THE VIEW FINDER

[Elephant Corridor][Moving on][Planet Earth Hits back][No Justice For Joan] [New Equipment for Hire In Kenya] [American Dollars in Kenya]

NEWS LETTER: ISSUE NO 49, SEPTEMBER 2007

ELEPHANT CORRIDOR

Following on from our last newsletter, we have more detail on the proposed elephant corridor from Mt Kenya to the Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve.   Out of a total budget of US$1m, half will be used to construct two underpasses.  One will be under the busy main Nanyuki-Meru road, and the other under a rural access road in Laikipia.     The corridor will be 800-1,000m wide, and an electric fence will be erected on both sides.    Such underpasses have been successfully used in South Africa, but this is the first time for such a project to be undertaken in Kenya.   The Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem is home to about 6,000 elephants, about a third of which have been restricted to Mt Kenya as farms and settlements have sprung up, blocking their traditional migration route.     Funding is coming from Virgin Airlines, mobile phone provider Safaricom, Laikipia Wildlife Forum, Lewa Conservancy, Borana Conservancy, Ngare Ndare forest Trust, Kisima and Marina farms. 

MOVING ON

Sadly Kim has opted to leave the company, and concentrate on her husband and home life.  We will miss her gentle nature.   But Mia Collis joined us at the beginning of August, and so another era starts.  Mia has a degree in anthropology and is a professional photographer in her own right.  She has produced several short films, and has worked on no less than four “Survivor” series in different parts of the world, as production coordinator.   Born and bred in Kenya, she has travelled extensively and so brings a new level of understanding to the job.    We hope she will stay for a long time.

PLANET EARTH HITS BACK

During the last few months, the world has seen some extraordinary weather – floods in many countries, fires and droughts in others.  Clearly the effects of mankind on the planet are being felt, and maybe at last people are beginning to understand that climate change is REAL.   In East Africa during July, we experienced persistent earth tremors estimated to be 5-6 on the Richter scale.   Bars rattled, furniture skidded across rooms, cups and saucers slid off tables, buildings cracked and windows shattered.     A Government spokesman issued instructions about what to do if a building falls on top of you – “keep still, and listen to your battery operated radio/watch your battery operated television for news about when it will be safe to move”.   As one would.   Of course the cause of all this was Tanzania’s only active volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai (the Mountain of God in Maa) which periodically rumbles.  The last major eruption was in 1966, and a minor one in 1982/3.  Since then the crater has filled up with lava, and this has been trickling over the sides of the crater for some years.   Clearly it is ready to blow, big time.    It was reported by both Kenyan and Tanzanian newspapers that there was a ‘massive’ eruption on 19 July.    However, Matt Aeberhard and Alastair MacEwen who are filming flamingos on Lake Natron, a mere 5 km away, did not see even one puff of smoke.  They describe their situation as “shaken, not stirred”.    And the earth tremors continue.

NEW EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE FOR HIRE IN KENYA

Latest addition to the growing list of kit available locally is a HandyMan Steadicam.    It is currently configured to take cameras up to 14Kg of weight. In addition there’s an extra weight configuration to make it work with much lighter cameras such as the PD150, DVX 100, Sony HDV and that range of cameras.    Let us know if you are interested, or contact info@martinmunyua.com.

On the camera side, there are now two Sony XDcam 330s for hire.  Contact us for details.

AMERICAN DOLLARS IN KENYA

A number of our film crews have had a problem lately when trying to pay for their visas in US $ cash.   No-one in Kenya will accept US$ cash unless it is dated from 2000 onwards.   There are a number of notes still in circulation from 1998 and even earlier that are not acceptable here.   Please make sure when bringing dollars in cash that they are recent.  

NO JUSTICE FOR JOAN

Four suspects charged with the murder of Joan Root have been acquitted by a Naivasha court, after spending 20 months in remand.   The Resident Magistrate described the police investigation as ‘shoddy and poorly done’, and said that the evidence by 13 State witnesses failed to implicate any of the suspects.   Whether this will remain yet another of Kenya’s  “unsolved” case remains to be seen.