One of the photographs in García Acosta's new book. S. García Acosta

New book is culmination of four decades devoted to photographing mountain goats

Sebastián García Acosta has travelled extensively through the mountains of Malaga and Granada provinces as well as the Sierra de Gredos

Eugenio Cabezas

FRIGILIANA.

Friday, 12 May 2023, 13:02

Sebastián García Acosta considers himself a true lover of nature, flora and fauna. The 63-year-old from Frigiliana has spent the last 40 years tirelessly travelling around the mountains of Malaga province and other areas of Spain, including the Sierra Nevada and the Sierra de Gredos, to immortalise one of the country's most iconic wild animals; the mountain goat.

This devotion has now been captured in Vivencias con el Macho Montés, (experiences with the male mountain goat) a book that includes over 200 photographs of the wild animal.

García Acosta began hunting wild animals and has now been photographing them for more than 40 years. The book is a compilation of his work in El Torcal in Antequera, the Sierras de Tejeda, Alhama and Almijara, Maro cliffs and Cerro Gordo in the Axarquía, the Sierra Nevada, the 'Badlands' of Granada and the Sierra de Gredos. "It was the dream I had to fulfil", admits García Acosta, after publishing 'Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama (natural park)', in 2011, which is a compilation of the flora, fauna and most spectacular landscapes of what he considers "his sierra" – an area he has been exploring since he was a child.

The book is divided into four chapters: mating season, females with their offspring, the herds and the 'super champion'.

The latter is the specimen that has most captivated García Acosta in his four decades of following this wild animal; it is a large male with antlers of more than 90 centimetres. "Although I don't mention it in the book, unfortunately I know that it was finally killed by a poacher," he says and calls for "more vigilance and control" by the authorities to curb "such deplorable" practices as poaching.

The book shows different moments in the life of these mountain goats, such as behavioural patterns during mating season, fights in the snow, females and their offspring, herds of up to 150 males, with a sea of clouds in the background - a curious meteorological phenomenon that is increasingly rare in the Sierra Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama -, eating carobs, in the streets, on terraces and roofs, in gardens and the rain.

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy of García Acosta's book can contact him directly by calling or messaging: 667 440 833.