"We caught a four-meter anaconda in the swamps of Venezuela. A little mud, a little adrenaline — standard morning routine in Venezuela."
This sentence ignited the internet in the Balkans, after Kristijan Ilicic posted it alongside a video of him pulling a snake out of the mud of a swamp with his bare hands. This Croatian adventurer, traveler and now entrepreneur, with more than half a million followers on Instagram, was the first in the history of his country to visit all the countries of the world.
Although he indicated that "the snake was released immediately after, and no one, neither people nor the snake, was injured during the filming of this video", many followers, who also wrote that they are fans of his work, because he is known for numerous humanitarian actions, especially in war-torn areas, reproached him for allegedly strangling and dragging the snake.
In another video, Ilicic is seen rushing with a group of tourists to film a large anteater in the bushes, which is trying to hide from them.
World Wide Fund for Nature Protection (WWF), which also covers the Balkans, informed the public afterwards that it was ending cooperation with its Ilicic. They cited his "inappropriate harassment of anacondas and anteaters" in the videos.
"Any form of harassment or abuse of animals goes against our mission and the values we stand for. We appeal to everyone to respect the animal world and follow the guidelines for their protection," WWF added.
He was chosen as a WWF ambassador in 2024.
"Christian's rich experience of traveling the world has made him aware of how important it is to preserve natural beauty and the balance between man and nature. His advocacy for nature conservation fits perfectly with the values that WWF promotes," the nature protection organization said at the time.
Did he do something wrong?
The famous world traveler, however, did not offer an apology but, as he states, stands behind every moment he recorded.
"I will not delete anything, I will not hide anything and I will not embellish anything. The video remains because it is authentic, real and shows what has existed in Venezuela for generations. I know that I did nothing wrong and I know that everything was safe," said Ilicic.
He noted that what he did "wasn't any torture, stress or violence to the animal," but something that locals do every day when they need to remove an anaconda from a place so it doesn't harm other animals or people.
"They know how to pick them up painlessly, they know how long they can hold them, they know when they should be returned, they know where they must not be caught and they know how to judge the snake's behavior better than anyone. This is knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation and is part of their tradition, culture and way of life," he said and added that it was those same locals who taught him how to properly pick up and hold an anaconda.
Ilicic further explained that those who underestimate him because of allegedly controversial actions are hypocrites, because many of them eat meat, which comes from an industry where animals live in incomparably worse conditions, or use cosmetics and other products tested on animals.
The blogger announced that the WWF has meanwhile removed all of its announcements about the termination of cooperation with him from social networks and portals, which really cannot be seen.
"Last year, after signing our contract, WWF proudly shared my story from Venezuela. Then we did the same thing as now - with local guides, we found an anaconda near a farm, picked it up professionally and moved it further for the safety of people, children and the animal itself. Back then, the same action was great and enough to share it with panda emojis," he explains.
Career on the road
Kristijan Ilicic is a native of Zagreb who has succeeded in what many wish to do, which is to make a career out of traveling. Already at the age of 16, he started his own portal, which soon became one of the most popular in Croatia, and then he became the director of a large regional publishing house. He received his education in the field of information technologies.
However, in 2017, he decided to quit his job and devote himself entirely to travel. He worked as a guide and influencer, opened his own agency for adventure travel, and in 2024 he achieved his goal and visited every country in the world.
In this campaign, he even took Serbian citizenship, because he had a problem getting a visa for Turkmenistan, but that didn't work either. In the end, a fan helped him with his visa, but he never revealed his identity.
Ilicic is also known for his humanitarian exploits. He has a tattoo of a girl from Ethiopia on his arm, and when he returned to this country again after many years, he found her and decided to initiate proceedings to become her guardian. Since then, he supports her and pays for her education.
Since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, he launched a humanitarian action and moved an entire family, a single mother with several children, to Australia, and he repeatedly organized actions to help people in Palestine and publicly called for an end to violence against them.
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