Mercury Island helicopter incident – feedback
Africa Geographic has been following up on reports that a helicopter landed on Namibia’s Mercury Island, an important nesting site for cormorants, gannets and penguins, causing severe damage. Simon Espley, Africa Geographic director, reports on his latest findings.
I had a lengthy telephone discussion with Ben Simpson, the pilot of the helicopter. The purpose of my call to him was to obtain the human story behind the growing online social media chatter and legal posturing going on behind the scenes. This is a summary of Ben’s explanation. Ben was unknown to me prior to this phone call and I do not offer an opinion on this version of events. I will say however that I found Ben to be a sincere man who spoke candidly with me.
The first point to note is that Ben accepts responsibility for what happened. He is gutted and remorseful. Ben is from Kenya and although he is a very experienced bush pilot he does not have detailed knowledge of Namibian conditions. For this reason he hired a local guide to accompany him and his guests. The guide suggested to Ben that he land on the island. After crossing the water and hovering for 5-10 seconds he realised that he could not land (because he had noticed all of the birds underneath them) and so he flew back to the mainland. He did not touch down on the island and is confused how 300 nests could have been destroyed by his actions. On the mainland he landed after making sure that no seal colonies would be affected *or* stressed out. He and his party then walked along the beach and visited the ship wreck. Again he is confused about reports that the seal colony was negatively affected by his actions.
He and his company do extensive flying for various conservation projects around Africa – they are experienced pilots who understand the implications of what they do. They often operate in very trying circumstances during their conservation work and have plenty of experience in manoeuvring the helicopters with wildlife in the area.
I am left with the feeling that Ben made a terrible mistake and is now very remorseful about the implications of his actions for the wildlife. He has offered to make good and has opened dialogue with the necessary authorities in this regard. I suspect that he and his company will be dragged through the legal implications of this unfortunate event, and so it should be. Hopefully at the end of this the bird colony of Mercury Island can somehow benefit?
Simon Espley, Africa Geographic director