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James Mason | all galleries >> Galleries >> Journalists > On the roof
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1993

On the roof

Satellite communications in 1993 were more cumbersome than they are now, but they worked. When we first arrived in Tuzla some reporters and I drove up into the hills in the background. They gave us a great view of the city, which was a Muslim enclave surrounded by very hostile Serbs. As we looked over the town a huge roaring started up and caused us to look at each other in amazement...what could it be? It was some sort of animal, but it sounded huge, like maybe a cave bear. It went on for five minutes at least...we got back to the hotel and I asked the concierge what the roaring was. He explained there was a bear at the Tuzla Zoo which liked to roar when he was ready for dinner. He said I should go to the zoo at feeding time, as the sound was really spectacular up close. I had to tell him it was pretty spectacular a mile away. While I was in Tuzla a wolf at the zoo had cubs. She had no denning box and the brand new cubs were right out in the open. I was told Tuzla is Turkish for salt mine.


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Anthony Massey 30-Jul-2011 13:30
Steve Hughes seated, Martin Brown stranding, both BBC News satellite engineers, on the roof of the Hotel Tuzla. Not all the equipment in view is the BBC's. The two dishes on grey boxes at the far right are our phones. The two white dishes facing to the left are phones belonging to other media organisations. Steve is pretending to twiddle some knobs, as the equipment is not powered up. No lights are illuminated on the front panel, and Martin surely wouldn't be holding the dish with his left hand if they were transmitting. Those triangular yellow and black radiation warning stickers on the back of the dish are there for a reason.