The scientist who discovered thanks to Google Earth a hidden forest more than 8,000 kilometers away from his home

In the north of Mozambique, on a steep hill that can only be reached by climbing a 125-meter high wall, there was a forest that had remained unexplored and hidden from science. Until, more than 8,000 kilometers away, a British biologist found it on his computer.

Julian Bayliss has been scrutinizing the African continent for years through Google Earth in search of remote territories that house ecosystems to discover.

This is how this professor at the University of Oxford came across Mount Lico and the kilometer-long forest that extends over it.

"What struck me about Mount Lico (on the computer screen) was that you have a mountain like paper, with the base intact and a forest of good quality, surrounded by land with many crops," Bayliss explained by telephone. BBC World.

"That is weird because, if there are many crops along the base of the mountain, one assumes that the forest has been altered in some way because people need resources ... But the fact that it looked intact, made me think that maybe nobody had climbed . "


Forests that have not been exploited by man offer science a world of opportunities. But, in 21st century Africa, it is difficult to find one.

However, from a desk in the United Kingdom, Bayliss has already found two and has another in his sights that he still does not want to reveal.

The Forest Google

While Monte Lico is its most recent discovery, it is not the first refuge of nature to which Bayliss arrives thanks to Google Earth.

During his doctorate at the university where he now teaches, the expert studied remote detection tools that he then applied to the conservation of hard-to-reach areas.

"You can explore large areas that are mostly inaccessible but you are viewing them from above, obviously using satellite imagery and, in this case, free as Google Earth, it's much cheaper than hiring an aircraft ... With them I can see a whole province of Mozambique. "

As part of one of these conservation projects, in 2005, he inspected satellite images of Google Earth when a greener spot than usual caught his eye.


The spot turned out to be the largest rain forest in southern Africa , on top of Mount Mabu, also in Mozambique. A place that, until then, only local people knew.

He visited it several times in the following years on visits that led to the discovery of several species of plants and animals.



"It is one of the first cases of uses that were given to Google Earth," said Bayliss. The technological giant documented the feat of Bayliss in a video. Hence, many refer to Mount Mabu as the "Google Forest" .

"In 2005, Google Earth was still relatively new," said the expert in African ecology, who said that, since then, this tool of satellite images has become a very useful program for scientists.

Over the years, the resolution of the images has improved, allowing us to study the terrain in more detail. For example, Bayliss said that when he found Mount Mabu in Google Earth, he could not see Mount Lico, which is much smaller, on the screen. It was years after he found him.

An expedition of height

Last year, Bayliss was finally able to visit that mountain that looked like paper he had seen on his computer screen.


He carried out two reconnaissance missions to Mount Lico, but could not get closer than six kilometers due to the difficult geography that surrounds it and the lack of infrastructure in the area. He had to just fly his drone close to him and take pictures.

If getting to the base of the mountain is already difficult, climbing up to the forest seems impossible without professional climbing equipment and the knowledge necessary to use it.

But last May, after years of searching for time and money, the biologist managed to put together an expedition of 28 people, including the prestigious British climbers Jules Lines and Mike Robertson, who were responsible for opening the way for scientists and Teach them to climb the steep slopes of Mount Lico.

For Bayliss, "Monte Lico is unique because there were no humans living in it and it was practically intact", something that, he explained, will allow studying phenomena such as the effect of climate change without the influence of man.

"Practically intact," says the scientist, because during his exploration of the forest three ancient pots were found near a stream. "It's hard to believe that someone could have gone up there without material like that," said Bayliss.

Tests are still underway to determine the age of the vessels, but the biologist believes that they must have been part of a tribute to the gods made by a shaman to ask for rain, a common rite in that area, he said.




For the moment, he is satisfied with the new species of butterfly that he found in that hidden forest, which he plans to name in his honor: Lico. He and other scientists of the expedition are waiting for the "verdicts" that will confirm if other of the species of animals that they found in the mountain were also unknown, among them, two antelopes that they captured with video cameras.

Google Earth helped Bayliss to find remote areas of study that he might never have known without this type of technology, but having satellite images to support his object of study did not facilitate the search for funding, a task that remains very complicated for scientists.