Africa's Big Five and Other Wildlife Filmmakers: A Centenary of Wildlife Filming in Kenya

The Television Era

Africa’s Big Five and other Wildlife Filmmakers 99 TheTelevisionEra ‘Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?’ – Samuel Goldwyn ‘If a show sucks, it still sucks even if you can see it in high-def.’ – Eric Schotz, LMNO Productions While television had been around for a number of years, the making of African wildlife films for television during the 1950s and 1960s wasmostlyrestrictedtopeoplewholivedhere–ArmandandMichaela Denis and my big five. David Attenborough’s Zoo Quest in the mid1950s had been very popular, but he himself resisted coming to East Africa. As he said, ‘I realized I was on a hiding to nothing, with people like Armand Denis and Alan Root actually living there and being able to devote far more time than I could’. His one exception was for the film Elsa the Lioness, when he was persuaded to divert to Meru while passing through Kenya on his way to Madagascar in 1960. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Alan Root and Bernard Grzimek were producing films in Tanzania, Hugo van Lawick was in Gombe with Jane Goodall. Elsa the Lioness had hit the screens, Lewis Cotlow was filming Zanzabuku, the Milottes were working on The African Lion for Disney, and Carr Hartley’s animals were being used increasingly by Hollywood. In the mid-1960s, Simon Trevor and Bob Campbell were working in Kenya, and the ABC American Sportsman series was in full swing in Kenya and Tanzania. In 1969, Alan moved back to Kenya to make his first two films for the BBC (Mzima and Baobab), but it was not until 1970 that the next BBC producer ventured to Kenya with a crew. This was Ned Kelly, whose film African Seafari was part of the series The World About Us, and was filmed at Watamu and Malindi on the Kenya coast. In the early 1970s, Jack Couffer was director of photography for the second Elsa film Living Free and the Born Free television series, and also filmed one sequence for The Darwin 100 Africa’s Big Five and other Wildlife Filmmakers Adventure at Lake Baringo. In 1972, a BBC producer Richard Brock arrived in Kenya to make part of a film Around the World in 80 Minutes, and a series for The World About Us called Web of Life. Richard had spent time in Nairobi before Kenya’s independence, with the Royal Air Force doing national service, and developed an affection for the country which endures to this day. By this time, Survival had also established a presence in Kenya, with Bob Campbell, Simon Trevor and Alan Root all living here. In 1973, Aubrey Buxton’s daughter Cindy came to make her first film, The Floating World of Lake Naivasha. Dieter Plage ventured into Tanzania to work with Iain Douglas Hamilton on The Family that Lives with Elephants. Richard Brock returned again for The World About Us, to film part of the series A Taste for Adventure – notably a film on the legendary game warden Bill Woodley called Bill’s Big Hill, followed by What Use is Wildlife?. George Inger made a film on the sculptor Jonathan Kenworthy, called Kenworthy’sKenya, andJohnSparksbrought Maurice Tibbles to make a zebra film called The Day of the Zebra. In 1977, Robin Hellier produced a controversial film about ivory poaching, using local cameraman Mohinder Dhillon. This was called The Elephant Run, and covered a very sensitive subject at that time in Kenya’shistory. Thefilmrevealedthatthefamilyof PresidentKenyatta was heavily involved in the illegal ivory trade. Mohinder’s sound man Abdul Kayum was arrested, and Mohinder was summoned by the immigration authorities and given ten days to leave the country. It was only through intervention from hotelier and WWF member Jack Block and Attorney General Charles Njonjo that the expulsion order was lifted. The film was aired on British television on the night of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Since most people in the UK were watching the Queen, the elephant film escaped the notice of the Kenyan High Commissioner in London. While Bob Campbell, Cindy Buxton, and Simon Trevor produced programme after programme for Survival, Alan and his wife Joan were working on Castles of Clay. The BBC’s Barry Paine and cameraman Hugh Maynard produced a giraffe film Africa’s Tallest Story Africa’s Big Five and other Wildlife Filmmakers 101 in Tanzania, and Adrian...