Panguana remains an inexhaustible Shangri-la for naturalist investigators and scientists. My colleague and I study the rain forest of Panguana, 2006. (Photo courtesy of Juliane (Koepcke) Diller)
My parents taught me to love the boundless diversity of the rain forest and ultimately made it possible for me to survive in it.
My new life I owe with certainty to the five woodcutters who found and rescued me after almost eleven days in the jungle. In particular I would like to mention Marcio Rivera and Amado Pereira, who brought me back to civilization.
The doctors at the Instituto Linguístico de Verano in Yarinacocha and their families, who so compassionately took me in, were responsible for my swift recovery. I will never forget their selfless dedication.
Without the families of Edith Noeding and Gaby Hennig, as well as many other friends who supported me in Lima, I would not have been able to reintegrate so quickly into my life after the crash.
In Kiel, my aunt Cordula Koepcke took me in and helped me find my way quickly and successfully in Germany and especially in school. She played a decisive role in ensuring that I could soon find a new, appealing home.
The whole Módena family in Peru—but first and foremost Moro, his mother, Doña Lida, his wife, Nery, as well as his sisters, Luz, Pola and Gina, were constantly ready to help and took me into their families as if it went without saying. The fact that Panguana still exists today after over forty years is due solely to them.
Since my childhood our family’s good friend Alwin Rahmel in Lima has stood by me and helped me without hesitation. He rescued me from many difficult situations and led me through the labyrinth of the bureaucracy.
Professor Dr. Ernst Josef Fittkau advised me in Munich on my dissertation on bats and made it possible for me to return in such an intensive way to the rain forest of Panguana.
The director Werner Herzog led me back to the site of my memories, and it is thanks to his scrupulous film work that today I can deal much more calmly and openly with my fate and the reactions of the public.
I am extraordinarily grateful to Siegfried and Margaretha Stocker for their generous support of Panguana. Without their long-term commitment, our goal of turning the research station into a nature reserve would still be unattainable.
My agent, Christine Proske, from Ariadne-Buch, in Munich, as well as Bettina Feldweg and her colleagues at Malik-Verlag encouraged and reinforced my decision to publish my experiences in detail after such a long time. But without the excellent, sensitive work of Beate Rygiert, this book would never have come into being. Our editor, Gabriele Ernst, put the finishing touches on the German manuscript.
Tracy Ertl, of TitleTown Publishing, worked with great dedication to make this book available to English-speaking readers. My story has been served excellently by Ross Benjamin’s meticulous translation. Stephanie Finnegan’s attention to detail as the editor of the English version was also indispensable.
My husband, Erich, shares my enthusiasm for the rain forest and is my source of strength. Many a time, his energetic encouragement and his endurance have kept me from giving up.