A video showing a lion snatching and running with a recording camera has surfaced online.
The clip was shared by the crew of My Africa, a virtual reality film from conservation international highlighting the success of community-owned conservancies in Kenya.
The film shot at the Reteti community elephant sanctuary in Samburu and which was narrated by Oscar award winner Lupita Nyongo, shows a lioness which was in a pride of three grabbing the camera with her mouth and running off with it.
The lions had become curious after seeing the camera and its rig set up in the conservancy.
The clip also shows her fellow lionesses following in hot pursuit as she ran off.
The film crew who were on a tour van tried to follow the lioness to a nearby thicket but she kept running off with the camera.
The film which features a Samburu woman Naltwasha Leripe and her daily interaction with wildlife was directed by four-time Emmy award winner David Allen and premiered at the Tribeca film festival in New York on 20th April.
The virtual film has since been produced in seven languages names Swahili, Samburu, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and French.
According to Conservation International CEO M Sanjan, the film aims to promote coexistence of the community with wildlife.
“This film shows a new way, one that unites rather than divides people from wildlife. Today, conservation is not about building fences but rather breaking down barriers, so that local communities benefit when nature thrives,” Sanjan Said.
The film comes at a time when the Mwaluganje elephant sanctuary another community-owned elephant sanctuary in Kwale county is grappling with the aftermath effects of the now lifted travel advisories that were issued by western countries due to attacks in the region blamed by members of the Alshabaab terror group.
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