'Immersion in the animal life of Africa'

Documentary on safaris offers breathtaking views and highlights conflict between man and nature

African Safari, the first 3-D feature about the wild animal kingdom, hit the Chinese box office on Nov 7 to rave reviews from its audiences.

The documentary, directed by Belgian film director Ben Stassen, follows animal behaviorist Kevin Richardson and film producer Mara Douglas Hamilton over 6,000 kilometers across the continent.

Onboard a hot air balloon or a canoe, audiences will travel through the continent's remotest places, from Namibia's sand dunes to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, to the foot of Kilimanjaro.

"It is an immersion in the animal life of Africa," said Beijing movie-goer Liu Bing. "It felt like I was right up close to the black rhinos, leopards, lions, buffalo, entire herds of elephants, along with many other wandering animals of the wild kingdom. The movie made me want to be on a safari trip."

Richardson, a South African animal behaviorist who has worked extensively with native animals of Africa, had years of experience becoming integrated into several clans of spotted hyenas and prides of lions before the making of the film.

Mara Douglas Hamilton is a Kenyan film producer born to zoologists Iain and Oria Douglas Hamilton.

In the Chinese dubbed version, Chinese singer Liu Huan speaks for Richardson's parts while the voice of Liu's wife Lulu is dubbed over Hamilton's.

Besides offering breathtaking views, the documentary also highlights the conflicts between man and animals, nature and human development. In recent years, the number of wild elephants and rhinos in Africa has steadily dropped because of poaching. Ivory trading, which is legal in China and Japan, is widely seen as the major cause for illegal poaching.

In August, the Chinese government donated anti-poaching equipment to four conservatories for the East African Wildlife Society and the Mara Conservation Fund. The equipment, worth over KSh 900,000 ($10,000) will be used by patrol teams in the northern rangelands and coast of Kenya.

In recent months, there has been greater international cooperation to combat poaching.

At the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' meeting in Beijing, world leaders agreed on a declaration to expand efforts in combating wildlife trafficking by reducing the demand for illegally traded wildlife and wildlife products. The agreement also strengthened law enforcement cooperation and reaffirmed the leaders' commitment to treat wildlife-related crimes seriously.

In January, Chinese authorities destroyed 6 metric tons of illegal ivory.

Jin Yu, professor at Northeast Forestry University, says Chinese authorities have an information tracking system for the legal trade of ivory that is stricter than the standards laid down in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

yangyao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/14/2014 page26)