We’ve seen plenty of interruptions of reporting segments over the years, especially from celebrating fans. It’s funnier still when that comes from animals, though, especially those who were the subject of the piece. The latest case here comes from Alvin Kaunda, an intern at the Kenya Broadcasting Company.
On Friday, Kaunda was doing a story for KBC 1 on drought’s impact on animals, and was featuring the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which is caring for young elephants impacted by drought. (Kenya is facing the worst drought in 40 years, which has killed more than a thousand animals so far, including more than 200 elephants.) Kaunda was talking to the camera with elephants in the background. And one decided to come up and investigate in great detail:
As the trust noted on Twitter, Kaunda does a remarkable job continuing to report as if everything’s normal through most of this, only breaking at the end when he literally gets a trunk over his face.
Most of us would have lost our professionalism far sooner! An important piece pertaining to the drought, but our orphans just saw a visitor to investigate! https://t.co/JYB3k5PI9K
— Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (@SheldrickTrust) November 13, 2022
Kaunda spoke to Nairobi’s 89.5FM Ghetto Radio about this for a piece Monday, and said he had been more focused on getting his words right than on how close the elephants had gotten:
“I wanted a very nice background with the elephants. I’d kept my distance but I was so focused and didn’t even realize they were getting close.” Alvin adds that he was more focused on the piece to camera and never imagined such a thing would occur. He was more scared to miss the story as he had memorized it after having 10 unsuccessful takes.
“I felt the ticklish trunk but just tried to keep my cool. It actually didn’t have any smell. I’m sure if it had a foul smell it would have really distracted me. It wasn’t normal, but I liked the experience.”
Kaunda also said he loves animals, and that this was a dream piece for him to get to report. He has goals of getting close to more animals still.
“I have set my target of getting close to the big five. So far only two are left; the Lion and the Leopard.”
Well, getting close to those might be a little worrying. But Kaunda is certainly cool under pressure. And his story here has definitely raised some worldwide awareness of what’s going on with this drought. Just maybe not exactly how he initially anticipated.
[Ghetto Radio, Wakenya Pamoja on YouTube]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.