German Tourist Causes Damage To Nature Reserve

German adventurer Peter Ruppert posted videos showing reckless driving with a large truck in the Icelandic countryside. The incident was discussed in the Facebook group “Ferðafrelsi” (Freedom of Travel), reports RÚV.

One of the videos shows how the truck, weighing about fourteen tons, got stuck for three days with accompanying damage to the soil near the mountain hut in Þjórsárver.

Daníel Freyr Jónsson, a specialist in the Nature Conservation team of the Environment Agency, states that Ruppert did not drive off-road. However, his driving behavior is far from exemplary. “He is not driving off-road there by the tracks in Þjórsárver, so these are all tracks and roads that can be driven on. So it’s not off-road driving there, but the damage that follows when he’s trying to release the car is quite bad, not a good situation and not exemplary behaviour within a nature reserve,” he says.

The tourist got involved in the discussion and denied driving off-road. He criticised the poor signage indicating that jeeps can pass through and get stuck. He argued that the terrain on glacier trails is variable, and it should be marked better or closed for traffic.

Daníel Freyr is now considering whether signage improvement is needed after this experience.