THE VIEWFINDERNEWSLETTER: ISSUE NO 47, MARCH 2007
Meet Kim Mehri, who joined us in January. Born and brought up on the Kenya coast, Kim has recently married a Kenya Airways pilot. Meticulously tidy, warmly funny, willing and conscientious, we welcome her with open arms and hope that she will stay a very long time.
FILMING FEES IN NATIONAL RESERVES Hot on the heels of the Narok County Council and the Koiyaki Lemek Group Ranch, Samburu County Council has now jumped on the band wagon and increased their filming fees w.e.f. 1st January 2007. The new rates for filming inside the reserve are: 1-10 crew KSh 10,000 per day (US$145) We are trying, through the Kenya Film Commission, to get filming fees standardised for all National Reserves in the country. The male tortoise worked his magic several times in December and January, and now Sid has done it again – another 14 eggs in a flower bed, laid on February 16th. This brings the total number of eggs to 88, and she is likely to repeat the process several more times in the coming months. It is now over a year since the first batch was laid, and there is no sign of any hatching, as yet. When no-one is looking, we use a stethoscope to listen for the sound of hatchlings trying to dig their way out, but so far there is only silence. Early February saw an ambitious rhino translocation exercise in northern Kenya. Three successful rhino conservancies – Solio, Ol Pejeta and Ol Jogi – readjusted their populations by swapping animals around. 26 were moved from Solio to Ol Pejeta, 4 from Ol Jogi to Ol Pejeta, and another 4 from Solio to Ol Jogi. This ensures variation in the gene pool. Solio has a population of over 80 black rhinos, the largest population in East Africa. Call it global warming, call it El Nino, call it climate change, but it’s real. Following last year’s drought, Kenya experienced heavy rains and floods in many areas. Usually the short rains fall from end October into December, and then we have a long dry sunny period until the end of March. Since November, the Maasai Mara has had particularly heavy rain, with no relief at all. Roads which were already bad are now terrible, and in the west there have been landslides/mudslides down the escarpment which have made many people homeless. December/January was particularly bad, with some tourist camps being washed away, and vehicles stuck for many hours, in some cases overnight. February brought several Indian Ocean cyclones, so heavy rain and thunderstorms have been frequent. Now we are enjoying beautiful blue skies and high temperatures, but are warned that the March-May rains could be heavy, bringing more floods. Our company was officially formed in August 1988, but our first film was in 1986. We have therefore been ‘in the business’ for just over 20 years – that milestone was marked at Wildscreen 2006 with an interview for Arkive. The interviewer was Adrian Warren, producer of our first film – the Great Safari Bird Rally, who has gallantly taken the blame for everything that has happened to us in the last two decades. Some have credited us with being the first to make ‘fixing’ a proper profession. Now we have just reached our 800th film – this represents just over 2,000 film crews throughout the East African region. Not counted in these totals are the many enquiries (some 50 a year) we get from people researching species, costs, locations and sometimes detailed scientific information. We of course understand that they cannot all film in Kenya due to various reasons, but after having been bled dry of information for weeks it would be nice to receive a word of thanks before they pop up in a neighbouring country. |
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