THE VIEWFINDERNEWSLETTER : ISSUE NO 21, SEPTEMBER 2000 [Changes] [Zanzibar] [Echo - Amboseli's Darling] [Kenya wildlife service] [Weather] Here is our first newsletter on our new letterhead. You have had a sneak preview of the logo, but you have not read the bottom line. You will note a few changes of directors, following John Silvester’s departure from Kenya. We have now added Juliet Owles who, as anyone dealing with us on a regular basis will know, is the mainstay of the Viewfinders’ office. Then we invited Dr Leon Bennun, ornithologist extraordinaire and author of the new book "Important Bird Areas of Kenya". Leon is head of the Department of Ornithology at the National Museums of Kenya, and also Chairman of Nature Kenya (formerly the East Africa Natural History Society). Last, but certainly not least, Alan Root, who needs little introduction. Alan was talking of retirement, which was unacceptable to us, so we are very happy that we persuaded him to come on board, and hope that he will maintain an active interest in wildlife filming – even if both his Arris were stolen.
To whet your appetite, here is a close up of a Zanzibar red colobus, taken in the Jozani forest by Juliet with our new digital camera. Such photos may become hard to obtain, since most of the colobus population in this area have now been tagged. However, there is another small group living in the mangroves who are tag-free, so filming is still possible, but maybe not for very much longer and certainly not until after the elections at the end of October, as the authorities are reluctant to allow any film crews into Zanzibar in case they film items of a political nature. Echo the elephant, star of two BBC films, gave birth to a female calf on 4th August. We have heard that there are plans for a third film about Echo and her family, if the BBC can get it commissioned. The smart card system is now operating in Nairobi and Nakuru National Parks, and is about to be introduced in the Aberdares and Amboseli. KWS state that their gate revenue has increased by 40% as a result. In practice though, the system seems to be time consuming and frustrating. Of budgetary concern to film-makers is an unexpected increase in the cost of taking a vehicle into the National Parks. Up until July this year, the fee was a flat KSh 500, no matter how many days film crews spent in the parks. With effect from August 1st, however, KWS are now charging KSh 500 per day for vehicles. We are trying to get this reversed. Kenya’s worst drought in more than 40 years continues. Most of the country is parched, and in the northern and eastern regions millions of people and their livestock are dying. Famine relief agencies are trying to distribute food, water and medicines, but many of the stricken areas are remote and the supplies are not getting through. The grasslands in central Kenya are dusty brown, and Maasai herdsmen are bringing their cattle into the city in search of grazing. City verges, cemeteries, parks, and even some gardens are overrun with herds of skeletal cows. The ‘experts’ have predicted that the short rains in October/November will be inadequate. They have also predicted that the rains will be ‘heavier than during El Nino’. Power rationing continues, and emergency generating systems are being installed to relieve the situation. It was announced that rationing would stop in October 2000 when the emergency generators come on stream. It was also announced (a week later) that rationing would continue until at least April 2001. Who knows? Kenya’s well known Daphne Sheldrick has received an honorary degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery from the University of Glasgow in recognition of her contribution to animal welfare. Daphne has dedicated her life to the protection of East African wildlife, and has reared and rehabilitated countless orphaned animals including rhino, antelope, zebra, mongooses, warthogs, and buffalo. However, it is elephants that have been her special passion, and over many painstaking years she became the first person to develop a feeding formula for newborn calves. Over the years, she has taken in literally hundreds of orphans, hand reared them, and returned them to the wild. Many films have been made about Daphne’s elephants, from her nursery in Nairobi’s National Park to the Tsavo East National Park where she spent so many years as the Game Warden’s wife. Daphne already holds an O.B.E for her work, and this new honour is well deserved. Our congratulations, Mama Ndovu. News that the judges are unimpressed with films about African wildlife is disappointing for us, as it means that we have only one entry among this year’s finalists. This is one of Reinhard Radke’s (ZDF) Serengeti trilogy, entitled "Serengeti Today" - congratulations Reinhard. Two other finalists – the series Life of Birds and Supernatural also feature among the finalists, but are not, of course, wholly African. While audience preference might be expected to result in a decrease in the number of film crews coming to Kenya, this does not seem to have been the case. As at the beginning of September, we are on 72 for the year. The remainder of the year will be busy, as once again the Big Cat Diary team are in the Maasai Mara for 2½ months until mid November. In October, Science North arrive from Toronto with not one, but two IMAX cameras for another chimpanzee shoot in Gombe Stream, Tanzania, and another IMAX crew from Boston will be here doing a film on Kilimanjaro. In between we have people filming and climbing mountains, flying in hot air balloons, and riding camels. Many others will be filming the sort of stuff the judges love to hate – elephants, lions, antelopes, patas monkeys, rhinos and hippos, which seems to indicate that the tides will turn and the ‘flavour of the year’ will go full circle from tame and/or wounded animals back to wild ones. We will still be here when that inevitably happens. Jean will be in Bristol for the whole week of the festival, so if you have any questions that need to be answered, or plans that need to be thought out, please seek her out. |
|
© Copyright View Finders Limited. All rights reserved |
|
