Michael Jackson, the world’s undisputed King of Pop died around this time 16 years ago, in 2009.
In Tanzania, the ‘Thriller,’ star left two major memories, his visit to Dar-es-salaam and the short wildlife film he shot in the Tarangire National Park for an environment awareness feature.
The man who rocked the world with hits after hits, including Thriller, Billie Jean, Dirty Diana, Off the Wall, Blood on the Dance Floor and Black or White, died on June 25, 2009.
The American musician is reported to have died at the age of 50 of acute propofol intoxication, according to his personal physician, Conrad Murray.
While Michael Jackson’s death remains steeped in mystery, his music isn’t.
Especially the video for his 1995 hit, ‘Earth Song,’ the song which marks its 30th Anniversary, still fresh with its environmental theme and becoming more relevant today than it was when the single came out.
Some scenes in Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth Song,’ were shot in Tarangire National Park in 1995.
According to information from his estate, while the footage shows the jumbos being killed, the animals were actually sedated and got revived later.
‘Earth Song,’ was essentially a message of caution, warning humans against the destruction that their irresponsible activities are causing to the fragile planet earth.
The song, however, was released at the time when the entire globe was more concerned about HIV and Aids pandemic, than the environment.
But now, 30 years later, tables have turned … Green.
At the moment the world is more concerned about issues of global warming, climate change and the entire earth’s environment whose condition seems to be getting worse on a daily basis.
How the short films for ‘Earth Song,’ were shot and the duration for the works in Tarangire remain unclear.
Four years before the Tarangire episodes, Michael Jackson did visit Tanzania during his tour of Africa, covering among other countries, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Tanzania.
However, during the King of Pop’s visit to Tanzania in 1992, he only stayed in Dar-es-salaam City, despite having initially planned to tour one of the National Parks in the Northern Zone.
It was claimed that Michael Jackson wanted to visit either Serengeti or Tarangire, but upon learning of the long road trip involved, he shelved the plans.
Somehow the thought of Tarangire continued to linger in Jackson’s mind all the same.
And sure enough, when the King of Pop eventually released his fourth album as an adult, ‘History,’ a video to one of the singles from the project was dedicated to the National Park.
Tarangire is renowned as the National Park with the highest concentration of elephants.
The Park is also home to the largest Jumbos, Buffaloes, Giraffes, Lions and Leopards.
Tarangire links to the adjacent Lake Manyara National Park, spawning the Kwakuchinja Wildlife Corridor and Burunge Wildlife Management Area in between.
While most tourists visit Tarangire mostly for the gigantic Jumbos, the trademark of the National Park is however the equally giant Baobab trees, dotting its landscape.
Tarangire is the second most popular National Park in Tanzania after the Serengeti.