Survivor Wrecking Kenyan Reserve?

[Joe Sheehan <jsheehan@senatorfilm.com>]

Survivor Wrecking Kenyan Reserve?
Environment News Service
2:00 a.m. June 28, 2001 PDT
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Environmentalists in Kenya have threatened court action 
to stop the filming of the American television show Survivor Series III 
that formally begins on July 1 and runs to September 30. They accuse the 
filmmakers of damaging the fragile ecosystem of Shaba National Reserve in 
the semi-arid eastern province of Kenya.
They are also demanding to see the contract signed between the filmmakers 
and the local Isiolo County Council which runs Shaba National Reserve.
Officials of a local non-governmental organization, the Waso Trust Land 
Project, say that the filmmakers have cleared 20 square kilometers of 
vegetation to pave the way for the filming and have scared away animals 
from the park. They also say the filmmakers duped the County Council into 
entering an agreement that does not compensate the local council for 
environmental damage.
"We cannot accept this kind of destruction on our land," said Hassan Guyo 
Shano, the coordinator of an NGO that informs local pastoralists to their 
land rights. "We will move to the High Court to block the shooting of the 
TV series unless they agree to fully compensate for the Shaba ecosystem 
which they have completely wrecked."
Located some 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Mount Kenya, Shaba National 
Reserve takes its name from a massive cone of volcanic rock that dominates 
the region. Shaba has an airstrip and a luxury lodging facility with 85 
rooms, as well as a restaurant, bar, gas station and swimming pool.
The area is also famous for the filming of the movie Born Free. The movie 
was based on world-renowned conservationist Joy Adamson's book of the same 
title, about her escapades in Shaba Reserve and her taming of a lioness. 
Adamson and her husband George, who are both buried at the park, were 
instrumental in the founding of Shaba National Reserve and popularizing it 
worldwide as a tourist destination.
Last year, another movie, To Walk with the Lions, was filmed at the park, 
and it too left a trail of destruction.
Preparations for the Survivor Series III started in the middle of last 
month when the organizers moved onto the site.
"We have been quiet for so long and this time around we cannot let people 
just invade our territory and walk away after destroying what we have 
protected for so long," said Shano in an interview.
Shano's NGO says that the 18 million Kenya shillings paid to the Isiolo 
County Council for the use of Shaba National Reserve, is "inadequate 
considering the environmental damage the filming will have done to Shaba 
which has been emerging as a number-one tourist destination."
"What we are demanding is full compensation -- nothing more nothing less. 
They will not get away with it," said local Member of Parliament Guyo 
Mokku.
On Saturday, officials of Waso Trust Land Project were allowed by the local 
District Commissioner John Chege to go to the park and verify the claims of 
environmental destruction. But the tour ran into trouble when three 
journalists who accompanied the Waso Trust representative were detained for 
four hours by the Isiolo County Council game rangers.
Ranger Abdi Boru told the journalists that he had "strict instructions from 
the movie company to exclude journalists from touring the park."
The arrest of the three journalists today sparked an outcry in Kenya with 
the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) calling the ongoing environmental 
destruction as "shameful" and "unfortunate."
"KUJ condemns the detention of its journalists at Shaba National Reserve, 
and we will take strong measures when such things happen again," said KUJ 
chairman, Tervil Okoko. "We cannot allow our ecosystem to be destroyed 
under the guise of commercialization."
Known for its acacia woodlands, bushlands, and grasslands, the Shaba 
Reserve is inhabited by gazelles, oryx, zebras, giraffes, cheetahs, 
leopards, and lions. Environmentalists expressed concern that these 
animals' habitats have been interfered with and will take time to recover.
"The presence of more than 200 workers and the heavy commercial trucks busy 
supplying provisions and other operations in the reserve have scared away 
all the animals," said the environmentalists in a statement.
On Tuesday, a crisis meeting was held to resolve the controversy. Present 
were the environmentalists led by Shano, the Isiolo County Council 
officials, and Mwandiga Productions, a Nairobi firm sub-contracted by the 
American crew.
Mwandiga Productions manager, Robin Hollister, declined to talk to 
journalists after the meeting. Shano said there is a sharp rift between the 
Isiolo County Council and Mwandiga Productions on the nature of their 
agreement.
Although located in a desert area dotted with hundreds of small hills, 
Shaba National Reserve is endowed with the ever-flowing Ewaso Ngiro River 
that marks the park's northern border before snaking its way to the Lorian 
Swamp. Compared to its neighbors Buffalo Springs Reserve and Samburu 
National Park, Shaba National Reserve has the most water.
Tour operators today said they have noted the absence of zebras at the 
park. "We have only seen a few and this is giving us a headache," said tour 
driver Anthony Maina of Savannah Tours who returned to Nairobi today from 
Shaba.
MP Mokku has vowed to raise the issue in Parliament next week. "These 
people have erected more than 1,000 tents and constructed other timber 
structures inside the park. They have also cleared indigenous trees and 
other acacia bushes that take years to mature. And after all these they 
expect us to sing praises for them; we are not that cheap," said Mokku.
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,44863,00.html

Joe Sheehan,
Eurofilm and Media Ltd.,
Airport House,
Shannon Free Zone,
Shannon,
Co. Clare,
Rep. of Ireland.

Tel: 353 61 472700
Fax: 353 61 472423
Email: jsheehan@senatorfilm.com


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