Clarkson goes too far: high-speed stunts damage endangered area
I’ve always found Jeremy Clarkson annoying – I just don’t understand the attraction of cars and motoring and never have - but now he’s surprised even me with his latest car capers. In a sequence filmed by the BBC for its motoring programme Top Gear, Clarkson is shown zooming across the Makgadikgadi salt pans in Botswana, a protected area and the largest example of a salt-pan environment in the world.
The Guardian quote a BBC spokesperson as saying, “we employed several experts on the salt pans with environmental expertise who advised us on where we could and couldn't go, and ensured that we never went near any conservation areas.” But a local guide was quoted in The Telegraph as saying, “They said they were making a big film for the BBC and ignored me. They had quad bikes and three cars and they were driving all over the place, making marks on the salt pans.”
Apparently, it is usual practice to drive only in single file on the salt pans to minimise damage, but the marks made by the Clarkson and his team will last for years. It remains to be seen how long the damage to the BBC’s environmental reputation, in the wake of its much-vaunted support for Live Earth, will take to repair.
