OUR DISAPPEARING WORLD. KENYA – VULNERABLE GIANTS.

“Our disappearing World”

“Our disappearing World” is a series of four educational documentary films concerning the rescue of species of plants and animals threatened with extinction as a result of their uncontrolled exploitation for commercial purposes. The four episodes of the series shot on several continents concern problems about which viewers have heard. However, usually viewers do not realize that sometimes they indirectly bear responsibility for the harm being done to nature even though these locations are thousands of kilometers from our country.

The host of the series is Mateusz Damiecki, one of the most capable actors of the younger generation, traveler, and someone passionate about nature. He travels to exotic places, countries most of us associate with beautiful photographs on postcards. At the same time, they are sites of the brutal slaughter of animals or wasteful destruction of ecosystems. Mateusz shows viewers the less well known images of some countries. At the same time he learns that sometimes affluent societies including European, are responsible for destroying the local natural world. These far-off lands seem to us unattainably distant, yet the consequences of our activities are visible there.

The premise of our program is to show that international trade in protected species is currently a very profitable business, and that demand for prohibited goods on one continent dramatically impacts the ecosystems of distant countries.

Episode 1. Kenya. Vulnerable Giants.

The main characters of this film are elephants and rhinos. Beautiful specimens of these two species fall victim to poachers due to their impressive tusks and horns.

Although from the perspective of our part of the world it seems that trade in ivory belongs to the distant past, if we look at the amounts of ivory seized by authorities we quickly change our minds. Moreover, this smuggling activity is at a 20-year peak and steadily rising. A huge market is Asia, in particular Vietnam, Malaysia, China, and Thailand.

Mateusz and our cameras accompany a Kenya Wildlife Service patrol on duty in Tsavo East National Park. These paramilitary units of part rangers wage a regular war with poachers in Kenya. We learn that ever more frequently terrorist organizations become involved in the trade of tusks and horns, earning huge profits for their military operations.

In Amboseli National Park, with the picturesque Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, Mateusz meets Dr. Vicki Fishlock, who observes herds of wild elephants that live there. Under her supervision he observes these animals from very close range. He also meets Dr. Cynthia Moss, the best-known elephant behaviorist and researcher in the world. She was first in the battle to save the elephants against the industry that turns their tusks into jewelry and knick-knacks. In Nairobi we visit an orphanage for baby elephants whose mothers have been killed by poachers.