THE VIEWFINDER

NEWSLETTER: ISSUE NO 50, DECEMBER 2007

[ANOTHER MILESTONE][LENGAI FINALLY ERUPTED][ ELECTION TIME][SHELDRICK ORPHANAGE][PARADISE IN TROUBLE AGAIN][YEAR IN REVIEW]

ANOTHER MILESTONE

Welcome to our 50th newsletter – we have kept them coming four times a year since the first issue in September 1995.  It is good to know that some people read them, and we really appreciate those who write and thank us for keeping them on the list.    We would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone all the best for the silly season – have an enjoyable few days break for Christmas and New Year, and we look forward to seeing many of you in 2008.

LENGAI FINALLY ERUPTED

After repeated rumblings and earth tremors all over East Africa, the mountain finally blew at midnight on 3 September.  Leander Ward was there with his camera the next day, and we share with you this spectacular photo.    Since then the mountain has been spitting several times a day, but seems to be easing off now after nearly six months of activity.

ELECTION TIME

27 December is the date for Kenya’s next general election.   Nominations have been going on, with candidates hopping from one party to another like fleas on a mangy dog.   Three major parties are going for gold in a big way, all with at least a dozen minor parties under their wing.  Some of the minor parties have allied themselves to all of the big three, so things are difficult to keep up with.  Campaigning all over the country is eating up billions of shillings, with helicopters, Hummers and other 4wd vehicles etc. all with public address systems blaring.   No less than 108 parties are registered, with over 2,500 parliamentary candidates and 15,000 civic candidates.   Let us hope it will all be peaceful, with a good result.   

SHELDRICK ORPHANAGE

Update on the entry fee saga.    From October 1st, KWS started to charge entry fees to the Daphne Sheldrick orphanage, which is inside the Nairobi National Park - but has a separate entrance, from where the rest of the park cannot be accessed.    All visitors hoping to see the baby elephants were asked to pay full daily park rates – US$40 for non-residents, KSh 1,000 for residents, just for one hour.   No discussion, no notice, just a new ruling overnight.   As visitors already pay an entry fee to the Sheldrick Trust, there was an understandable outcry.   We are told that the number of visitors to the orphanage went down by a massive 90%.    However, due to heated objections from tour operators and visitors alike, this has now been rescinded.   KWS are apparently trying to work out what would be a more ‘reasonable’ fee.   The Trust needs visitors, in order to maintain the elephants and all the other work that they do.    Their contribution to KWS, in kind, includes vehicle repairs, fencing, desnaring, maintenance of windmills, provision of wildlife veterinary expertise, and road maintenance in Tsavo East – all of which adds up to a very considerable financial commitment.  KWS now have to correct this major Public Relations blunder.   

PARADISE IN TROUBLE AGAIN

The custodians of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, one of the official “wonders of the world”, have often been criticised for having too many camps and lodges.   The huge numbers of tourist vehicles which roam the reserve at will, avoiding the roads and creating countless new tracks, result in visible environmental damage.  In an apparent effort to rectify this situation, the Narok County Council issued letters to some of the camp owners on their side of the reserve, announcing that they must close down and vacate the reserve by the end of November 2007.    Given that some of these camps have been there for many years, and most are heavily booked right through most of 2008, there were understandable objections.     These camps are “seasonal” from July-October, and December-March.   This year increased demand meant that they were full into November, so they did not strike their camps as the December intake was so imminent.  

YEAR IN REVIEW

We started the year with a bunch of women climbing three mountains in three weeks, some street kids and a Sudanese rapper from New York looking for his roots.   We then tied up several Comic Relief projects in the slums with a host of celebrities, before moving on to conservation, elephants, athletes and some missionaries.  After that we started on cheetahs, flamingoes, pastoralists in the north and hyenas.   Bikers Ewan and Charley flashed through on their “Long way down” trip, and then it was time for the Lewa Marathon for “Life’s great events”. Next there were a couple of lion films, some touristy travel shows and a water project, followed closely by three medical documentaries, more elephants and an eco-tourism project.   A mobile phone shoot, some refugees, then a Maasai bead charity, more cheetahs, and two programmes on the effects of climate change followed, before we took on elephant shrews and elephants simultaneously.   A highlight was Professor Richard Dawkins exploring the origins of man, and suddenly we are in early December - still spinning with 79 films for the year.   And we thought it may be a quiet year, with no Big Cat Week – but hopefully they will be back in 2008.     We end the year with a gala Kenyan premiere of Mark Deeble and Vicky Stone’s “Queen of Trees”.