Educating With Film:

We are aware that we cannot take everyone into the bush. We believe, however, that helping to impart a broader understanding and appreciation of environmental issues is essential. 

We were, therefore, quite excited about having met Simon Trevor, an experienced filmmaker who has worked on a number of well-known films, including Out of Africa, Gorillas in the Mist, The Congo, and much of the wildlife footage that you may have seen over the years on television. He lives in Tsavo East National Park, was a game warden for years, and really knows what he is doing. We were able to spend a couple of days with him and his daughter Tanya at their home in Tsavo, where they live with elephants often literally on their front porch! He's making new films and re-editing his footage to produce educational films narrated in local African languages (Swahili, Maa, Arabic and French) for distribution throughout the continent.

His films cover topics ranging from elephants to rhinos to water resources and deforestation. He hopes to cover all of the major environmental issues that face Africa. Children and adults alike are fascinated when they have an opportunity to view his work with his mobile equipment, and we are planning to support his African Environmental Film Foundation in the distribution of educational films throughout Kenya. We were able to bring him speakers for his first mobile projection unit. (We're talking to him soon about posting QuickTime files of some of his footage here on the site.)

Our experiences were a clear reminder that having our own vehicle would more than halve the cost of a snare sweep and allow us to do so much more work, reach more children, and help Simon to distribute his educational films. We're still hoping that we will be able to acquire one soon!

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Almost finished. Still need a second tank.
Simon & Tanya on their front porch in Tsavo.
Lori and Simon with Sheldrick Trust orphans.