I took advantage of my posting in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to obtain my private pilot license (PPL) for light aircraft in 1996 at the Saint-Exupéry flying club of Nouakchott, which I chaired in 1998–1999. I flew more than 200 hours in Mauritania, on CESSNA 172 and 182 (variable pitch) and Piper Cherokee, mainly to carry out bird counts for Bird International, notably over the Banc d’Arguin National Park (PNBA), with my mentor and co-pilot Bruno Lamarche. These many flights led to a publication in ornithology in 1999.
We sometimes landed on beaches to perform necropsies of stranded cetaceans… and I was able to fly over the Paris–Dakar rally several times.
We were seasoned in (often perilous) bush landings. I later flew occasionally in New Caledonia and French Polynesia.
In 2021/2022, I obtained my professional drone pilot license with the aim of carrying out remote genetic sampling on killer whales in the Subantarctic (2023) and, from 2026, on bears in the Pyrenees, notably to develop remote tele-anesthesia.
Partners & affiliations
Further reading
See also
Shark Profiler
Profiling biting sharks: forensic science, behavioral ecology and ethology.
Professional diver
Class 2 commercial diver, rebreathers, underwater videography across every ocean.
Behavioral veterinarian
From veterinary school to shark ethology: understanding behavior to better manage bites.
Cameraman & film director
Award-winning documentaries — Canal+, ARTE, France Télévisions.
Professional freediver
National freediving and spearfishing instructor, author of “La Chasse sous-marine moderne”.
Biography
From globe-trotting veterinarian to etho-ecologist of large sharks: a life in the field.