My Africa – David Allen (2018) | Conservation International – (360 film)

The the short film “My Africa” is directed by David Allen and narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o. Commissioned by the Conservation International, it takes viewers to an elephant sanctuary in Kenya, where a community is reknitting the bonds that have long enabled people and wildlife to coexist.

My Africa is presented in stunningly immersive virtual reality through a series of establishment shots of the African savanna including lions, wildebeests, and elephants. The movie introduces the intensity of wildlife interactions by a dramatic and fascinating scene of a lioness. She does what a lioness does to feed her litter: hunt and kill. It is quite intriguing to see that a bodily armament such as the horns of a wildebeest which have evolved as a defensive structure, paradoxically becomes a handicap against the predator in this context. Big cats have evolved quite specialized hunting strategies such as the high high speed chase of Cheetah who can leap 25 feet on a single stride. Here we observe how successful the ambush hunting is employed by the tigers, jaguars, mountain lions and the leopards.

Then we get introduced to human vs. non-human relationships. Humans have to share the savanna with the elephants and the footage showing five mature elephants on a typical foraging foray embedded in the vegetation matrix is a stunning demonstration of how dangerously close encounters are likely.

Africa is a massive continent providing many diverse habitat types. Elephants have quite intriguing natural history and are not confined to the savanna. For instance, Dzanga clearing is a special place for forest elephants. Because of their herbivorous diet these animals are exposed to a lot of toxic secondary metabolites synthesized by plants to protect themselves from herbivores. Potassium containing clay can neutralize these chemicals. Such clearings also known as salt licks attract many animals who seek those exposed locations for detoxification of plant toxins such as tannins in their diet. For example, Macaws in Peru have been observed to congregate around clay licks called “Colpa” by indigenous people. The phenomenon of ingesting soil is called geophagy. It is committed by many animals including Humans. The orphaned animal rescue farm which mainly cares young elephants to be rewilded carries an important conservation mission.

Africa is the last continent on Earth where the megafauna is still clinging onto life. Big cats are under threat in every part of the world including Africa. Besides poaching, a major threat for African wildlife is the loss of habitat, in large part due to rapid, deforestation through logging, palm oil plantations, and charcoal production, unchecked development, land degradation and climate change.

For Africa’s people to thrive, development across the continent must be made sustainable.

My Africa is a PASSION PLANET production in association with VISION3.