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"Kenya is best known for its teeming wildlife and breathtaking panoramas, but it’s also home to
over 50 different ethnic groups, each with their
own traditions and languages…"
In eye on kenya, Dos Winkel goes in search of Kenya's indigenous people to find our how they are coping with the pressures to change.
Episode 1: Living With Wildlife
This first programme focuses on two of Kenya's conservation hotspots: the game filled grasslands of the Maasai Mara and the verdant slopes of majestic Mt Kenya. Each area is facing its own particular problems, and in turn generating unique solutions.
Dos travels to the Maasai Mara to meet celebrated social anthropologist, Jacqueline Roumeguere-Eberhardt who has lived and worked with the Maasai for over 40 years. With the help of son George, Dos meets a group of young Maasai warriors preparing for a major ceremony, known as the Eunoto. Dos gains a rare insight into their customs and learns of the struggle for a balance between people and wildlife being played out in the grasslands of the Maasai Mara.
On the slopes of Mount Kenya, Dos is confronted with Kenya's most urgent conservation problems. Africa’s second highest mountain is not only a unique sanctuary for animals and plants, but also the most important water catchment area in Kenya. Its preservation is critical for the country as a whole, yet its pristine forests are increasingly being threatened by local people desperate to exploit their timber and wildlife. Together with Bongo Woodley, Chief Warden of Mount Kenya National Park, Dos joins a poaching patrol and discovers that fencing now offers perhaps the only immediate way for farmers and wildlife to coexist in areas like this.
Episode 2: Living on the Edge
Dos and team travel into the heart of the Kaisut Desert, one of Kenya's driest and most unforgiving regions, in search of the Rendile people. The Rendile are Kenya’s camel experts and masters of their fragile environment – staying alive by constantly keeping their herds on the move… their whole rhythm of life is dictated by the needs of these extraordinary animals. Here Dos and family get a unique opportunity to attend a traditional Rendile wedding.
The team then mount an expedition with pack camels into the country of the neighbouring Samburu. Travelling on foot accompanied by the camels carrying their supplies and tents gives them the opportunity to really appreciate the dramatic beauty of this land of contrasts. Dos discovers why some Samburu are adopting the use of camels to help them cope with the drought that is increasingly afflicting their savage yet beautiful home.
Episode 3: People of the Far North
In this final episode Dos reaches the shores of Lake Turkana. There the team joins Louise Leakey on a fossil finding expedition. There they get an insight into why this part of the world is often referred to as the cradle of mankind. The team then travel to the border with Ethiopia where they contact the Dassanach people, one of the least known tribes of Kenya. Their lives have remained virtually unchanged for centuries, surviving as they do from fishing and crocodile hunting. The team manages to gain a unique insight into life on these deserted shores and the visit comes to a fitting climax with the spectacular celebrations of the upcoming Dimi festival.
View a selection of Dos Winkel's photographs shot on eye on's recent expedition in Kenya.
For further information please contact:
Ton Okkerse
ton.okkerse@emsfilms.com