Directed by
Julian Bayliss is a conservation scientist and ecologist from Wales. In this documentary, we follow his discovery and exploration of the ‘Lost Forest’. Mt. Lico is a 1km wide mountain with a crater, rim, and basin of rainforest. It is raised up by 500m of granite and located in Mozambique. Its location meant there was a high potential that the forest had never seen any human interference. Bayliss found Mt. Lico when using satellite technology on google earth to look at high altitude rainforests in Africa. Together with a team of 28 scientists from around the world and 2 of the UK’s best free climbers, Bayliss climbed up Mt. Lico and set up camp. During their time they hoped to investigate elements of climate change in relation to direct human impact. They dug into the ground to measure carbon levels in the soil from the past 1000 years. Bayliss also hoped to find new species or ones that have been declared extinct. They end up discovering a new species of a small mammal, fish, chameleon, butterfly, gecko, and crab.
One focus of this documentary is the human impact on forest like these. Bayliss talks about his 2-year-old daughter Poppy and how he worries that when she grows up these places will be completely destroyed. Humans have become one of the most destructive species and the fact that the concept of climate change is still somehow up for debate is disappointing.
“I’m almost a little bit ashamed that and we as a human race cannot actually gather ourselves together and see the magic and the quality and the value of these habitats”
Growing up surrounded by the beautiful forests of BC makes it hard to believe people aren’t willing to fight and to change to save our planet. The amount of species that are going extinct is concerning. Our world 100 years from now won’t look the same and that can either be for the better or worse. Which one is up to us.
It was interesting to see the process of discovery from Bayliss. He is a passionate and genuine human who is fighting to show people the beauty in our planet we seemingly throw away. You can watch The Lost Forest for free on YouTube here.
