Iradier y Bulfy
Stern face and wild beard, precocious man of science, dreamer, persevering and eager for adventure, he explored a vast expanse of territory in equatorial Africa known, before 1900, as the Country of the Muni.
Explorer, scientist, inventor and writer, an admirable personality as rich in facets, as intense in his acts. An adventure story that is born of the dreams, the vocation, the tenacity and the incredible capacity of a child born in Vitoria in 1854.
Orphaned by a four-year-old mother, he grew up reading adventure novels and dreaming from her childhood to explore Africa. With only 14 years, he founded the first geographical society of Spain, and at the age of fifteen he managed to meet with the world Famous explorer Stanley (Dr.Livingstone). He shared his exploration plans with him and received advice, which would crystallize on his first trip to Africa, so many times dreamed.
Advancing to its time, characterized by a ruthless colonialism, it stood out for its interest and respect for the local culture. In his work “Africa” he collects studies on the cultures and customs of the people with whom he lived, showing interest and admiration for them.
Municountry
The country of the Muni was a wild and inhospitable territory of impenetrable forests, estuary of a thousand rivers that flowed in one; the Muni river.A country inhabited by characters typical of the classic adventure novels: pirates, cannibal tribes, slave traders, military, missionaries...Wild fierce, an openly hostile climate and deadly diseases for a European, complete the picture where the adventure of Iradier and Bulfy takes place.With only 19 years, he finished his degree and newly married, he began his dream journey, accompanied by his wife and his sister.
Maps of that time marked the Muni River by its translation:DANGER RIVER
3 years and2.000 km
3 years and 2.000 km
During his first trip he explored about 2000 km of remote and inaccessible areas: jungles, islands, mountain ranges, great lakes …, territories barely trodden by Europeans previously. He developed a complete ethnographic study after coming into contact with various local tribes such as vicos, palatitos, valengues, or pamúes. Of the latter he would write:
“… they are not satisfied with killing their fellow men to eat them, but they devour the corpses and still buy, for the same purpose, the dead of other tribes”
Throughout these 3 years of gesta, typical of a novel by Jules Verne, he was on the verge of dying on several occasions, discovering at the same time, the beauty and brutality of the country he ventured aboard “La esperanza “, A small boat of only 7 meters in length.
Adventure and risk
He suffered many times the scourge of fevers, several shipwrecks, attacks of beasts that destroyed his camp, was even tried by the assembly of a tribe for accidentally injuring a woman.
He was even poisoned by a member of his own expedition, managing to survive after three months of agony. Upon awakening he wrote for his book:
“Upon seeing the image of my face I could not contain a tear, which ran down my cheek. I was not a living man, it was the skeleton of a corpse “
None of these accidents, or other misfortunes that surrounded him frequently, discouraged or frightened one of the most outstanding explorers of all time.
On board “La Esperanza”, of only 7 meters in length, it would cross the country of Muni.
A different explorer
This great character, one of the most interesting and unknown in our history left its mark on a continent to which he gave himself body and soul. He would travel twice more to the Country of the Muni and in his expeditions he would lay the geographic foundations of what would later be Equatorial Guinea and contribute to important advances and knowledge about the region.
“… you will remember those serene nights when the moon of the tropics shone with extraordinary whiteness and during which, supported by the soft rocking chairs of the bridge, you heard with deep interest the relation of the voyages of daring explorers.”
“ÁFRICA”. M. IRADIER y BULFY.
Gin & Vodka
This is how our distillates are born: gin and vodka Iradier and Bulfy. Inspired by the character and the values it represents, and in homage to a life, anonymous to many, committed to adventure, scientific dissemination and to realize the dream of a child.We created this gin and this vodka with the essence of the land where it is born, with local ingredients, such as barley or juniper from the country, accompanied, among others, by ingredients originating in equatorial Africa such as cocoa and Guinea pepper.