Quest for the Northern Bald Ibis
Author: Tobias Falkner (author page)
A birding trip. A collapsing coastline. A choice that won’t stay private.
Price: $ 4.99
Author Panel review
Laurent Corvin, the lead character, grabbed me early because he’s competent in a way that feels earned: he plans the day, marks the N1 route, packs water and food like someone who’s learned the hard way, and treats a sensitive colony like it’s a privilege, not a content opportunity. He arrives in Agadir with a map and a notebook and the kind of closed posture that says he’s not here to be entertained—he’s here to see something real.
Owen Clarke - Panel profile
Blurb
Laurent Corvin lands in Agadir with one plan: follow the coast north, meet a local guide, and finally see the Northern Bald Ibis—one of the rarest birds on Earth—without leaving a footprint that makes its survival harder.
But the closer he gets to the cliffs near Tamri, the more the trip stops feeling like birding and starts feeling like a fault line. Fresh cuts in protected ground. Heavy trucks where there shouldn’t be any. A colony perched above a slope being quietly carved away.
Samira El-Mansouri and Yassin, an NGO contact who knows how quickly “progress” becomes a cover story, warn Laurent to be careful: the people making money off the coast don’t like cameras pointed in the wrong direction.
Then a single incident at a coastal viewpoint makes the stakes brutally immediate—and Laurent is offered a simple bargain: special access, a smoother trip, and a quiet exit…if he agrees to look away.
Quest for the Northern Bald Ibis is a travel-rich eco-thriller about what happens when a “bird trip” collides with real lives, real danger, and the question that won’t leave you alone: if you saw it clearly—could you still call it none of your business?
Story
(Excerpt from “Quest for the Northern Bald Ibis” by Tobias Falkner)
Laurent thought of Karim with his bandaged arm, the boy with dust in his hair, the mother’s voice spitting fury at “they.” He thought of Yassin’s files, of the satellite images with the coast chewed away.
“Then why are your trucks inside the protected line?” he asked.
“Because the line on the map is not the line on the ground,” Benkirane said, almost gently. “Maps are drawn in offices. The earth moves. The sea eats. We adjust. The documents—” he flicked an invisible speck from his cuff “—say we are compliant. If there is a mistake, we correct it with the authorities.”
“And the ibis?” Laurent asked. “Do they adjust too?”
“They have survived thousands of years,” Benkirane said. “From Morocco to Syria to who knows where. They adapt. They find new cliffs. They nest on buildings sometimes, I hear. Very cosmopolitan birds.”
Format: Ebook
Paperback: Coming soon
Length: Full-length novel, approx. 99,800 words · 234 pages
Genre: Contemporary eco-thriller / travel suspense
Story scope: First book in The Last Flight Chronicles series
Tone: Grounded, tense, and morally urgent; heavy on place texture (Agadir–Tamri coastal corridor) and quiet menace rather than action-movie theatrics.
Facts
Good to know: Set in Morocco’s Atlantic coastal region (Agadir, Tamri, N1 route). Birding is handled with explicit ethics/rules (buffers, no nest intrusion). Suspense builds through observation, documentation, and escalating real-world risk.
Explore further
More titles by Tobias Falkner are available on the books page.
Ideal for readers who like: Eco-thrillers rooted in real logistics, competent protagonists, NGO/local-community dynamics, “paperwork vs reality” stakes, and travel writing you can practically map.
Content note: A child nearly falls during a structural/ground failure; storm/flood danger; coercion/intimidation pressure; references to bereavement and a past fatal incident via voicemail memory; minor injuries/first-aid moments.