Posted 28th June 2001
By Jennifer Wanjiru

Survive This!

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 that 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 sensitizes 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 which dominates the region and is famous for the filming of the "Born Free" movie. The movie was based on world reknowned 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 "Survivors 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 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. A 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 ecosystemto be destroyed under the guise of commercialization. "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 press statement. On Tuesday, a crisis meeting was held to resolve the controversy surrounding the environmental degradation. 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 lift between the Isiolo County Council and Mwandiga Productions on the nature of their agreement.

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.

The TV series that puts contestants for $1 million through challenging tests is facing its own ultimate test in the African savannah. .