 |  |  |
 |  |  |
|
|
 |
To the desert go prophets and hermits; through deserts go pilgrims and exiles. Here the leaders of the great religions have sought the therapeutic and spiritual values of retreat, not to escape but to find reality.
Paul Shepherd
|
WILDLIFE FILM DOCUMENTARY
Seaton Thomson & Associates have been involved in wildlife documentaries since 1987. The company produced documentaries on Chobe National Park and Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana, the former documentary, entitled "Cry for Africa", received 1st Prize as the best travel documentary at World Travel Market in 1990.
The partnership has also produced a documentary on Gareth Patterson entitled "Born to be Free" which was distributed internationally on Discovery channel worldwide. The story "Born to be Free" relates to the translocation of George Adamson's last three lion cubs ("Born Free") from Kora National Park in Kenya to the Northern Tuli Game Reserve where they were rehabilitated to the wild.
During 1992 Grahame Thomson, in association with Talking Pictures, produced a 55 minute wildlife documentary entitled "Kaokoveld, How Can I Tell You?". The theme and cornerstone of the story line related specifically to the status of the desert elephants and black rhino of the then Damaraland / Kaokoveld and also the interrelationship between these species and the nomadic Himba tribe. It must be pointed out that both desert ranging species faced extinction during the mid 1980s, when excessive poaching and continuous drought resulted in a huge population demise.
"Kaokoveld, How CanHow can I Tell You?" was initially screened on M-Net South Africa and received rave reviews in both the electronic and print media. Subsequent to its release in South Africa, the film was sold to Discovery USA and eventually screened by television in excess of 80 networks worldwide.
REVIEWS
- "KAOKOVELD, HOW CAN I TELL YOU?"
"There are wildlife programmes and there are wildlife programmes - and then there was one of the most stunning yet to be shown on our screens, Kaokoveld, a documentary of breathtaking beauty (M-Net). Running for an hour, it was too short by half. What made it stand out was not only the quality of its photography or the fact that it was filmed as an entity: man, beasts, landscape, but the quality of the words which accompanied it.
Narrated by Andrew Buckland and written by Grahame Thomson, it was prose of the highest order.
It has long been said that wildlife documentaries coming out of South Africa are indifferent when compared to the offerings from abroad. Often this is true. Indifferent narrative and hasty filming, coupled with distracting music, miss by a wide mark the magic of the subject. Kaokoveld was in a class of its own."
Jennifer Crwys-Williams
Sunday Times
- LAND OF THE DESERT ELEPHANT 2006
Since 1991 there has been a dramatic improvement in the numbers, distribution and status
of both the desert elephant and black rhino of Damaraland. This has been due to several factors which include, amongst others, the efforts of Save the Rhino Trust, WWF Namibia, and NACOBTA.
This dramatic significant conservation success story needs to be documented on film for international release. The black rhino and desert elephant of Damaraland inhabit one of the most unspoilt wilderness areas of Africa and their continued survival and improved status is of global conservation significance.
A further component that needs to be documented in the film is the dedicated work that was undertaken by unspoken heroes, such as the late Blythe Loutit, Rudi Loutit, Garth Owen Smith and also the input and dedication of the auxiliary game scouts, which have made such a significant contribution in protecting the black rhinoand desert elephant of the Koakoveld. The recent establishment of community conservancies to the west and south west of Etosha NP have also extended the protection range of habitat for wildlife and almost recreated the original boundaries of the national park, prior to its partial deproclamation in 1926 by the Odendaal Commission.
|
 |
|
