Murder on the Lake


Murder on the Lake

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For more than twenty years, filmmaker Joan Root had a life of romance and endless adventure,

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making documentaries with her daredevil husband about the wilds of the continent that she loved.

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..independence means a better life...

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But it was a love that could not be sustained

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in an Africa that was changing.

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A love that would become dangerous when she tried to save a lake that came to define her whole world.

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Joan didn't realise that this is a life and death question to people, to families, young,

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still hungry, wanting a life.

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SHOUTING

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She bailed him out of trouble.

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She paid people off to keep him out of trouble.

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And we don't know what hold he had on her, or why.

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She knew she was trapped, she knew she was going down a pipeline

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and she desperately wanted out, but she didn't know how.

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GUNFIRE

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SHOUTING

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Whatever happened, whatever Joan did, whatever caused somebody to think

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that she deserved...

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what she got...

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..I find that very difficult.

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..to track the gunmen and are under pressure as this is the latest in a series of murders of white people...

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..and suspect it was an act of retaliation for her conservation work.

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The attack happened at her home near Lake Naivasha.

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Alan Root and his wife, Joan, are reckoned to be

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the best wildlife filmmakers in the business. Just watch them.

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They're coming back, Alan, are you ready?

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-OK.

-Ready? Go!

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It was an endless adventure.

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She was great, very game and didn't complain,

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and loved it. And I think she did love it.

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We'd come down from the far end of Uganda, you know, Kadepo National Park, right up near the Sudan,

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one day in Nairobi, turn around, and we'd be off to the Serengeti or wherever, just non-stop.

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What is it the Roots have that makes them the A-team?

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Well, for a start, they are obviously just that, a team.

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She was absolutely great. I could come and say, "Hey, we're off to wherever."

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And she'd say, "How long?" and I'd say, "About a month,"

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and that would be it. And the next thing I'd know, she was filling the house with supplies

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and I'd have to pack them in the car and the trailer and off we'd go.

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Through the 1960s and 70s, Joan and Alan Root made nearly 40 ground-breaking documentaries,

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capturing images of wildlife as never seen before

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and opening the world's eyes to the wonders of their beloved Africa.

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Joan was born into the ruling class of colonial Kenya, the only child of an English settler.

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Her family had made a fortune, first as coffee farmers,

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and then as pioneers of the emerging safari business.

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Joan enjoyed a life of elite schools and endless safaris.

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DISTANT VOICES

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When she returned to the colony after finishing school in Europe,

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her reputation preceded her.

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I'd heard about this girl, a lot of guys were talking about her.

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She'd been away to school in Switzerland and had just come back and caused quite a stir.

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She was definitely one of the most beautiful young women in Kenya at the time.

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I drove up in my battered old Jeep to a lodge in Ngorangora crater in Tanzania,

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and there was this big safari wagon covered in mud

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that just drove in with a big cage full of chickens on top.

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And out stepped this stunning girl in a sort of safari outfit,

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and, er...

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well, I was instantly smitten.

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It was about a year later we got married.

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The Roots spent their honeymoon filming in the bush.

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It was the beginning of a project to reveal to the world

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an Africa different from white hunters seeking the excitement of the kill.

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The Roots' Africa was delicate, beautiful, pristine

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and complex.

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We saw nature holistically.

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We never made a film about a single species, because that isn't the way they are,

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everything is interconnected, there's so many sub-plots, if you like.

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She was incredibly observant.

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She would say "Hey,

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"look at this, there's something else going on here."

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And we'd be able to incorporate that into the story.

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Joan and Alan were a complete unit.

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Alan was the sort of genius and Joan was the side-kick.

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They knew how each other thought.

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Joan had got the right lens out almost before Alan asked for it.

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Both of them loved what they were doing.

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She knew exactly what was needed and she presented it.

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Anybody who saw films like that, it was new.

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Millions of people around the world watched the Roots' films and now wanted to visit Africa.

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Discover it. The wild is where you find peace,

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where you feel that nothing much has changed for the last 200,000 years.

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By the late '70s, more than 250,000 people a year were flying to Kenya.

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Within the world of wildlife and conservation, the Roots were celebrities.

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Completed last year, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary of 1978.

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With extraordinary patience and ingenuity, a husband-wife team of naturalist-photographers has...

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Joan organises their trips and uses her vast knowledge of wildlife to contribute to their scripts.

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Though she looks fragile, her appearance is deceptive.

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We'd both wanted kids when we first got married,

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but decided to put it off until we got established.

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And she just went along to have a check and the doctor said,

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"I'm sorry to tell you that you're having premature menopause symptoms

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"and I don't think you're going to be able to conceive."

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And sure enough she couldn't.

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She was so successful in every other field and...

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and couldn't have children.

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You could see her pain.

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And she never really discussed that with me or with anyone,

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and so there was never ever a discussion about whether we should adopt.

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It was just closed, a closed subject,

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and she just internalised that pain and she lived with that.

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Something that I learned later in life was that her parents had followed this strange doctor's idea

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of bringing up children, which was that if a child cried, you just let it cry.

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And then it knew that no help was coming and it would grow up knowing that it was on its own

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and independent and not yelling for help when it needed it.

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It was almost as though that upbringing had produced this behaviour

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where you just didn't call out for help.

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Early in their marriage, Joan and Alan settled on the shores of Lake Naivasha,

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the only freshwater lake in Kenya, known the world over for its extraordinary plant and wildlife.

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It was paradise. It really was. I mean...

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they were just ranches around the edge.

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The land was spread out and full of wildlife, masses of wildlife coming down to drink in the lake.

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Full of hippos,

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vast areas of water lilies

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with thousands of water birds.

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Unpolluted, clean.

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It was just incredible.

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We had a net about this long,

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which we had just waist deep out from the edge.

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You could walk out to unload the fish

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and that provided us and our staff and our otters and our tame heron,

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we got all the fish we needed from a 6ft long net.

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Their lakeside home became a sanctuary for the menagerie of wounded animals they'd adopted.

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And provided a break from the gruelling schedules that pulled them across the continent.

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We spent so much time together.

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We'd be in the vehicle from dawn to dusk, just every day, every day.

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We often joked that we had five years of togetherness

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for every normal year of marriage.

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And I think that actually got to us after a while.

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It wasn't something we could discuss, so it just didn't get discussed.

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And if you don't talk about those kind of problems, they don't get solved.

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In 1983, after more than 20 years of marriage, Alan had an affair.

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But after three years of turmoil, they both agreed they wanted their old life back.

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A couple of days after I got back, Jenny, the lady I'd been with,

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was told she had leukaemia and had probably two years to live.

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I felt that I couldn't abandon her...

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..and I think Joan felt, "Well, two years, you know, it's been eight months already,

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"let's hang on. This is something Alan needs to do."

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And I felt I needed to do it.

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And so, there was just a tacit agreement that that's what would happen,

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that I would stay with Jenny and that I'd be back.

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Jenny lived another 15 years.

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Joan was absolutely devastated. I mean, Alan was just the other part of her.

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They were two halves of a whole as far as she was concerned.

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And she really was lost when it all broke up.

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Here, you lose your whole life, really,

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as a business, you lose your vocation, you lose your best friend,

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you lose your partner, you lose your lover,

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you lose your husband, you lose everything in a very short period of time. How do you cope with that?

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Joan moved to live down here in Naivasha, which had been their home since 1960,

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but, basically, it was a dumping ground between filming trips.

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She didn't know Naivasha, she didn't know the area, she didn't know the people.

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And, suddenly, she was a lonely woman

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sitting in this big lonely house

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with her only friends, the animals, around her.

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Joan turned in on herself,

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a woman in her late forties who'd lost her place in the world.

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For the better part of a decade, she spent much of her time tending to her land and feeding her animals,

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as the Africa around her changed.

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And Nelson Mandela walks to freedom,

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betraying only the hesitation that comes of a man thrust into the spotlight again after 27 years.

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..the Hutu exodus from Rwanda continues.

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Today, a constant stream of frightened people made the crossing to Zaire.

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They're fleeing what may be...

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..the scale of the crisis is evident...

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It was the lake that gave her a renewed purpose.

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In the mid-'90s, more than a decade after her split from Alan,

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she started noticing changes in its levels,

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and the behaviour patterns of the plant and wildlife it sustained.

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The outside world, in the form of industry, could no longer be ignored.

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She loved nature. That was her life.

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She cared about the great infrastructure of nature and how it worked,

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and how one small change in nature can have such a big chain reaction.

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She was looking at it from a complete ecological standpoint.

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Things were changing on that lake.

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She saw the effects of the lake going down and coming back up, the different algae that was produced,

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the different things that would start growing at certain times of the year,

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and she was concerned about why the ecology of the lake was changing.

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It didn't surprise me when she started to concentrate on the lake

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because it's such a personal thing, you know,

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we had several hundred yards of lake frontage which had once been pristine and untouched,

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and the odd fisherman would go past in his canoe and wave.

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And then suddenly, she'd have 50 acres just down the road is covered in plastic.

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They were pumping water straight out of the lake,

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there were pollutants going back into the lake in the form of pesticides and fertiliser and so on.

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And so I think she had a very good case against them.

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And once she took it up, I knew she'd be passionate and militant about it.

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There's a timeless feeling on this lake, but things are changing here.

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The woods that once cloaked the surrounding hills have mostly been felled.

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And now the lake itself may be facing new threats from man.

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The threats come from the flower farmers that have burgeoned

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on the shores of Lake Naivasha, roses and carnations for the living rooms of Europe.

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The flower industry started more or less probably by accident

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in the late '70s with two companies, a Danish company called DCK and Oserian.

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Both these companies were really struggling like pioneers do,

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and last minute they got it right

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and actually paved the way for the industry.

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On the back of these two companies, many other entrepreneurs jumped on the bandwagon.

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Infrastructure on the farms was developed, infrastructure in Nairobi was developed.

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The freighters started to coming in and it sort of developed

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into a serious exporting business for this country which, at this point,

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can be considered as probably one of the biggest success stories in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Walk into any supermarket, you'll notice flower displays placed strategically near the door.

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We spend £750 million a year on cut flowers from supermarkets and they deliver big profit margins.

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Flower growing is Kenya's big success story,

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fast catching up with coffee and tea as its top employer, and a major export earner.

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The large farms employ anything up to 4,000 workers each,

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they come from all over the country to this Mecca of employment.

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Most of these immigrants end up living in slums.

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Prior to the 1980s, it was just people living here, it was a small community.

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But once the flower industry started, that requires a lot of employees,

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and suddenly Naivasha boomed and expanded big-time.

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A lot of migrant workers moved in and with them come more people again,

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because there's a service industry as well for people who have a wage.

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The problem is that the pressure around the edge of the lake from the horticultural industry

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and the people who work in the horticultural industry together

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are creating what scientists call "eutrophication",

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which just means the lake is over-fertilised, overfed really.

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The algal growth gets thicker,

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it becomes a pea soup at times.

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The end species that thrive in the highest concentrations produce toxins

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and when they're in really, really high concentrations,

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the toxins that get into the water are in a high enough concentration to cause damage to mammals.

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Joan saw that the increase of the development and the agricultural development

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and the industry round the lake was actually the prime cause

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of the changes on the lake.

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She was not afraid of standing up and voicing her opinions.

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She wasn't afraid of standing up and actually implementing her opinions,

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if she thought that they would have an impact,

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Joan helped to persuade the flower farms to stop building on riparian land,

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the delicate band bordering the lake that is crucial to the local plant and wildlife.

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She joined a growing campaign to reduce their use of fertilisers and pesticides.

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She drew attention to the millions of gallons they were siphoning weekly to water their product.

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Then she took on another, more sensitive issue.

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As people continued to flood into the area,

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desperate for work on the flower farms, they and their families needed to eat.

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They turned to the lake for free food.

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By 1998, Lake Naivasha was dangerously low on fish.

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The local department of fisheries was powerless in the face of this assault on the lake.

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Its enforcement staff consisted of just three men and a boat, often with no fuel to power it.

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With the department's support, Joan stepped in with a plan

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that went beyond the one year fishing ban already being discussed.

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We were literally running out of fish,

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so it was agreed that the fishing on the lake should be shut down totally for a whole year,

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but, of course, it didn't stop the illegal poachers,

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who were dragging their nets through the shallow waters,

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which is an illegal way of fishing, does a lot of harm to the submerged vegetation

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and takes out all the baby fish before they've had a chance to grow big enough to breed,

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which of course totally went against everything that Joan believed in.

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The poachers were unbelievably bold.

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You would see them in the riparian land of many of the flower farms,

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fishing with complete impunity because they knew nobody was going to come and challenge them.

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They were quite capable of being violent, quite capable of attacking anybody.

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So she went off and thought, "Well, what's the best way of dealing with this?

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"Let's get poachers, turn them into gamekeepers." Good idea, good plan.

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Enter Mr Chege.

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Mr Chege was very, very plausible.

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He was a very, very intelligent young man.

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He was a great marketing man, he was a great communicator, and he got Joan's confidence.

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She put together, with him, a little task force

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that ranged from eight people to 15 people just to control and make sure fishing was protected

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so that you didn't overfish the lake.

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"February 3rd, 2001. Spoke with Chege.

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"He came up with good points, illustrating bad fishing methods.

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"I spoke about my plan to patrol with 15 guys.

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"Nets - 19 x 3½ inch three-ply.

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"1 x 3½ inch three-ply. 3x3 inch two-ply.

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"5x4 inch two-ply.

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"500g nylon wire,

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"one 400g nylon wire..."

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For a while it did very good work.

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The number of nets that they managed to confiscate was unbelievable.

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There were always a mountain of them in her back yard.

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Chege and team pulled up about 40 2x2½ two-ply nets.

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Long talks with Chege about their operation.

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Yesterday they went to Kabonge where they burnt ten boats and caught three poachers.

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There's no Swahili word for "poachers".

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It's a colonial word. It's bad, it's evil.

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Any poacher is something that has to be eliminated.

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Poachers don't know where to put themselves, because they're not evil.

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They're ordinary people just trying to make a living.

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They don't see any way they've wronged.

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They've not gone to steal, they've not gone to kill anybody, they're not even stealing nets.

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They've only gone to fish in a God-given lake.

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"Naivasha Fisheries Report. Two years leading up to April 2003.

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"Improved sizes of fish leading to partial..."

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"General improvement on shoreline ecology..."

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"Confiscation of over 3,000 illegal fishing nets and more than six arrests..."

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"Arrests of over 400 suspects."

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The poachers Joan was trying to eliminate were like most

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of the 350,000 people living in the slums that now surrounded the lake.

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Only one in ten had found employment on the farms.

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The rest scraped out livings as best they could.

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The flower industry is directly responsible for the slums.

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I'm not talking necessarily every flower farm,

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but the flower industry in Naivasha,

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I think one could say, must be responsible for the slums.

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Firstly, because their workers come from there, they're not housed on-site,

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and, secondly, because they have

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indirectly encouraged the massive growth of satellite industries

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and migration of people into this area who weren't here before,

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who have come to look for jobs

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or to be supported by the one or two of their family who have jobs on the flower farms.

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Where do these people get their firewood? Where do they get their charcoal for cooking?

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Where do they get their meat?

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A family of five uses one bag of charcoal a month.

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Now, there is 60,000 households around Naivasha, where do they get their charcoal?

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It has to come from the catchment.

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Is there any trees specifically planted

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to be able to meet the charcoal demand so it can help counter the deforestation of the catchment? No.

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Joan knew that the disappearing fish

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were just part of the larger environmental destruction of Naivasha.

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What she didn't know, or perhaps chose not to acknowledge,

0:28:500:28:54

was that the fish the poachers didn't eat they sold onto middle men,

0:28:540:28:59

who were part of a criminal industry that stretched all the way to the capital of Nairobi.

0:28:590:29:04

I did worry about her.

0:29:090:29:10

Where food is concerned, it's a big issue in this country, especially if you're white,

0:29:100:29:15

especially when you've got enough food and there's people,

0:29:150:29:18

you know, around the place that are all looking for the cheapest source of protein they can get.

0:29:180:29:24

I suppose a lot of people were making a lot of money from those under-sized fish.

0:29:240:29:29

There's a consumer, there's a buyer, there's a wholesaler, so if they're not getting...

0:29:290:29:33

if she's making it difficult for these tiny fish to be sold,

0:29:330:29:38

then that's very much infringing on their business.

0:29:380:29:41

But if Joan knew, she didn't let it stop her.

0:29:500:29:54

She had bankrolled the task force for four years now

0:29:540:29:57

and watched with mounting excitement as the fish returned to the lake in healthy, marketable sizes.

0:29:570:30:03

The fishermen were relieved because they were back to earning a living.

0:30:060:30:11

The community was happy. There were now plenty of fish to buy at market.

0:30:110:30:16

To celebrate, she and the fisheries department held a public burning

0:30:180:30:22

of the thousands of nets they'd confiscated.

0:30:220:30:25

Joan's mission was succeeding.

0:30:250:30:28

The task force filled a big empty space.

0:30:300:30:34

She was part of a gang, in a way.

0:30:340:30:37

I think it was, you know, quite exciting.

0:30:370:30:39

She was able to achieve something.

0:30:390:30:43

Every day, she had to get up and do something that was quite compelling.

0:30:430:30:46

But as time went on, questions were starting to be raised

0:30:550:30:59

about the motives and methods of the man Joan had put in charge.

0:30:590:31:05

"Payments to Chege, 9th of November 700 shillings, 25th of December..."

0:31:300:31:34

Chege grew up in the slums

0:32:180:32:21

in that young, changing Kenya with limited opportunities.

0:32:210:32:27

Joan grew up with almost, what you would say, unlimited opportunities,

0:32:270:32:33

and then went to pursue wildlife photography and wildlife conservation,

0:32:330:32:39

which in itself is almost a different class from the realities of what Kenya is,

0:32:390:32:44

a changing country, a new generation coming, hungry, wanting to be able to take also opportunities.

0:32:440:32:49

Joan, she wanted to preserve the lake as natural and pristine as she'd seen it in her lifetime.

0:32:490:32:57

To Chege, here is a way, a vehicle to make all the money he want.

0:33:000:33:05

What is conservation?

0:33:050:33:08

Well, I don't think Chege really understood what conservation is.

0:33:080:33:12

From a poacher who was humble and trying to sell his fish,

0:33:160:33:20

given the power, he became an absolute dictator

0:33:200:33:24

with the total power to crush things.

0:33:240:33:28

He realised within no time that, "I am the man, I have the power,"

0:33:290:33:34

and he used those powers brutally.

0:33:340:33:36

They fight. You've got to retaliate, haven't you?

0:34:100:34:14

And retaliation is arresting someone with the minimum of amount of force necessary, which you can do,

0:34:140:34:21

but sometimes, you know, you go too far,

0:34:210:34:26

or one is able to go too far.

0:34:260:34:28

SHOUTING

0:34:300:34:32

They were the force.

0:34:370:34:39

They were the law.

0:34:390:34:41

There was no need for court - they were the court.

0:34:430:34:45

So they had the right to beat you up, the right to humiliate you as much as they want

0:34:450:34:50

and inflict any fee they deem fit within the time.

0:34:500:34:55

But to the local realities, we want food.

0:34:560:35:00

The task force did not realise that this is a life-and-death question.

0:35:020:35:06

They have to feed their families.

0:35:060:35:09

They have to have a living.

0:35:090:35:11

By early 2004, a war had broken out on the lake,

0:35:150:35:19

with both sides resorting to increasingly desperate measures.

0:35:190:35:24

Then an incident involving a young poacher named Joseph Ojare changed everything.

0:35:250:35:31

I go to the hospital,

0:36:300:36:33

and I find Ojare there to the hospital crying,

0:36:330:36:38

serious crying.

0:36:380:36:40

He told me, "Andrew, I was beaten serious.

0:36:420:36:47

"I was beaten my whole body."

0:36:480:36:51

"By who?"

0:36:570:36:59

He told me, "Mr Chege

0:36:590:37:02

"and all of task force."

0:37:020:37:06

There was no evidence that Chege had been personally responsible for the assault.

0:37:350:37:41

But as rumours spread through the slums, human-rights organisations began to scrutinise the case.

0:37:410:37:48

The task force was facing a public-relations disaster.

0:37:480:37:52

Gaymer and Chege know if this man is here,

0:37:540:37:59

they will be prosecuted, because human right...

0:37:590:38:05

.they will follow this channel up to the police commissioner,

0:38:060:38:11

so they know this is a serious case.

0:38:110:38:15

So what we have to do,

0:38:170:38:19

we have to...

0:38:190:38:21

take this man away.

0:38:210:38:23

And they go to the hospital

0:38:250:38:28

and tell the man, "Leave about human right.

0:38:280:38:32

"They cannot help you, they cannot give you money, you leave about them.

0:38:320:38:37

"We want to give you 50,000

0:38:370:38:40

"and hide you away from Naivasha."

0:38:400:38:42

Ojare returned to his village.

0:38:460:38:48

Several weeks later, he died from complications from surgery to repair his broken leg.

0:38:480:38:55

In that story, the man was in the hospital

0:38:560:39:00

and you or Chege paid for him to go home because this was going to become...

0:39:000:39:06

-an issue for the task force. Is that true?

-Correct.

0:39:060:39:11

But Joan paid, not me.

0:39:110:39:14

What exactly did she do - Joan?

0:39:140:39:17

I think through Chege

0:39:170:39:19

they went and paid the hospital bill and got the man out and gave him enough money to get home.

0:39:190:39:25

And their reasoning was...?

0:39:250:39:27

There was going to be more trouble had he remained with a broken leg

0:39:270:39:31

and everyone could point a finger at the task force.

0:39:310:39:35

So Joan actually paid.

0:39:350:39:38

Joan paid.

0:39:380:39:40

Joan paid a lot of money on things like that,

0:39:400:39:44

and I'm sure she paid a lot that I didn't know about and never got to know about.

0:39:440:39:49

News of Ojare's death spread around the lake.

0:39:580:40:01

The task force and anyone associated with it were now perceived to have blood on their hands.

0:40:010:40:07

Ojare's death was part of a changing Naivasha.

0:40:520:40:56

By early 2005, the area had become a hotbed of violent crime.

0:40:560:41:02

Rapes, car jackings and armed robberies were common.

0:41:020:41:05

Whites and blacks alike were being murdered, sometimes for as little as 50 or a mobile phone.

0:41:050:41:12

Yet people kept coming,

0:41:140:41:16

lured by the dream of getting some of the run-off from the riches of the flower industry.

0:41:160:41:21

The industry was now a global player, one of the top three flower producers in the world.

0:41:210:41:27

Over 20,000 employees and their families are dependent

0:41:270:41:30

on the flower-growing companies around Lake Naivasha.

0:41:300:41:34

Flying them to the USA, Canada.

0:41:340:41:37

A lot of countries, from France, Belgium, Italy, Russia,

0:41:370:41:41

Far East, Japan, Poland, Scandinavian countries.

0:41:410:41:47

It's extremely important to Kenya economically.

0:41:470:41:51

It's an industry of which we are very proud. We are trying to do our best.

0:41:510:41:55

What's happened here in Naivasha is a form of industrial progress.

0:41:550:42:00

Industrial progress demands compromise.

0:42:000:42:04

To the eye, if you come here into Naivasha coming from the escarpment

0:42:060:42:10

and you see these acres and acres and acres of plastic,

0:42:100:42:15

yeah, of course it looks different than 30, 35 years ago,

0:42:150:42:19

where there was no plastic and no shanty towns, and no everything, and it was absolutely pristine.

0:42:190:42:25

I could run down a 1½ hour list of projects

0:42:300:42:35

which have been done by the private sector around Lake Naivasha which is actually not our responsibility.

0:42:350:42:42

Schools are not our responsibility, roads are not our responsibility,

0:42:420:42:47

hospitals are not our responsibility.

0:42:470:42:50

At the end of the day, half the schools wouldn't be here

0:42:500:42:53

if there wouldn't be flower farms, and half the hospitals wouldn't be here.

0:42:530:42:57

The huge number of flower farms

0:43:050:43:08

in Naivasha at the moment is unsustainable.

0:43:080:43:11

It is going to kill the lake.

0:43:110:43:13

Because the flower has to be fed.

0:43:160:43:19

It has to have that constant water to meet the market dates and to meet the required production standards.

0:43:190:43:26

A rose is 70% water,

0:43:280:43:32

and it's flown all over the world,

0:43:320:43:34

every single day, 365 days, constantly.

0:43:340:43:41

That is Naivasha water pumped out of the area and flown all over the world every single day.

0:43:410:43:48

Joan was very realistic and realised that this was just part of the way it was going,

0:44:000:44:06

development was the human way of life.

0:44:060:44:09

Because of the encroachment of the farms, the greenhouses,

0:44:130:44:18

the development and all the rest of it,

0:44:180:44:21

she really felt that there should be some place that was

0:44:210:44:26

in its natural, untouched virgin state.

0:44:260:44:29

She wanted her land to be an example to others

0:44:330:44:37

of what this area used to be like.

0:44:370:44:40

And I think her passion for what she did here was a silent protest.

0:44:410:44:48

In May 2005, John Sutton, a security consultant

0:45:080:45:12

hired by Naivasha landowners to reduce crime around the lake,

0:45:120:45:16

rented the cottage adjoining Joan's house.

0:45:160:45:20

He was immediately struck by Joan's connection to her land.

0:45:200:45:24

You could see that it was very much part of her being, her existence.

0:45:260:45:31

She was like part of it. It was like she had roots in the ground.

0:45:310:45:35

When she was moving, her steps and everything was like just part of it.

0:45:350:45:39

She would stand still and the mongooses would be around her, and wild animals,

0:45:390:45:45

but they weren't afraid.

0:45:450:45:47

I was fascinated by this connection to nature.

0:45:490:45:53

It was something I'd never, ever experienced or seen in my life before.

0:45:530:45:59

Amazing. Er, she was really in tune.

0:45:590:46:02

It wasn't long before Sutton discovered that not everything was as harmonious as it seemed.

0:46:150:46:21

Joan had a Stone sign that had JR written and painted on it.

0:46:230:46:28

I started finding that stone in different places.

0:46:290:46:32

I found it upside down, I'd find it in the tree,

0:46:320:46:35

I found it with what looked like blood had been poured on it.

0:46:350:46:41

Sometimes I'd come to the second gate and there was a chicken, not stuffed.

0:46:420:46:47

It had been put with straw on the gate.

0:46:470:46:49

I was worried, because witchcraft in this part of the world is serious stuff.

0:46:530:46:59

When I confronted Joan about the situation, she told me it had been going on quite some time

0:47:010:47:07

and she explained that it was a neighbour thing and that it was actually a personal feud.

0:47:070:47:13

I said, "OK, but perhaps we should get the neighbour over to come and talk and maybe find out what's..."

0:47:150:47:21

"Oh, no, no. I can't. She won't come and talk to me. She hates me."

0:47:210:47:25

I said, "What do you mean, she hates you?"

0:47:250:47:28

"Oh, yes, she hates me. That's another story."

0:47:280:47:30

For as long has Joan had lived in Naivasha, Diana Bunny had been her neighbour.

0:47:320:47:38

Like Joan, she'd been born into the colonial world.

0:47:380:47:42

Her grandparents had arrived as missionaries early in the century

0:47:420:47:46

and her father had been the local doctor for 40 years.

0:47:460:47:51

She, too, had a clear vision for her land.

0:47:510:47:54

It was a place of peace,

0:47:560:47:58

comfort,

0:47:580:48:01

joy and encouragement, and hope.

0:48:010:48:05

We've felt it was God's property.

0:48:090:48:11

When you come here, you feel God's presence here. It's different.

0:48:130:48:18

You feel the love and care. That's what people have said.

0:48:180:48:24

And they've loved coming,

0:48:240:48:26

and it's...

0:48:260:48:28

so warm and welcoming.

0:48:280:48:31

So that's the reputation it has had.

0:48:310:48:34

Since inheriting the 22-acre plot from her parents,

0:48:420:48:47

Diana, a single woman, had struggled to make ends meet.

0:48:470:48:51

For Joan, Diana's hardship presented an opportunity.

0:48:510:48:56

Joan wanted that land for the animals.

0:48:560:48:59

She wanted to leave it as it is, clean, wild for the animals,

0:48:590:49:04

which are lucky enough to get in there, to be there and be safe.

0:49:040:49:07

I think she was very worried that one day Diana would leave this to a church group

0:49:070:49:12

and it would all be sold for development in some way that Joan wouldn't have liked.

0:49:120:49:17

She told me that they were the best of friends,

0:49:200:49:24

and they were the best of friends until such time as she'd made a bid

0:49:240:49:28

and she'd wanted to buy that property.

0:49:280:49:30

And since then, that was it, they were absolute enemies.

0:49:300:49:35

"I have been very distressed and deeply hurt since I received your letter..."

0:49:350:49:39

"I should be careful before throwing out false accusations.

0:49:390:49:43

"I too am heartily sick of incidents that have happened..."

0:49:430:49:47

"It is very upsetting when what I do or say is misconstrued.

0:49:470:49:51

"Please let me know what..." "No-one can underestimate God's power.

0:49:510:49:55

"And as I have told many people, this is God's property."

0:49:550:50:00

We were very friendly with her,

0:50:000:50:03

invited her over,

0:50:030:50:06

but behind one's back the terrible things she said

0:50:060:50:12

were not true

0:50:120:50:15

and trying to just get us out, really.

0:50:150:50:19

It was all quite a dangerous game.

0:50:200:50:23

Sutton discovered that the feud with her neighbour wasn't the only intrigue in Joan's life.

0:50:330:50:39

By now, Joan had downscaled the task force to Chege and four others

0:50:400:50:45

whose only job was to patrol her lakefront.

0:50:450:50:48

Yet former members were still coming and going.

0:50:480:50:52

Joan was known to be generous,

0:50:520:50:55

but Sutton sensed that these men weren't looking for new jobs or handouts.

0:50:550:51:00

One evening, when Joan shared an ominous text message with him,

0:51:010:51:06

he got a glimpse of the complicated web in which she was caught.

0:51:060:51:11

I asked Joan, "What did this mean?"

0:51:110:51:14

And she said, "Well,

0:51:140:51:17

"what this is is members of the task force who are protecting me

0:51:170:51:22

"against illegal fishermen who we had apprehended during the time of the task force

0:51:220:51:28

"who now want to come and do me in."

0:51:280:51:31

I asked her, "How do you know it's happening?" "Well, I don't know," she said.

0:51:350:51:40

"I'm being told this by my main guy, because I trust him.

0:51:400:51:45

"He's protecting me. He's the only person that's protecting me from all these situations."

0:51:450:51:50

BARKING

0:51:520:51:55

I became very concerned.

0:52:010:52:04

I didn't understand this relationship,

0:52:040:52:06

I didn't understand where the levels of loyalty lay and so on.

0:52:060:52:10

And there were too many contradictions at that time. Things were not adding up.

0:52:100:52:15

Things were not right.

0:52:150:52:18

Sutton now feared for Joan's very safety.

0:52:220:52:26

Then he found out something that made him worry even more.

0:52:260:52:30

Four months earlier, Joan had been car-jacked as she drove home from the bank with the staff's wages.

0:52:300:52:36

SHOUTING

0:52:360:52:38

The gang had slapped her around and stolen her phone and cash.

0:52:380:52:42

Some of her friends were suspicious that Chege had been involved,

0:52:420:52:46

a charge he'd vigorously denied and for which the police had found no evidence.

0:52:460:52:51

Joan's faith in him had never wavered.

0:52:510:52:55

Chege really had her confidence.

0:52:550:52:57

She liked him, she respected him, she thought that he had integrity.

0:52:570:53:03

She really thought that he was there for the reasons that she was there.

0:53:030:53:08

In actual fact, he wasn't.

0:53:080:53:10

It was very personal.

0:53:100:53:12

I don't suspect they were necessarily having a physical relationship,

0:53:120:53:16

but, spiritually, they were so entwined, that she was wrapped in that and he was the focal point.

0:53:160:53:23

"Dashed to meet Chege to give him 22,000 shillings."

0:53:250:53:29

"Chege phoned. Last night they ambushed at Bushey Island."

0:53:290:53:32

"Three of them were attacked by 18 men."

0:53:320:53:34

"Chege wrote me a letter wanting to buy a small motorbike."

0:53:340:53:37

"Chege came to tell me latest intrigues from Fisheries."

0:53:370:53:39

"Told Chege to send Umwara tomorrow as a spy."

0:53:390:53:43

"Chege came and we discussed Saturday and Sunday."

0:53:430:53:47

The more I questioned, the more I realised how...

0:53:470:53:52

wrapped up Joan was in this whole security situation.

0:53:520:53:57

It had become a way of life. It had entrapped her completely.

0:53:570:54:03

And it was almost like it was like a drug for her.

0:54:030:54:07

The intrigue, the mystique,

0:54:090:54:12

the cloak-and-dagger kind of scenarios,

0:54:120:54:15

it was an alternative existence to the outside world.

0:54:170:54:22

It was a life where she was in charge, she was in control,

0:54:230:54:28

where she was able to take care of herself.

0:54:280:54:32

And this was, I think, going back to perhaps...

0:54:320:54:35

The start of all that was the breakdown of when she departed from her previous marriage.

0:54:350:54:43

She talked about Alan quite a lot.

0:54:550:54:58

He was still, in a funny way,

0:54:580:55:00

a part of her life, in that he was very much a presence in her house.

0:55:000:55:06

The sitting room had the same covers on the sofa and the books on the shelves.

0:55:080:55:14

The dining room had stayed the same way.

0:55:140:55:17

Though she wanted to change the house, she couldn't bear to take away a lot of the memories.

0:55:210:55:27

She told me on several occasions that Alan was the only person

0:55:290:55:34

that she was able to share and experience nature

0:55:340:55:40

in the way that she loved to do it.

0:55:400:55:43

There was nobody that she could walk around in the bush with,

0:55:450:55:50

and they would both notice and be interested in exactly the same things.

0:55:500:55:55

She really, really missed that.

0:55:570:56:00

She really missed...

0:56:000:56:02

being with him.

0:56:020:56:05

And, erm...

0:56:050:56:07

..I think she always thought they'd be together again.

0:56:120:56:16

And she came over one evening with a letter that I think he'd written to quite a few friends.

0:56:160:56:23

She read the letter to me with tears in her eyes.

0:56:230:56:28

It was the realisation that they weren't going to be together again,

0:56:310:56:35

and the letter was basically saying that he had met Fran and that they were going to have a baby together.

0:56:350:56:41

And I suppose that was the end of a dream and a hope that she'd had.

0:56:410:56:45

"Long talk with John about the task force.

0:56:520:56:55

"He advised me to completely close down, get rid of Chege and all five of them.

0:56:550:57:01

"At night, stayed awake worrying what to do about Chege."

0:57:010:57:06

For weeks, a member of Joan's house staff had been stealing money from her bedroom.

0:57:120:57:18

When she discovered that the thief had a close connection to Chege, she finally accepted that he had to go.

0:57:180:57:24

I said to Joan, "Remember the laws of the land, the perception of the laws of the land.

0:57:260:57:31

"You're going to have to pay him off."

0:57:310:57:33

I said, "When you do pay him off, you'd better be generous,

0:57:330:57:37

"because you don't want anybody coming back in the back door saying, 'You didn't see me.'"

0:57:370:57:42

Joan reached a settlement with Chege and found him a job in western Kenya.

0:57:450:57:50

He and his family left Naivasha.

0:57:500:57:53

Two weeks later, Sutton had a rude awakening.

0:57:550:57:59

SHOUTING

0:58:040:58:07

ALARM SOUNDS

0:58:070:58:10

I heard this shouting. I stick my head out to see what was going on,

0:58:100:58:14

and I saw somebody running up, and he was shouting and shouting, "Mama has been taken.

0:58:140:58:20

"Mama has been taken."

0:58:200:58:22

SHOUTING

0:58:220:58:24

I thought, "Oh, my God, Joan's been attacked, she's been abducted and she's been taken down to the lake."

0:58:270:58:34

GUNSHOTS

0:58:350:58:37

I fired two shots into the air.

0:58:370:58:41

Within a couple of seconds after firing the two shots,

0:58:410:58:45

I heard another replying shot.

0:58:450:58:48

I rushed downstairs, and as I got to the door, my phone rang.

0:58:490:58:53

It was Joan saying,

0:58:550:58:58

"I'm OK, I'm OK."

0:58:580:59:01

And I said, "Joan, where are you?"

0:59:010:59:03

She said, "I'm in the staff quarters."

0:59:030:59:05

She'd managed to escape out the back door.

0:59:080:59:12

They had broken into the house.

0:59:120:59:14

The fact that they had gone through some drawers in the office

0:59:140:59:17

suggests there were some documents they were looking for.

0:59:170:59:20

I do know that Joan had been keeping some title deeds of land

0:59:200:59:24

whilst the staff were repaying the loan.

0:59:240:59:28

Joan had bought property for some of her staff,

0:59:280:59:33

including Chege.

0:59:330:59:35

I don't think she chose to read clearly the signs -

0:59:530:59:57

too proud, too sucked into the energy of being...

0:59:571:00:02

in her home, on her land.

1:00:021:00:06

Perhaps had lost sight of...

1:00:061:00:09

the fact that life would go on on her lawn without her.

1:00:091:00:14

Perhaps scared to move.

1:00:141:00:16

Perhaps... I don't know. It wasn't... It wasn't...

1:00:161:00:20

She shouldn't have stayed.

1:00:201:00:23

I would say to her, "Joan,

1:00:291:00:31

"you need to go on holiday. Just go on holiday.

1:00:311:00:36

"Just tell everybody you're old, you're tired, you need a break.

1:00:361:00:40

"Just tell everybody. And don't tell them when you're going, just one day you're not there."

1:00:401:00:46

I was trying to get her out of the environment,

1:00:501:00:53

it was getting to the point whereby it was threatening her security.

1:00:531:00:57

It really was threatening her security.

1:00:571:01:00

I'd been going to her house once a week for a few months

1:01:081:01:13

and I'd never been invited in, not even onto the veranda.

1:01:131:01:18

Well, after her murder I find all the security she's putting in the house. I knew nothing about it.

1:01:181:01:24

I believe she kept me out of the house because she didn't want me

1:01:301:01:33

to find out that she was going to that extent of putting security in

1:01:331:01:39

to save her life, and she must have been very worried about something.

1:01:391:01:43

"Chege and Esther back in Karagita.

1:01:481:01:51

"Chege trying to get a job through Barry. Barry been informed."

1:01:511:01:54

"Very stressed pm.

1:01:541:01:57

"John phoned to say he'd rushed to Nairobi for emergency.

1:01:571:02:01

"Then power cut. No supper cooked. That night felt insecure so soon after break-in, and John away."

1:02:011:02:09

As 2005 drew to a close, Sutton was often away on business across the continent.

1:02:111:02:17

Joan was increasingly alone in her house.

1:02:171:02:21

On the night of January 12th 2006,

1:02:221:02:25

Sutton was 400 miles away in Tanzania.

1:02:251:02:29

It was about...about midnight when I got the first phone call.

1:02:391:02:44

PHONE RINGS

1:02:441:02:46

Joan said, "They're back. They're here." I couldn't understand what she was going...

1:02:501:02:55

and then I heard the siren going again and I knew that intruders had come into the house.

1:02:551:03:02

She said, "They're trying to get in through my bedroom door."

1:03:051:03:08

I told her to get down and go to the bathroom,

1:03:121:03:17

"Stay put. I'll call for help."

1:03:171:03:20

SHOUTING

1:03:201:03:22

I called the police.

1:03:231:03:25

I called the people and said that there was an attack taking place at Joan Root's premises.

1:03:251:03:31

I then had another phone call within, I don't know,

1:03:311:03:35

a minute, not even, perhaps. Can't remember exactly.

1:03:351:03:40

And Joan was now talking to me.

1:03:401:03:42

SHOUTING CONTINUES

1:03:421:03:44

I could hear people shouting for her to open the door to let them in.

1:03:491:03:54

BANGING

1:03:541:03:56

She was sobbing and just kept calling out my name.

1:03:571:04:01

And I could hear this banging going on,

1:04:021:04:06

and I thought they were using a sledge hammer to bash the metal door down,

1:04:061:04:12

but I knew that as long as those doors held they wouldn't get in.

1:04:121:04:16

She was obviously very afraid.

1:04:231:04:25

But she wasn't hysterical, she was just kind of sobbing, and she was out of breath.

1:04:261:04:32

She was obviously in shock.

1:04:321:04:35

She was afraid.

1:04:351:04:37

And, um...

1:04:371:04:39

..her voice got lower and lower.

1:04:401:04:43

I thought she was talking, just quietly talking just so they wouldn't hear her

1:04:481:04:54

but she didn't want to disconnect, she wanted just to talk,

1:04:541:04:58

she wanted to hear somebody's voice or something. I don't know.

1:04:581:05:02

And I was just reassuring her.

1:05:021:05:04

Her voice just...faded away.

1:05:071:05:10

And it just got quieter and quieter and quieter, and then stopped.

1:05:101:05:15

I heard a few more bangs.

1:05:211:05:23

I disconnected the phone.

1:05:251:05:27

I called again the cops and said, "For God's sakes, you're running out of time.

1:05:271:05:32

"Get there before they get in."

1:05:321:05:34

They arrived at the house.

1:05:361:05:38

They said, "The lights are off, but we can see inside,

1:05:381:05:42

"and there's a huge...

1:05:421:05:45

"..you know, sort of marks of blood on the floor

1:05:461:05:51

"and it's leading into what looks like the bathroom."

1:05:511:05:55

I tried calling her back.

1:05:561:05:59

They said, "No, we can hear the phone ringing in the bathroom."

1:05:591:06:02

I knew that... I knew what had happened.

1:06:041:06:07

PHONE RINGS

1:06:081:06:11

They found Joan in the bathroom lying on her side,

1:06:111:06:15

holding the phone next to her.

1:06:151:06:18

Her sobbing and everything - she had obviously been hit.

1:06:201:06:23

Her voice fading away, that was her last breath of life.

1:06:231:06:27

And I was sitting in a hotel...

1:06:291:06:33

..hundreds of miles away. Couldn't do anything.

1:06:341:06:37

Couldn't do anything for her.

1:06:371:06:41

That was the first time I'd been back for 15 years.

1:07:301:07:35

Er, and, you know, outside was just the same,

1:07:351:07:39

just the fabulous views, the peace, the animals and birds.

1:07:391:07:43

They all came out to say hello.

1:07:431:07:46

And then the scene inside,

1:07:461:07:48

just of the sort of fortress that she'd turned the place into,

1:07:481:07:53

and then, you know...

1:07:531:07:55

the bullets stuck in the furniture and the blood everywhere, and...

1:07:551:08:01

just such a contrast.

1:08:011:08:04

The police were all there, and they were introduced to me and knew who I was,

1:08:171:08:22

and so within a short time they opened the house to us,

1:08:221:08:28

which was actually quite strange to me,

1:08:281:08:31

because I would have thought that they would still be there

1:08:311:08:34

trying to find whatever they needed to find or what forensics needed to be done and so on.

1:08:341:08:40

We found several bullets in there,

1:08:401:08:43

in the mattress and places like that, which I thought they would've done during the night,

1:08:431:08:47

but they didn't.

1:08:471:08:49

We think that they came straight round the back of the house,

1:08:511:08:56

directly to her bedroom window.

1:08:561:08:58

I'm convinced it was a contract murder.

1:09:011:09:05

I'm convinced of that, absolutely convinced of it.

1:09:051:09:08

Police in Tanzania are hunting the killers of a British filmmaker, Joan Root.

1:09:111:09:16

She was shot in what friends suspect was an act of retaliation for her conservation work.

1:09:161:09:21

The 69-year-old filmmaker and naturalist was shot

1:09:211:09:24

in the early hours of this morning at the farmhouse in Naivasha.

1:09:241:09:28

They tried to break the door,

1:09:281:09:30

and finally they catch up with her in the bedroom,

1:09:301:09:34

whereby they fired seven rounds of ammunition from supposedly an AK-47.

1:09:341:09:40

Police are using dogs to try to track the gunmen

1:09:401:09:44

and are under pressure, as this is the latest in a series of murders of white people in the Naivasha region.

1:09:441:09:50

Friends believe her stand against poachers cost her her life.

1:09:501:09:55

She was involved in dangerous ground,

1:09:551:09:57

and wherever you are trying to regulate an unregulated market

1:09:571:10:04

or impact on illegal activities, you're under threat.

1:10:041:10:08

So my first feeling was, of course, that perhaps this was

1:10:081:10:14

in some way the illegal fishermen getting back at her.

1:10:141:10:17

Immediately, I thought Chege would probably have been involved.

1:10:221:10:27

There were too many of Chege's family involved with Joan,

1:10:271:10:32

with either loans or title deeds or one thing or another.

1:10:321:10:37

They thought they would be better off with her out of the way.

1:10:371:10:41

Joan's murder was the most high-profile case in years,

1:10:471:10:52

and the police were under enormous pressure from the white community to find her killers.

1:10:521:10:57

Within 24 hours, a tracker dog identified three men from the slums.

1:10:581:11:03

The next day, Chege was also taken into custody.

1:11:031:11:07

While we are here to celebrate Joan's life and the many benefits it bestowed on us,

1:11:111:11:16

let us now allow our celebration that she lived become a cover or concealment for the way she died.

1:11:161:11:23

I can't imagine anything more terrifying for anyone

1:11:271:11:32

at two o'clock in the morning to have that happening,

1:11:321:11:36

and, you know, I wish to God she'd collected one in the head and gone down,

1:11:361:11:42

but instead of that she fought back

1:11:421:11:45

and dragged herself into the bathroom.

1:11:451:11:49

Joan was compassionate, to the point of being a soft touch.

1:11:511:11:56

Nowhere is this more evidenced than in the loans and help she offered,

1:11:561:11:59

not just to her own people, but others, too.

1:11:591:12:03

Indeed, it may have contributed to her fate.

1:12:031:12:07

I can't imagine that she screamed. I honestly can't imagine that she screamed.

1:12:071:12:12

And if for whatever reason you need to be forgiven by Joan,

1:12:131:12:18

let that forgiveness come now and let go of any hurt.

1:12:181:12:23

When I came up to talk, the crown cranes, who I just have a way with,

1:12:341:12:39

because I've always had cranes, came and danced around me.

1:12:391:12:42

If there was something you thought you still wanted to say to her...

1:12:441:12:47

It was just all so moving.

1:12:501:12:52

Everything we did back in those years together

1:12:541:12:58

she made possible. She was my right arm.

1:12:581:13:02

She was the wind beneath my wings.

1:13:041:13:06

And...

1:13:091:13:11

And if we flew high and far in those days, it was because of her.

1:13:121:13:17

Lots of tears.

1:13:181:13:21

And then it rained.

1:13:231:13:26

And, yeah, you can't have anything better in Kenya at a funeral or a wedding than for it to rain,

1:13:261:13:32

because it was dry as hell and they needed rain.

1:13:321:13:35

And a lot of people said, "Hey, she's up there and stirring it up already"!

1:13:351:13:39

THUNDER ROARS

1:13:461:13:49

Chege and the three other suspects languished in prison for more than a year before their case was heard.

1:13:591:14:05

The judge found them innocent, citing no evidence.

1:14:061:14:11

Chege and the others walked free.

1:14:111:14:14

This place just doesn't work. The sort of politically correct term I think is "poor governance",

1:15:061:15:11

but "poor" is a pretty mild term

1:15:111:15:14

to describe the sort of intellectually impoverished kleptocracy that run this place.

1:15:141:15:21

There was no way that there was going to be a proper trial with proper evidence.

1:15:211:15:27

Barry Gaymer and I found half the bullets in the room that the police hadn't bothered to look for, even.

1:15:271:15:33

The investigations that the police did were below par.

1:15:331:15:39

The evidence was governed in a very shallow manner.

1:15:391:15:43

Other than the shoes that were from the suspects,

1:15:431:15:47

there was nothing of worth from the exhibits that were taken from the scene.

1:15:471:15:54

Why?

1:15:541:15:56

There was a lot of interference from the white community here.

1:15:561:16:02

I do think...

1:16:021:16:04

the interference started from the scene of the crime.

1:16:041:16:09

The way things were being done by Luckhurst

1:16:111:16:14

and the other members of the community who were living there,

1:16:141:16:18

surely there is something they wanted to conceal.

1:16:181:16:23

The story was far from over.

1:16:401:16:43

Nearly a year and a half after Joan's death,

1:16:431:16:46

the circumstances surrounding it were once again the subject of speculation.

1:16:461:16:51

Her former neighbour, Diana Bunny, stood in the dock of the Naivasha courtroom.

1:16:511:16:57

She and her cook, James Ombui,

1:16:571:16:59

were charged with conspiracy to murder a former tenant of Diana, Brian Freeman.

1:16:591:17:06

For some people around the lake, the near-fatal attack on Freeman had disturbing echoes.

1:17:061:17:13

I had no idea who had murdered Joan at the time of her death.

1:17:131:17:17

But Naivasha being a small community, of course everybody talks,

1:17:171:17:21

and it soon became sort of common belief

1:17:211:17:26

that Chege had done it. And nobody really thought further than that.

1:17:261:17:31

It was only after the attempt on Mr Freeman's life that I and a few other people started to wonder

1:17:311:17:39

whether there wasn't a similarity or a connection

1:17:391:17:42

between his attempted murder and Joan's actual murder.

1:17:421:17:47

Initially, when we moved in, it was a very sound relationship,

1:17:551:17:59

but we'd only been in the property six months, and the water was turned off.

1:17:591:18:05

She said we hadn't been paying our bills, when, in fact, we'd been paying the agent.

1:18:051:18:10

And then it escalated.

1:18:111:18:14

The dog was poisoned. We had a whole load of chickens - they were thrown over the fence with broken legs.

1:18:141:18:19

We came across this mound of earth that had just been dug, looked in and there was this red pot.

1:18:211:18:27

And we know James is a Kysi man, we know that the Kysis are well known for their witchcraft -

1:18:271:18:33

we call it juju.

1:18:331:18:35

So, um... I immediately became suspicious.

1:18:351:18:40

Why was it laid in the middle of the road, our road?

1:18:401:18:43

Freeman barely survived the assault.

1:18:471:18:50

A bullet from an AK-47, the same model used in Joan's attack, shattered his left arm.

1:18:501:18:57

The gun had misfired when pointed at his head.

1:18:571:19:01

There's no doubt in my mind the person behind the attack was Diana and James.

1:19:011:19:07

I have since seen police statements

1:19:071:19:11

where they've admitted that they had meetings

1:19:111:19:15

with a Mr Fixit

1:19:151:19:18

who subsequently got the gang together

1:19:181:19:22

and, in fact, stayed with them for three or four days before the attack took place.

1:19:221:19:27

She paid.

1:19:271:19:29

So it was a contract, really, put on my life by them.

1:19:291:19:32

And I think the reason why was to get rid of me from the property.

1:19:321:19:38

I had shown an interest.

1:19:381:19:40

I have since learnt that because I showed that interest in buying the property

1:19:401:19:45

that they no longer wanted me to stay.

1:19:451:19:47

Someone told me that you'd confessed, you'd written some statement.

1:19:511:19:56

Erm, there was... I think it was under...

1:19:561:20:00

I just wasn't myself at all, and I don't even know what I'd...

1:20:001:20:06

I was forced to, er, write things that I didn't...

1:20:061:20:11

..even know I was writing.

1:20:131:20:15

But, admittedly, there were probably some weak points.

1:20:151:20:18

I haven't a clue what I wrote.

1:20:181:20:20

I wasn't in my right mind,

1:20:201:20:23

and I half-wondered if that was, erm, witchcraft,

1:20:231:20:29

because you really don't know what you're...

1:20:291:20:33

erm...doing.

1:20:331:20:36

Were you behind the Freeman attack?

1:20:391:20:42

Oh, no.

1:20:421:20:44

No.

1:20:441:20:45

I could never, never do that.

1:20:451:20:48

The only weak part was that some of the gangsters

1:20:491:20:53

were on the property, and I didn't know at the time they were...

1:20:531:20:59

Occasionally there was a room we let visitors go into,

1:20:591:21:03

James's visitors, as I thought at the time, but, erm...

1:21:031:21:09

There were just a couple of them, and I didn't know it at the time, which is terrible.

1:21:091:21:14

But other than that,

1:21:141:21:16

I'd never dream of doing anything like that.

1:21:161:21:20

Brian Freeman and his wife Esther had been living in Naivasha for only two months when Joan was killed.

1:21:261:21:33

Esther had been on their property the morning after the attack

1:21:331:21:37

and later told her husband what she'd seen and heard.

1:21:371:21:41

She said that...

1:21:411:21:43

Diana Bunny and James came across the fence.

1:21:431:21:48

James was talking to the staff,

1:21:481:21:51

telling them what he had learnt about the murder.

1:21:511:21:56

Diana immediately came up to Esther and said, "That evil woman is now dead.

1:21:561:22:02

"She's lying down dead.

1:22:021:22:04

"Thank God for that. She's no longer here." Words to that effect,

1:22:041:22:08

which surprised Esther very much.

1:22:081:22:10

Not only did she say it, but she gestured as if, you know, she was really pleased about it.

1:22:101:22:17

Her ongoing feud with Joan had made Diana feel her very physical safety was at risk.

1:22:191:22:25

Do you think Joan was literally trying to get rid of you?

1:22:291:22:33

Yes, she was. Yes.

1:22:331:22:35

In what way?

1:22:351:22:37

I don't know how she would have done it, but she was out for doing it, probably with her task force.

1:22:371:22:45

Who knows?

1:22:451:22:48

-You mean to kill you?

-Yes, yes.

1:22:481:22:52

There's also a rumour, and I feel I have to ask you this,

1:22:591:23:03

because of your struggles with Joan Root that you might have been behind her attack.

1:23:031:23:08

Erm, I suppose one's been gradually broken in over the years,

1:23:121:23:18

because some terrible things have been said which aren't true,

1:23:181:23:24

but it does hurt.

1:23:241:23:26

But, erm, it break's one's heart, really,

1:23:261:23:31

to think people can think that way, especially in the crime sort of way.

1:23:311:23:38

That really does hurt, because I've never...I wouldn't...

1:23:381:23:42

I wouldn't even dream of even thinking about it.

1:23:421:23:46

In late 2009, Diana Bunny was acquitted of all charges relating to the attack on Freeman.

1:23:511:23:58

All people like Joan who put their head up and survive

1:24:301:24:35

or put their head up and don't survive, they do make an impact.

1:24:351:24:39

We have progressed probably in the last 20 years or so

1:24:391:24:43

from people like Joan being seen as cranks,

1:24:431:24:47

only interested in butterflies and birds,

1:24:471:24:50

to people who actually understand the fact this planet as we know it at the moment

1:24:501:24:56

is the only planet we know which is habitable.

1:24:561:24:59

Whatever anybody says now,

1:25:081:25:11

they will remember the contribution that Joan Root made,

1:25:111:25:15

creating an awareness of the environmental issues around Lake Naivasha.

1:25:151:25:19

Joan Root started that.

1:25:191:25:21

Joan Root was the one that actually put that in place.

1:25:211:25:24

From my perspective, I have a different sort of legacy of which I would consider Joan.

1:25:351:25:42

And it is this way.

1:25:421:25:44

Here is Joan, with her idea, an ideal to try and conserve the lake.

1:25:441:25:49

This task force thing

1:25:491:25:51

took her out of the closet into an entirely different - almost - universe

1:25:511:25:59

to which she had no idea how it works, how it operates,

1:25:591:26:03

what difficulties and challenges, plus expectations it had.

1:26:031:26:07

As a Naivashan,

1:26:071:26:10

as someone who grew up here,

1:26:101:26:12

what she funded is a brutal force.

1:26:121:26:15

So it's a legacy of a bit of pain and suffering

1:26:151:26:19

and a rich person there telling us how to live,

1:26:191:26:23

and yet they live and have everything and we only trying to make a living.

1:26:231:26:27

And she even funds some of the people that we know to suppress us,

1:26:271:26:31

to deny us the chance,

1:26:311:26:35

a chance for livelihood.

1:26:351:26:38

Joan was a through-and-through conservationist.

1:26:571:27:01

If there's progress, wherever the progress is,

1:27:031:27:06

there's always certain sectors or elements who won't be happy about the progress.

1:27:061:27:11

So here it is...

1:27:111:27:13

on one hand, a very strong commercial, economical progress

1:27:131:27:19

which is to a certain degree,

1:27:191:27:22

um... in conflict with the environment.

1:27:221:27:26

I guess her life, really, and her life story was a...

1:27:391:27:45

microcosm of what is happening

1:27:451:27:47

not just to Kenya and Africa, but to the rest of the world,

1:27:471:27:54

that in the name of progress, we're destroying so much of value.

1:27:541:28:00

It's terrifying, the speed at which wildness is disappearing

1:28:021:28:07

everywhere around the world.

1:28:071:28:10

It's all getting paved over and turned into shopping malls and flower farms and you name it.

1:28:101:28:16

I really am thankful that I have two little boys

1:28:181:28:23

and have to hope that the world is going to at least be liveable for them,

1:28:231:28:30

although it's going to be nothing like the world I knew.

1:28:301:28:34

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