Marnie Chesterton

A lot of animals and plants that live in there are uniquely evolved because the mountain was isolated for a long time.

So we call it Sky Island because, as I said, northern Mozambique is pretty much lowland savanna.

And having that mountain in the middle of savanna is like an island in the middle of the sky.

That's why it's called Sky Island.

OK, so when did you first get to go to Sky Island?

When I heard about Marble.

It was pretty much in 2008.

I was doing my undergrad.

They discovered new species of plants and animals in Mount Marble.

In my mind that time, I thought the era of discovery is gone.

And when I read about that, I was surprised.

Like, wow, they're still discovering things now.

And then they were talking about snakes, reptiles, small mammals.

So since I was always fascinated about insects, I asked myself, and what about insects in there?

And I always had that idea in my mind.

One day I would like to go there to Mount Marble to do like a survey or to lead an expedition.

So in 2022, we managed to go to the Sky Islands.

And then after a couple of days in the field, we realized the community of deadbeats in Mount Marble were extraordinary.

We were amazed.

We were fantastic.