well. I hiked a lot searching for the ibex and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. On the opposite side of the mountains there was the famous Jungfrau at 4158 meter high (13,642 ft). This gorgeous summit was visible from everywhere so I could really enjoy its view while hiking here. But most importantly I found the ibexes too. They were hiding on the shady slopes of the mountain during the day, because the weather was very hot. After 4pm their hunger sent them out to the meadows, where they started grazing in the open, and I was finally able to take some photographs of these unique animals. The group was made up by several females, a few young males and some cute little offspring. I spent two days among them and really enjoyed photographing these interesting goats.
Gear: for the photos showing the scenery, I used my old and trusty Canon G11 camera. The wildlife images were taken by handholding my Canon EOS 5Ds R camera with my Canon 300mm f/4 lens + 1.4 x extender.
