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

The Beginning of Viewfinders, 1988

Africa’s Big Five and other Wildlife Filmmakers 7 TheBeginningofViewfinders,1988 I entered the business of wildlife filming by accident. Taking on the task of organising an international birdwatching marathon to raise funds for a children’s hospital, little did I realise that wildlife films would soon rule my life. Producer Adrian Warren of the BBC’s Natural History Unit heard about the event, and thought that it might make a nice half hour programme. So, in addition to seven teams of birdwatchers, I ended up with two film crews as well. The event was well publicised, and involved a lot of logistics, appeals for financial support, organisation, coordination and split second timing. Teams came from England, The Netherlands, America and Zimbabwe, and all had to be flown to Kenya at no cost to the individual participants. Each team consisted of three people, so with the two Kenyan teams there were twenty-one birdwatchers. Most bird races of this sort are run over a twenty-four hour period, but as people had come from as far away as New Mexico, it was decided to make this a forty-eight hour event. In order to see the maximum number of different bird species (Kenya lists an impressive 1,078), it is essential to cover as manyhabitatsaspossible.Thecountryisnearlyathousandmilesacross, and fifteen hundred miles from north to south. Altitudes range from the sandy beaches on the Indian Ocean shore to the snow-capped peaks of Africa’s second highest mountain, Mount Kenya at over 17,000 feet. In between are arid deserts, dry thorn-bush plains, savannah grasslands, swamps, forests, lakes, rivers, gardens, cliffs, sewage ponds, national parks and cities. All forms of available transport had to be brought into play – minibuses, 4-wheel drive landcruisers, speed boats, aeroplanes, and even rally cars. Because the event was competitive – the teams were vying for a new world record and a handsome trophy – exact routes and locations were closely guarded secrets. I was the only person who knew each team’s plan, and tried to ensure that none of them would be in the same place at 8 Africa’s Big Five and other Wildlife Filmmakers the same time. To have three teams arriving, for instance at Lake Baringo, simultaneously would have meant that the one available boat could not have been used by everyone. Time was, of course, critical. Somelocationswereincludedwiththeaimofspottingjustonespecies; then it was a race at top speed to the next place. I kept tabs on this by simply using a large map on which I traced the various routes with coloured lines. The map resembled a multi-coloured spider’s web. Each team was supplied with a radio, loaned by the organisers of the Safari Rally, and was instructed to call the control office in Nairobi’s Norfolk hotel as often as possible. In the control room, the scores were kept up-to-date on a computer, showing both the number of species seen by each team and the amount of sponsorship money raised. Each team was sponsored for the number of species, so the more birds seen (or heard), the more money was raised for the hospital. The film’s producer, Adrian Warren decided to enlist the services of a local crew in addition to his BBC crew. He also tried to get as much aspossibleof theevent‘inthecan’beforetheactualevent.Socolourful bird close-ups were obtained in many differing locations during the week preceding the event, as were some scenes of the different teams who were out on recce. It simply would not have been possible to follow all seven teams during the event, given the different routes and the huge distances involved. In the end, the half hour programme, entitled The Great African Bird Safari Rally was aired just five weeks after the event – a very short time for all the post-production. One of the participants was Bill Oddie, the British birdwatching comedian, and the BBC crew had followed him round the race. It was therefore Bill who linked the whole thing together with a commentary in the studio. The event involved the participation of literally hundreds of people in Kenya, from hotel keepers to pilots, drivers to secretaries, computer operators, tour guides and game wardens. A very large proportion of the costs involved in publicising and organising such an activity were met in kind, and the final amount of money raised for the children’s hospital totaled Ksh 750,000. [3.145.12.242] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 06:44...