Carmen Rohrbach

Carmen Rohrbach (born 1948 in Bischofswerda) is a German biologist and travel writer. She studied biology in Greifswald and Leipzig and earned a doctorate in Munich. After attempting to flee East Germany, she spent two years in Hoheneck women’s prison from 1974 to 1976 before being released to West Germany. She worked in behavioral research, including at the Max Planck Institute and on the Galápagos Islands, and later became a freelance author, photographer, and lecturer. Her travels took her to South America, Africa, Asia, and Arabia, among other regions. She published more than twenty books, including the Spiegel bestseller *Unterwegs sein ist mein Leben*, drawing on experiences such as living with nomads in Mongolia and crossing Yemen by camel.