Joan Thorpe Root, a British wildlife filmmaker and African conservationist, was murdered on Jan. 12. She was 69.
Born in Kenya, Root was the daughter of Edmund Thorpe, a British coffee farmer and safari guide. She always had a passion for animals and even raised an orphaned elephant calf. Although painfully shy, Root grew up to become an influential wildlife photographer and filmmaker known for her fearlessness in the field. During one shoot, a cobra spit in her face (luckily, she was wearing glasses or the venom would have blinded her). Her face mask was bitten off while filming a hippopotamus underwater, and she allegedly slept with a caracal just so she could capture it on film.
Joan wed Alan Root, an amateur filmmaker, in 1961. Over the course of their two-decade marriage, the couple collaborated on nearly a dozen critically-acclaimed wildlife documentaries and produced footage for the Anglia Television series "Survival."
Their epic documentary "Year of the Wildebeest" (1975) recorded the migration of 1.5 million ungulates through Tanzania. The filmmakers hid cameras inside tortoise shells to obtain images of the wildebeests thundering over them. For the film "Balloon Safari Over Kilimanjaro" (1976), the Roots photographed the Masai Mara Game Reserve and the 19,340-foot peak of Mount Kilimanjaro -- from a hot-air balloon.
The couple was best known for the film "Mysterious Castles of Clay." The documentary, which was narrated by Orson Welles, showed the inner workings of a termite mound. To fully understand the life of termites, the couple trained their cameras on a termite mound for 30 days and filmed the winged stage of its life cycle. The film received an Academy Award nomination in 1978.
After the couple divorced in the 1980s, Joan moved back to Kenya and became an outspoken conservationist. She frequently railed against poaching and illegal fishing on Lake Naivasha, the Rift Valley's only freshwater basin. Her 88-acre lakefront property also served as a refuge for orphaned animals, including waterbucks, dik diks, an aardvark, a hippo and an African porcupine.
Root was lying in bed inside her farmhouse when armed intruders broke the nearest window and fired an AK-47 assault rifle into the room. Two of the bullets struck her in the leg; one hit her in the hip. Root tried to staunch the bleeding with bed sheets, but died of massive blood loss. The assailants left the scene without taking any valuables. Kenyan police later arrested two men in connection with the slaying.
[Update - Feb. 2, 2006: Four men were charged with attempted robbery with violence in connection with the murder of British wildlife filmmaker Joan Root. The men deny any involvement in her death and police sources said there was not enough evidence to charge them with her slaying.]
[Update - May 23, 2007: Actress Julia Roberts has agreed to play Joan Root in a movie about her life, her efforts to preserve Africa's threatened wildlife and her brutal death. The biopic will be produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films.]
Posted on January 20, 2006 7:55 PMI didn't know Joan, but I have an online friend who knew her, and it is through him that I found out about her death. From there, I went online to see if I could find info on who she was and what she was about in respect to the wildlife film making and conservation. What a woman !! I wish I HAD known her !!! The write up about her life and death speaks of a woman who loved her native Kenya... the wildlife, the culture, the history, the story. Ever since I was old enough to know about it, I've dreamed of Africa. Joan, rest in peace... YOU are what I dream Africa truly is !!!
Posted by Tami on March 4, 2006 4:00 AMJoan Root was one of the finest examples of someone who cares deeply about Africa, Kenya in particular and wildlife. I have had the good fortune to visit Africa numerous times and the research and films she contributed to made a huge difference in the understanding safari members had. She will be missed by those of us who treasure and love Africa and wildlife but more importantly she will be missed by those animals she worked so hard to save.
Posted by Diana on March 30, 2006 2:04 PMDEAR SIRS
MY NAME IS JOHN THORPE / MY FATHER WAS DICK THORPE EDMUND BROTHER . I AM TRYING TO REACH ALLAN ROOT .
CAN YOU HELP
REGARDS
J R W THORPE
Posted by JOHN THORPE on May 17, 2006 1:46 PMI read a recent article about Joan and found myself selfishly wishing I were her. Oh to have a love of the animals like she did and the chance to express it upon so many dear creatures just makes me cry with a loss that they have with her taken away from them. I hope her generous heart is found in others to help them.
Posted by Lynda Turner on July 28, 2006 4:24 AMI met Joan and Alan Root while I worked at Kilaguni Lodge in 1967-1970. They where filming at Mzima Springs. Joan was a lovely person, but very shy. She often came to the lodge.I would visit them at there camp and walked Tiger her Caracal with her. Later when I worked at Mnarani they came for a coffee and I went with them to Kilifi to catch some fruitbats for a film. Joan but also Alan have made my stay in Africa very special. Joan deserves more recognition for her part in the films that Alan made. I will never forget her.
Posted by Louise Knight on September 3, 2006 11:55 AMI first met Joan in Tanzania in the early 70's, and again in Nairobi in the early 90's, when I also met Alan. I was impressed with her both as a person and as a filmmaker, and am grieved by this senseless killing. She was one of Kenya's assets. Fred
Posted by Fred on September 28, 2006 9:54 PMI'm researching Joan and Allen's work and am having a hard time getting a hold of any. Where can I rent/ buy their movies...especially interested in Two in the Bush? Any info at all is appreciated.
Thanks,
Poppy
I never had the chance to meet Joan or her husband Allen, who has my sincere condolences. Someone like like Joan who withstands the forces of everyday life to follow the love of animals and nature deserves our respect and admiration. I can only pray there will be another selfless person to take up the cause in such a wildlife abundant region.
Gods Speed Joan...
Joan Root was my cousin. Her death was a deep & tragic loss to all her family, all over the world. She was an incredible woman. Softly spoken but someone with immense spirit! She was passionate about Wildlife from a small girl, who collected all means of nature & affectionately called 'dudu (swahili for insect) girl' by members of the family. She was legendary. Our only hope is that her killers are brought to justice!
Posted by Jocelyn Walker on November 17, 2006 12:13 AMI didn't know Joan personally, but I watched most of the wildlife films they made countless times and showed them to thousands of school children who visited African Fund for Endangered Wildlife's Giraffe Center. Im sure all those kids will miss her inspiration, just like I do.
Peter
Posted by Peter Gitonga on March 21, 2007 11:45 AMHer films were great especialy "Two in the bush". Anyone with an idea where I could get the following Joan/Alan Root Wildlife Films:
1. The year of the Wildebeeste
2. Castles of Clay
3. A season in the sun
4. Two in the bush.
Please email
Micheni P. ,micheni2001@yahoo.com
I read about Joan Root in Vanity Fair and I am in awe and admiration for the woman who made it her life to preserve the beauty and the ecosystem in Africa. I pray that the true murderers of this lady will be bought to justice. I know that this isn't over by any mean and for those who know her and admire her I think it's time for the truth to come out and find out what really happened.
Joan Root was an incredible lady!
Posted by Melissa MacKenzie on April 1, 2007 9:31 AMI was so sorry and sad at the news of Joan's brutal murder in January of 06. I read about it in the New York Times. I knew some of Alan in the late 70's and the 80's when he met and married his second wife, Jenny (Janet) Hammond. I had lost touch with them when letters came back unopened. They were a great couple. We all spoke highly of Joan and all her great qualities. Jenny had a special place in Alan's life and I often wondered what happened. If anyone out there has an e-mail address, I can be reached at ruthlehmann@bellsouth.net. Jenny and I were potters together. I live in Gainesville, Florida USA. Thanks.
Posted by Ruth Lehmann on April 4, 2007 12:15 AMAs I have only just found this website I am late posting this message but I was so shocked when I heard of Joan's callous murder last year. I knew Joan in 1956 when she worked for Shell Company Nairobi and she often visited us at Karen, in fact I am sure it was us that first introduced her to Alan who lived just down the road from us. Alan lived with his long suffering mother and sister, and the most amazing collection of animals and snakes. We took all our visitors to his house because it was such a fascinating place. I have such happy memories and photos of those days. Rest in Peace Joan you will never be forgotten.
Posted by Mary Stanley-Shepherd (nee Fryer) on July 4, 2007 6:59 AMI didn't know Joan and only JUST came to know of her dreadful death. But I was acquainted with some of the films she produced - possible only at the hands of a most amazing master. As others have mentioned, I too, am seeking copies of her films - most notably "Castles of Clay" and would VERY MUCH appreciate any assistance in locating a place where I might purchase or rent a copy. I'm also very much in love with African wildlife.
I'm Rick Frye at: rickfrye@wolfenet.com
Posted by Rick Frye on August 5, 2007 10:18 PMFour accused in murder of filmmaker Joan Root acquitted
11/08/2007 10:59:15 AM
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A judge in Kenya has acquitted four men accused of killing British wildlife filmmaker Joan Root, ruling that the investigation into her death was "shoddy."
CBC Arts
The 69-year-old documentarian and naturalist was shot in her bed January 2006 by two intruders who broke into her house in Kenya's Rift Valley. The attackers shattered Root's bedroom window and shot her at point blank range with AK-47s, according to police.
Judge Nicholas Njagi ordered the four accused released on Friday after more than a year in custody. Their charges included robbery with violence leading to death.
"I acquit the accused," Njagi said. "The investigation was shoddy ... None of the witnesses positively identified the accused as being on the scene during the incident."
David Chege, one of the accused, said: "We have suffered in remand for a sin committed by others." He was charged along with Joseph Ndung'u, Philip Mutuku and Allan Githenji.
Police have not been able to establish a motive for the killing.
Filmmaker interacted with wildlife
Root was the daughter of Edmund Thorpe, a British coffee farmer and photo safari guide who moved to Kenya in 1929.
She became a highly regarded conservationist and made a series of groundbreaking films from the 1960s to the 1980s about African wildlife with her husband Alan, including Balloon Safari, Mysterious Castle of Clay, Year of the Wildebeest and Two in the Bush.
The couple's films were often made for National Geographic. The Roots divorced in 1981 but Joan opted to stay on their compound, 90 kilometres west of Nairobi.
She was also known for her efforts to preserve Lake Naivasha, the Rift Valley's only freshwater lake. A battle has emerged between foreign investors and the local population over access to resources. Root is reported to have upset both locals and large companies growing flowers nearby over her efforts to preserve fish stocks and to conserve the lake water.
Three other Europeans have been killed in violent robberies in the Rift Valley since September 2004.
Working Title Films of England announced in May that it was making a biopic of Root, with actor Julia Roberts set to play the title role and be co-producer. Filming is set to begin next year.
((For the life and work of this incrediable human she deserves justice. What a sad day in the world for us all. My prayers go out to the family and for the rest of humanity who not fully understood what a light she was. I pray there will one day be justice for Joan)
Posted by L.Gallant on August 12, 2007 8:57 AMI met Joan ROOT in Nairobi,it was in 1995,she was a very nice woman.I was so upset when I red on her blog that she has been killed.I really wish that the killers will pay for their horrible action.I pray for her and for her family.I lived in Massai Mara ,with my friend James HILL.
Posted by BRUGGEMAN on August 26, 2008 2:23 PMto Joan and Family: I am so sorry for what happened. I am a Kenyan(kikuyu) and love all the documentaries and films that Joan had done. It is easy to see why people fall in love with Kenya. It is sad to see that corruption sees no justice and knows no color barriers. One day Joan, we shall all meet and sit and be at peace. No more tribal tensions, no more color barriers but one free soul. Rest in peace Joan. We all needed you but God needed you more.
Posted by Angela Wanjiru on August 29, 2008 4:54 PM