The rest area at the ruins of Qasr Ibrim on an island in Lake Nasser in the middle of Egypt's Sahara Desert is beautifully situated.
Already in ancient Egypt, a settlement arose here on a ridge above the Nile valley, which was inhabited until the 19th century.
Today, the ridge with the ruins only protrudes as an island out of the water that is dammed behind the Aswan Dam.
But the idyll of Qasr Ibrim is deceptive: when Jens Hering from Limbach-Oberfrohna in Saxony discovered the remains of a large pyre with the charred remains of a number of impressive large birds such as pelicans, flamingos, storks, herons, cormorants and ducks, his heart turned stomach up.
The advisory board of the German Ornithological Society has already led four expeditions on Lake Nasser, on which the bird life and the breeding behavior of the animals in this natural paradise are examined.
"The discovery of such a bird massacre site is quite a shock," says Hering.
Especially since this is not an isolated case.
Every winter since the 1990s, hunters on organized tours at Lake Nasser have seemed to shoot en masse birds that are protected under Egyptian and international law and are therefore not allowed to be hunted.
Bird hunters remain largely undisturbed
One of these species is the parasitic kite, on whose nests Jens Hering saw a parent bird lying in a very unusual way more than once: "These birds of prey were shot down on their nests and then simply left there," says the ornithologist.
Lake Nasser is known far beyond the borders of Egypt as an "Important Bird Area" because of its great importance as a breeding area and resting place for many bird species.
Many tourists make pilgrimages to the ancient rock temples of Pharaoh Ramses II and his wife in Abu Simbel.
However, these travel streams are concentrated on a few hotspots with ancient sites along the almost 500-kilometer-long lake with its many islands.
In the rest of the body of water, on the other hand, bird hunters and the expeditions that Jens Hering has been carrying out there regularly with a team since 2016 during his vacation and free time remain largely undisturbed.
Idyllic spots with beautiful sand dunes
There they are on the small ships of the company "Lake Nasser Adventures".
Swiss Steven Mayor and his Nubian business partner offer discovery cruises on these ships, as well as hikes to ancient sites on the shore and in the desert that begins just here.
"Our Nubian crew knows Lake Nasser like the back of their hand, so they guide travelers and expeditions to the most interesting spots," says Mayor.
There, Jens Hering and his team not only observe the birds and their breeding behavior, but also examine the tracks left by the hunters.
"On our expedition in 2017 alone, we discovered three places where the hunting groups had set up camp," says Jens Hering.
They had often chosen particularly idyllic spots with beautiful sand dunes and small groves of tamarisk bushes.
"Near these camps we also found places where the shot birds had been burned either completely openly or a little hidden," the ornithologist summarizes the finds.