by Natalia Mroz

A film crew from ZDF, the second national German television channel, visited the STE research camp in Samburu National Reserve last week, to film a documentary on elephants and the ivory trade. The documentary will be shown country wide in Germany and is expected to screen in August 2010.

As a special feature within ZDF’s regular 30 minute scientific program,the documentary on elephants will air for the extended time of 45 minutes.

The crew were left breathless when elephant herds surrounded their vehicle during filming on numerous occasions, peacefully grazing and playing as the cameras rolled. The crew had previously filmed elephants in several countries, as well as other animal documentaries all over the world, but had never had an experience like this one. At one stage, a group of about 45 elephants crossed the river and walked directly towards the camera. The larger elephants happily splashed in the mud, whilst the calves joyfully rolled in the shallow waters and played with one another like small children. A few couldn’t resist getting better acquainted with the camera!

A few cameo appearances were made by a thirsty leopard, some hungry lions, and herds of Samburu’s reticulated giraffes, forming the backdrop to our elephant action.

The crew shadowed STE’s Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton and David Daballen as they tracked elephants during the day, getting a first hand experience of daily work at the STE camp. They flew with Iain at first light, getting some excellent footage of Samburu’s elephants from the air during the sunrise, and thoroughly enjoying Iain’s bush piloting skills.

The beautiful images they captured will help to tell a more serious story about elephant movement, and the need for wildlife corridors and land management strategies that STE has long been fighting for. The crew filmed the ins and outs of elephant radio tracking, in the field and live on google earth in our research camp. They were thoroughly impressed with the capability of our unique software to pinpoint natural elephant paths and movement habits. The film is set to contain several of STE’s digital elephant movement videos showing the movements of family groups like the Royals mapped by their radio collar transmission.

It seems that the documentary will reveal as many elephant mysteries as possible, with even elephant dung being filmed in great detail. Ofcourse, the dung is an informative source of date on elephants diets, however the crew was very brave in taking their close up shots! All in all, the crew had a unique experience with STE and it was a pleasure to work with them.

We look forward to the response from viewers in Germany and have no doubt that the documentary will generate a great interest and enthusiasm for elephants.