Alexander Wirth, a 26-year-old German nature lover, wrote and printed a special book about the Nestos region of Northern Greece in three languages, Greek, English and German.
Alex, a biochemist currently doing a PhD at Hannover Medical School, has always felt a deep love towards nature. At the age of 20, he became interested in photography and came to Keramoti, Greece, for the first time with friends in 2006.
Unaware of the natural beauty of the Nestos region, it was not until two years later that Alex saw a documentary on German TV. In the documentary Hans Jerrentrup revealed the beauty and ecological diversity of the region. During their next visit, Alex and his father met with Hans and so began Alex’s love affair with the area. “It was really amazing. I had never seen flamingos or pelicans in their habitat before. This was a great feeling,” Alex said.
In 2010 Alex and his father met Yiorgos Emfietzis in the Information Centre in Keramoti. They discussed the problem of the limited availability of information on the region in languages other than Greek. So they decided to publish the photo-book themselves. Alex had already designed a poster about jackals for the exhibition in the Centre (also in three languages).
The flora and fauna of the region enchanted the young German who decided to print the first 60 photo books himself (20 for each language: English, German and Greek) so that he can raise money for the Centre.
“The idea behind this book is to give a first impression to visitors and tourists, who are interested in nature. I think many people are looking for alternatives to the “big all-inclusive hotels” and this region has the potential to be great for ecotourism, BUT only if they know what’s here. Otherwise they leave Greece without knowing the beautiful parts (as we did in 2006).”
“The Nestos: A Travel into Nature” is a rare photo book that Alexander actually donated to the Information Centre expressing his genuine interest for Nestos. Disregarding the cost for the printing, he distributed the copies to Keramoti and Porto Lagos Centres.
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