Alexis Patri 2:00 p.m., May 14, 2022
Long before writing his wise subject on ants, it was while still a student that writer Bernard Werber had his craziest experience with a very dangerous species of these little insects.
A strong moment that he recounts on Saturday at the microphone of Isabelle Morizet in the program "There is not only one life in life".
The ants made him the most widely read French author in the world.
But the little insect almost took Bernard Werber's life before he had written his first line.
The writer was still only a young journalism student when he left for Côte d'Ivoire to meet the dangerous magnan ants, in the company of a CNRS team.
A crazy experience to which he returns on Saturday at the microphone of Isabelle Morizet in the
program There is not only one life in life
, on Europe 1. It is by winning a competition for report ideas, financed by a brand of cigarettes, that Bernard Werber begins his journey.
>> Find Isabelle Morizet's shows every weekend from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Europe 1 as well as in podcast and replay here
The student then promises a report on magnan ants, which are found in Central and East Africa, and which advance in huge groups which devour absolutely everything in their path, even very young children.
At the microphone of Isabelle Morizet, Bernard Werber still wants, first of all, to qualify their danger.
"It's a kind of stream with millions of ants advancing at about the speed of five kilometers an hour. We are not pursued by a river of ants", he specifies about these insects with mandibles so sharp that they sometimes serve as suture staples.
"These ants move like a liquid"
"But if someone finds himself in the way of these ants and he cannot get free, because he is stuck for example, he can be in danger", adds all the same the writer.
"There are very few people who are killed by these ants. Even if they pass through the villages, they rather clean up all the bits of food. What is impressive is their number. It really is like a liquid."
A liquid with which it is better to keep your distance.
But the young Bernard Werber, looking for the most spectacular photo to illustrate his report, decides to immerse himself in it.
"I entered what is called a bivouac, that is to say the kind of temporary nest that these ants make when they stop," he explains calmly.
The journalism student in a waterproof suit.
Or almost.
"I didn't have the right shoes because there were no boots in my size. The ants could get through," he smiles.
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The photo that Bernard Werber wants to obtain is that of the queen ant, the only one of this species.
Protected in its royal lodge located in the middle of the ant oil spill, the egg-laying ant as big as a finger reigns over no less than 50 million subjects of its species.
Almost twice the human population of Côte d'Ivoire.
"I was young, I considered that the photo was needed at all costs. People got me out in time, because I was really starting to be overwhelmed. It's a strong experience", remembers Bernard Werber modestly .
"I think I was unconscious"
But he's not out of the woods yet.
The ants with formidable mandibles have passed under the suit.
When they attack their prey, they usually start by nibbling and penetrating eyes, mouth, ears, and every mucous membrane or orifice within their reach.
"I took a machete and I removed them as if I had a razor", says Bernard Werber.
"There really were a lot of them. But they were in self-defense, because I was attacking their queen."
The determined student does not immediately understand that he almost lost his life there.
"I think I was unconscious. But it is necessary, at times, to be. Do not ask questions, do not think," he says today.
"It was afterwards, when I saw the images, that I understood that there was really a danger. If I had to do it again, I might think twice. In any case, I will wait to have repellent boots in my size."