THE VIEWFINDERNEWSLETTER: ISSUE NO 30, DECEMBER 2002 [The Year in Review] [Wildscreen] [Increase in Kenya Park Fees] [Changes at KWS] [Elections] [Christmas Greetings] September 11, 2001 really cannot be blamed for all the ills in the world, but it was certainly about that time that productions started to drop off. The first few months of 2002 were the worst we can remember for a very long time. July, August and September are generally busy months for filming in Kenya and indeed we were busy with the BBC Big Cat Diary this year, but there was a marked absence of other big wildlife productions. We had another go at diversifying, and handled some projects dealing with measles, HIV/AIDS, street children, an American Bishop, malaria and the Lewa Marathon, and had a lot of fun working on the BBC Life of Mammals promotion, with David Attenborough's wonderful, much-travelled suitcase. Unusually, we have a mini-rush of work to keep us busy in December, as four or five companies have decided they can squeeze in one more trip before the end of the year. Somehow we have scraped together a total of 72 film crews for the year, but many of them were only here for two or three days. How we long for the return of specialist wildlife crews who are here for weeks or months, making proper films, rather than the one-man-with-DVcam attempting to make a 50-minute film in two days. And how we hope for the arrival of more new presenters who can come up with some interesting information rather than taking screen time away from the wildlife. Alex, the Bulgarian student, was with us for ten weeks and has now moved to pastures new. For the next few months he will be working as a volunteer student in a remote national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While he was with us, he went to Uganda and came back with this rather nice picture of a Shoebill.
Another cold, wet and windy week in Bristol came and went, and it was lovely to see so many old friends. We were delighted that Mark and Vicky's 'Mzima - Haunt of the River Horse' won Panda awards for cinematography and animal behaviour, and Peter Bassett's 'Lion Battlefields' won the award for innovation. Having the awards presented early in the week certainly relieved the competitive tension of previous years, and allowed everyone time to see the films, rather than having a mad dash for the video kiosks on the last day. We felt a sense of optimism for the future, and hope that this will mean that the industry is over the bad times and about to rise to new heights of excellence. New increased daily entrance fees take effect on 1st January 2003. Amboseli and Lake Nakuru National Parks, Samburu, Shaba and Maasai Mara Reserves will be US$30 per day. Tsavo East, Tsavo West and Meru National parks will be US$27 per day. Nairobi and Shimba Hills National Parks will be US$20 per day, and Mt Kenya National Park will be US$15 per day. It has just been announced that the acting Director of Kenya Wildlife Service, Joe Kioko, has retired. He has been replaced by Michael Wamithi, who has been an Assistant Director for some time, recently working on the IFAW project. TERRORISM Poor Kenya. Having thought the American Embassy bombing was bad, we really were not expecting another incident. Then came the destruction of an Israeli-owned hotel on the beach north of Mombasa and an attempted missile attack on an Israeli plane. There was some initial nervousness and security has been increased, particularly at airports. Despite official assurances that tourism has not suffered, we are told by several tour operators that many tourists have cancelled their holidays. December 27th is election day in Kenya. President Daniel arap Moi, who has been the country's leader since 1978 is stepping down. He has announced that he would like his successor to be Uhuru Kenyatta (son of the country's first President) and KANU are promoting him for all they are worth. The various opposition parties have got together, along with several prominent people who have jumped ship from KANU to the opposition. They have agreed on a Presidential candidate, so it will be an interesting race. It is widely believed that there will be some rigging, and we wait to see whether the 1.4 million deceased voters on the electoral roll will rise up to mark their ballot papers. We would like to take the opportunity to wish all our film making clients and friends a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. As always, we hope to see many of you in Kenya during the next year. |
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