THE VIEWFINDERNEWSLETTER: ISSUE No 45, SEPTEMBER 2006 [Update on Sid] [Big Cat Kit And Other Projects ] [Maasai Mara National Reserve ] [Sad State of Kenya's Diminishing Forests ] [Wildsclreen Festiva] ‘March of the Tortoises’ received another footage boost on 22nd June, when Sid laid yet another 13 eggs in the rose bed. This was the fifth and final laying session, bringing the total number of eggs to 74. Continued research still has not provided an accurate estimate of when they might hatch – incubation time seems to vary from 5 to 15 months. The last couple of months have been cold, so we think the New Year is our best guesstimate for the first brood. BIG CAT KIT AND OTHER PROJECTS To mark ten years of the BBC Big Cat series, we give you a glimpse of part of our fairly spacious office – this is how it looked during the last few days of August, with equipment piled from floor to ceiling. And that’s only half of it. The team of 36 people have spent the whole of September in the Mara following their feline stars, and are about to return home. In addition we have had a large team from Diverse Bristol building a lodge in northern Kenya, and another from the Netherlands teaching a dozen youngsters about the joys of living in the bush. Add to this some smaller crews filming vets, lions, fossils, zebras, wildebeest, elephants (or just one elephant, to be accurate), translocations, a US senator’s visit, weather, Maasai, and just to add variety – ice skating. This is the busiest September we can remember, with more challenges than usual, and our total for the year is getting close to 70 crews.
We have been thrown a fair amount of challenges – large film crews tend to have large demands, but they also change their minds a lot, which has kept us on our toes. Buying a chain saw on a Sunday proved to be harder than it sounds. Buying four pawpaws for a loving wife in Somerset was really easy. Locating a Maasai who had been hauled up a tree by a leopard as a child took just one day. We are now working on moving a puff adder several hundred kilometers – and back. Our motto remains “nothing is impossible”. All is not well in paradise. Quite apart from the ecological degradation caused by too many vehicles and visitors, and the destruction of the Mau forest (watershed for the entire Mara river system), politics and greed have now entered the equation. As expected, the Narok County Council and the Mara Conservancy increased their daily entrance rate to US$40 with effect from 1 July 2006. In the past, these two areas of the reserve, as well as the Koiyaki Lemek and Siana group ranch areas, had a reciprocal agreement whereby entry tickets held by visitors passing from one area to another were honoured. Recently this arrangement has gone by the wayside, and now visitors are being harassed to pay entry fees in each area, even when only passing through. This means that some visitors are being pressured to pay daily entry fees for two or even three separate areas of the reserve, i.e. $80 or $120, which is outrageous. Efforts to standardise the rates and bring an element of fairness into the collection of fees payable have so far met with little success. This matter needs to be addressed urgently, and agreement reached by all the parties involved. The Mara has been voted one of the top 10 tourist destinations globally, and to maintain that position it should be marketed as one destination, not fragmented into four or more areas, each demanding fees from visitors. SAD STATE OF KENYA’S DIMINISHING FORESTS A new report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, in partnership with the Kenya Land Alliance have highlighted yet another public scandal to join the increasing pile of scams that are queuing up to be dealt with by the courts. This involves land grabbing on a monumental scale, particularly from forests that are supposed to be ‘protected’. A mere 1.7% of Kenya remains with any semblance of forest cover, yet dubious acquisitions by politicians for commercial and electoral gain continue. Huge areas of forest were exised illegally and then sold on for sums of money so large that they make your eyes water. The report states that in Karura forest in Nairobi, 1,179 acres are currently in illegal hands (value Sh 8 billion, or US$112 million). In the Ngong forest just outside Nairobi the figure is Sh 920 billion, or US$13 billion), apparently in the illegal hands of just ten people. Now there is a plan to excise a chunk of what remains of the Mau forest too, and allow people to move in. Add to this a new and overwhelming demand for sandalwood, and the future of our forests is not looking good. Once again, the Wildscreen festival is almost upon us. A number of “our” films are entered, and we wish all the people behind those films every success. Jean will be in Bristol for the whole week, and can be reached on 07939 441725 from Sunday 15th October. |
|
© Copyright View Finders Limited. All rights reserved |
|
