SUPERMODEL Naomi Campbell has shocked conservationists over plans for a hotel and casino complex on a coastal sanctuary for turtles in Kenya, some of which migrated there en route from Seychelles.
Protesters say the scheme in the coastal town of Malindi, put forward by her former boyfriend Flavio Briatore, will wreck years of work to save endangered marine life.
Some turtle species, such as the leather-heads and logger-heads, migrate through Kenya waters en route from Seychelles, Maldives and South Africa.
After the baby turtles hatch in the middle of the night, they follow the brightest natural light, which is normally a moonlit horizon between the ocean and night sky. However, they can easily be disorientated by artificial lights and noise such as loud music, and can move away from the sea and perish.
The director of the Malindi Marine Association, Athman Seif, said plans to build the 6-star 40-apartment casino, called the Billionaire's Resort, and within the marine park would be in breach of local planning regulations.
Britatore, who heads Renault's Formula One team, already runs a hotel in the resort, the “White Elephant". Residents describe it as a “ghastly construction" and say it has encouraged the type of tourism the area has been at pains to avoid. A lesson for Seychelles?