CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews A Life Among Elephants: Extraordinary life of the elephant man who took on the poachers...
A Life Among Elephants (Ch4)
Rating:
When Saba and Dudu Douglas-Hamilton were growing up in Uganda, they lived in a derelict house on the banks of the Nile that was once a lodge used by Queen Elizabeth.
It had no windows or doors. Every night, their parents, Iain and Oria, 'shoved a safari chair into the door to keep the hyenas out'.
When the girls bathed in the river, their father stood guard with an AK-47 assault rifle, in case of crocodiles.
'It was just so marvellous,' grinned Saba, on A Life Among Elephants. 'So exciting.'
'Marvellous and exciting' sums up the entire documentary, charting the life's work of Iain and Oria, whose research into the behaviour of elephants became a fearless campaign against the poachers who threatened to drive their beloved animals into extinction.
A tapestry of amateur cine footage, Oria's astonishing photographs and some horrific news footage combined to tell a story of courage and dedication that almost defies belief.
Iain, the son of a fighter pilot killed during World War II, began studying elephants in the 1960s, when little was known of their complex emotional behaviour and social hierarchies.
What began as a PhD project became a lifelong mission after he met Oria.
'He completely knocked me off my feet,' she said, still plainly adoring him after 54 years of marriage.
'Iain is an elephant, so that's his legacy. I married an elephant.'
The animals grew to trust the couple so much that one wild female, nicknamed Virgo, would come up to them and sniff their hands in greeting.
When Saba was born, Virgo sauntered over to inspect the baby in Oria's arms — then brought her own calf for the humans to meet.
Dame Jane Goodall, who was blazing her own conservation trail with chimpanzees in East Africa, described Iain as one of the few naturalists who understood animal behaviour as she did.
'They can feel fear, can be happy, their play is joyful, they care for each other, they show compassion, they both can show altruism,' she said, her enthusiasm undimmed at 91.
'We didn't talk as scientists, we talked as people who love, understand and want to help protect animals.'
But Iain's passion bordered on recklessness. Confronting poachers, he came under fire on several occasions. And as the elephants learned to hate mankind, it became increasingly dangerous to approach them.
He described, with charming nonchalance, how one defensive matriarch charged him, knocked him down and plunged her tusks into the ground next to his body.
'She's batting me around from side to side with her feet,' he said. 'It's like being in a tidal wave.' Convinced he was about to be impaled, 'I thought, this is going to be very interesting.'
He survived — but two years ago was almost killed by anaphylactic shock when a swarm of African bees attacked him and Oria.
The film charted the moment when, after months in hospital, he returned to be with elephants again. Simply extraordinary.
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'Dem get perfect dark skin': Di African nation wey be home to favourite fashion models
She wear one chic outfit, wit flowing braids and her face no get make-up, Arop Akol look like your typical off-duty model. She sit down for chair for di office of her UK agency, First Model Management, she tok about her big career wey don make her waka for runways for luxury brands for London and Paris. "I bin dey watch modelling online since I be small pikin wey dey 11 years," Akol, wey dey in her early twenties now, tell BBC. For di last three years, dem dey stream her across di world wen she dey model, she don even share runway wit Naomi Campbell for one Off-White show. To travel for work dey lonely somtimes but Akol dey constantly bump into models from her birth kontri - South Sudan wey plenti kasala dey happun. "South Sudanese pipo don become very well known for dia beauty," Akol tok, she get high cheekbones, rich, dark skin and she be 5ft 10 inches tall. Look through a fashion magazine or scan footage of any runway show and you go see Akol point - models wey dem born and raise for South Sudan, or doz ones wey from di kontri wey dey stay abroad dey evriwia. Dem range from up-and-comers, like Akol, to supermodels like Anok Yai, Adut Akech and Alek Wek. Afta dem scout her for London car park in 1995, Wek na one of di veri first South Sudanese models to find global success . She don dey appear for plenti Vogue covers and she bin don model for di likes of Dior and Louis Vuitton. And di popularity of South Sudanese models dey show no signs of slowing - leading industry platform dey put togeda annual list of modelling top 50 "future stars" and for im latest selection, one in five models get South Sudanese heritage. Vogue also feature four South Sudanese models for im article about di "11 young models set to storm di catwalks for 2025". "Di expectation of wetin model suppose be - most of di South Sudanese models get am," Dawson Deng, wey dey run South Sudan Fashion Week for di country capital, Juba, with fellow ex-model Trisha Nyachak tok. "Dem get di perfect, dark skin. Dem get di melanin. Dem get di height." Lucia Janosova, one casting agent for First Model Management, tell BBC: "Of course dem dey beautiful... beautiful skin, di height." However, she say she no dey sure exactly why fashion brands dey find South Sudanese models over oda nationalities. "I no fit tell you because plenti girls dey wey also dey beautiful and dem from Mozambique, or Nigeria, or different countries, right?" Ms Janosova add. Akur Goi, South Sudanese model wey bin work wit designers like Givenchy and Armani, get one theory. She believe say South Sudanese models dey in high demand no be sake of dia physical beauty, but for dia "strength" too. Dem born Goi for Juba but as a child, she move to neighbouring Uganda, like Akol and hundreds of thousands of oda South Sudanese. Many pipo run comot for years afta 2011, wen South Sudan become independent from Sudan. High hopes bin dey for di world newest nation, but just two years later, civil war happun, wia around 400,000 pipo die and 2.5 million homes relocate to places like Uganda. Although di civil war bin end afta five years, further waves of violence, natural disasters and poverty make pipo to continue to comot from di kontri. Recently, fighting between goment and opposition forces don increase - wey dey cause fears say di kontri go return to civil war. Afta dem comot from South Sudan for Uganda, Goi "biggest dream" na to become a model. Fantasy become reality just last year, wen agents bin find her through Facebook. For her veri first job, she walk for Italian fashion giant Roberto Cavalli. "I bin dey super excited and ready for my first season... I bin really dey nervous and scared but I tell mysef: 'I fit make am' - becos na my dream," na wetin Goi tell BBC from Milan, afta she bin fly out for a job at di last minute. But some South Sudanese models bin don get veri terrible journeys. One investigation by British newspaper the Times bin find out say two refugees wey bin dey live for camp for Kenya bin fly to Europe, but dem tell dem say dem too dey malnourished to appear for di runway. Afta di modelling jobs don complete, dem go tell many oda models say dem dey owe dia agencies thousands of euros - as some contracts specify say dem go payback di money for visas and flights, dis dey usually happun wen di models start to earn money. Akol say she bin face a similar issue. Wen dem bin find her for 2019, di agency in question bin ask her to pay for different fees - fees wey she now know say agencies no dey normally request. "Dem bin ask me to pay money for registration, money for dis, for dat. I no fit manage all dat. I dey struggle, my family dey struggle, so I no fit manage all dat," she tok. Three years later, wen she bin dey live for Uganda, one ogbonge agency eventually scout her. Deng, wey dey help upcoming South Sudanese models produce portfolios, tell BBC say some of dem bin dey complain say dem dey pay dem for jobs wit clothes, instead of money. Many models also come up against anoda challenge - dia family perception of dia career choice. "Dem bin no want am and dem no want am now," Akol, wey dey live for London, now tok about her own relatives. "But we [models] bin manage to come up and say: 'We be young kontri. We need to go out and meet pipo. We need to do tins wey evribody dey do.'" Deng say di pipo wey dey live for urban areas don become more open-minded, but some South Sudanese dey see modelling as prostitution. Parents dey question di whole concept - dem dey wonder why dia daughters go dey "waka for pipo front ", im tok. Deng remember one young woman wey im bin dey assist wey bin dey about to fly out for her first international job. Di young woman family wey no happy say she be model, follow her to airport just to stop her make she no enta di plane. But, Deng say, di woman relatives eventually allow her and she don dey model for one top lingerie brand since. "Dis girl na actually di breadwinner of di family. She dey send all her siblings to school and nobody dey tok about am as bad tin again," im tok. Im dey "proud" to see dis model - and odas from South Sudan - on di global stage and although di industry dey cycle through trends, Deng no believe say South Sudanese models go go out of fashion. Goi agree, im say "increasing demand for diversity" in fashion dey. Akol too believe say South Sudan don come to stay, dem say: "Alek Wek don dey do am before dem born me and she still dey do am now. "South Sudanese models dey go a long way."
