THE VIEWFINDERNEWSLETTER : ISSUE NO 28, SEPTEMBER 2002 [Wildscreen Looms ] [Big Cat Diary] [A Helping Hand ] [Tanzania] [Ambatana Educational Trust] [Cites Update ] Once again, it's nearly festival time again and we are very happy that five of 'our' films have been nominated for Panda Awards. These are: Mzima, Haunt of the River Horse Out in Nature - Homosexual behaviour in the Animal Kingdom Cousins - first Primates State of the Planet - why is there a crisis? and Lion Battlefields Our congratulations to all those concerned. As usual, Jean will be at the festival for the whole week and looks forward to seeing everyone again. The team have been in the field for three weeks, and seem to be doing well. Cheetah, lion and leopard with cubs have been found, and Solo the lion cub (who very nearly came to a sticky end in 2000) is alive and well. The team are about to have a four day 'half term' break, and will be crisscrossing the country in an attempt to get away from each other for a few days before continuing with the shoot until early November.
It seems appropriate to have a photo of one of the Big Cats, and Jonathan and Angie Scott have kindly agreed to our using this picture of one of the principal characters, carrying a cub to safety. For the whole of this year, we have not been as busy as in the past, and therefore did not replace Chania who left us in October 2001. Up till now, Jean and Delulu have managed to keep the Viewfinders flag flying (well, fluttering anyway). However, because Jean will be going to Wildscreen and also because we have the BBC Big Cat Diary team working in the Mara until early November, we decided to enlist an extra pair of hands for the months of September and October. Some of you may have heard of Alexander Georgiev, a biology student from Sofia, Bulgaria. Alex was at Wildscreen in 2000, and since then has gained valuable working experience with OSF and the BBC NHU. His long-term aim is to study primatology for his Master's degree which - in his own words - "in not very tropical Bulgaria is quite difficult". During his first week he has seen 91 new birds, and our resident troupe of 8 Sykes monkeys have come several times to make themselves known. There has been an increase in the cost of a filming licence in Tanzania. For many years, the cost has been US$500 for a licence, no matter how long the shooting period. However, from this year the rate is now US$500 for three months only. After that, a further $500 must be paid to extend the licence for another three months. We are told it is possible to negotiate the fee for crews wanting to film for a year or more. Not only have the filming fees gone up, but so too have the National Park entry fees. The cost of entry is US$25 for most parks, but US$30 for the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Kilimanjaro. If filming, the fee is US$100 per person per day, which includes entry, filming and camping. For Mahale and Gombe Stream it is still US$180 per day. We would like to bring your attention to a new non-profit organisation, "established to inform and motivate Africa's youth to enhance their sense of worth and hope, and by doing so effect positive change". They are producing TV series and videos on a variety of contemporary issues including health and the environment, social challenges, and education. A wildlife conservation programme aimed at primary school children has already provided charts and reference books for teachers and leaders of wildlife clubs. In addition, they have DV cameras, sound equipment and local crews available for hire at very competitive rates. They also have lights, tripods and batteries and stocks of DV and mini DV tapes, and offer a dubbing service and 2D and 3D animation. Please contact us for more details. The next CITES meeting is in November, and once again the issue of the ivory trade will be high on the agenda. Today, some elephants are on Appendix I and others on Appendix II, a confusing system for ivory consumers though convenient for unscrupulous traders. Recent seizures of ivory in Tanzania (3 tons) and Singapore (6 tons) indicate that the illegal ivory trade is flourishing. If the illegal trade is out of control, the legal trade cannot be regulated. Kenya and India are aggressively defending elephants and have submitted a joint proposal for Appendix I, or a total ban on trade in elephants. Both countries believe that the trade in ivory from one country will have implications for elephants far beyond the borders of that country. The situation in place since 1997 where elephants from Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe have been on Appendix II (and South Africa since 2000) has failed to protect elephants, as enormous markets in the East increasingly consume more ivory than can be legally supplied from Africa. The approved monitoring system MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) has not reported any data, and indeed will not release data until the year 2004. Kenya's population of elephants has still not recovered from the effects of poaching in the eighties, as it is a very slow process and the present population of 30,000 is only a small fraction of former numbers. |
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