My Films
Shall We Dance?
Pride and Pastoralist. This short film gives an insight into the complicated layers of the human-animal conflict and highlights the importance of coexistence in the future of sustaining wildlife populations in Kenya. The underlying message is that coexistence of pastoral livestock and wildlife is not only possible, but is the best hope of sustaining large viable carnivore and other wildlife populations. Although this film focuses on specifically lion in the South Rift region, it speaks to many human-animal conflict issue worldwide.
The Whole Story
This film is born from the work Guy Western is currently doing in the South Rift. His project is called 'Rebuilding The Pride". It aims to increase lion and other carnivore numbers across the South Rift, linking the Mara, Amboseli and Tsavo into a viable meta-population. The program centers on reducing human-wildlife conflict, preventing range fragmentation and maintaining healthy prey numbers. The project explores the basis of traditional practices among pastoralists that allow herders to coexist with wildlife and minimize conflict with predators. The lion serves as a signature species for conserving other large carnivores, including wild dogs, cheetah, leopards and striped and spotted hyenas. Rebuilding the Pride programe intends to prove that coexistence of pastoral livestock and wildlife is not only possible, but is the best hope of sustaining large viable carnivore populations. Rebuilding the Pride also refers to the pride communities themselves take in conserving wildlife to their economic advantage.
Rebuilding The Pride is a SORALO project (South Rift Association of Land Owners). SORALO is a formally registered Trust, was created in order to provide the legitimate body to represent the needs of all land owners in the region and push for joint management of the 15 group ranches which form the bridge between the famous Amboseli and Maasai Mara National Reserves. It is a community based and community driven initiative whose primary role is to bring land owners together for effective management of resources in order to directly improve the livelihoods of the communities, create linkages and assist in resource mobilization for the development of the South Rift Valley region, all while taking into consideration the key threats and challenges in the area. http://www.soralo.org/
