Top Gear is in trouble yet again, with environmentalist after Jeremy Clarkson may have caused ‘decades’ worth of damage to a delicate African ecosystem. The Top Gear crew has been criticised for driving over the Makgadikgadi salt plains in Botswana, one of the last largest zebra migrations in Africa and home to flamingos and other birds.
Mary Rice, head of the Environmental Investigation Agency campaigns, said: ‘…salt plains are very different. There is a thin crust that falls across the top and when you put vehicle tracks there it doesn’t wash away with the rain. It can be there for decades.’
She added: ‘We understand that they were approached by guides in the park telling them that they shouldn’t be driving off-road and they were ignored.’
A BBC spokesman said experts were on the crew to make sure they did not go near any conservation areas.
The EIA has worked in Botswana for five years, fencing off parts of the salt flats to help conserve wildlife.
Source: Metro (via AutoBlog)
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