John Varty

Last updated

John Varty
John Varty and Tigress Shine.jpg
Varty filming with a tigress in 2009
Born (1950-11-27) 27 November 1950 (age 73) [1]
Johannesburg, South Africa
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, conservationist
Spouse
Gillian van Houten (TV news anchor)
(m. 1995)
[2]
Children3 [1]
Website johnvarty.com
Varty and tigress Julie at Tiger Canyons, South Africa John Varty and Tigress Julie.jpg
Varty and tigress Julie at Tiger Canyons, South Africa

John Varty (born 27 November 1950) is a South African wildlife filmmaker [3] who has made more than 30 documentaries and one feature film. Varty is also leading a controversial project which aims to create a free-ranging, self-sustaining tiger population outside of Asia. [4]

Contents

Early life

Varty attended Parktown Boys' High School in Johannesburg. As a child, John learned about hunting [5] on the family game farm near the Kruger National Park.

After his father, Charles, died, John and his brother, Dave Varty, terminated the hunting activities and converted it into a game reserve in 1973. [6] They renamed it Londolozi, which is the Zulu word for "protector of living things". Since then it has become one of the top resorts in the world and was included in Travel and Leisure's world's best 4 times in the late 90s and early 2000s. [7] [8]

Career

Varty made several documentaries that were widely distributed: Living with Tigers , Shingalana, [9] Jamu, the Orphaned Leopard. [10] Swift and silent won an American Cable TV award in 1993 [11] and The Silent Hunter won The New York Gold Award. [12]

In 1992, he wrote, produced and starred in Running Wild , a feature film starring Brooke Shields. [13]

In 2011, Varty starred in Leopard Queen, a documentary about a leopard he has filmed for 17 years. [14]

Tiger re-wilding project

In 2000, Varty started a Bengal tiger re-wilding project near Philippolis in the Free State. [15] Starting with captive bred tigers, the aim is to establish a wild tiger population outside of Asia. In 2003, the progress was documented in a The Discovery Channel production called Living with Tigers . In 2011, National Geographic made a second documentary called Tiger Man of Africa. [16]

The project was the subject of controversy after accusations by investors and conservationists of manipulating the behaviour of the tigers for the purpose of the production of the film Living with Tigers , with the tigers believed to be unable to hunt. [17] [18] [19] Stuart Bray, who had originally invested a large sum of money in the project, claimed that he and his wife, Li Quan, watched the film crew "[chase] the prey up against the fence and into the path of the tigers just for the sake of dramatic footage." [17] [18] [19] Quan and Bray also accused them of financial mismanagement after a legal audit uncovered that he had borrowed R5.7-million of the funds for extraneous and personal expenses. [20] Quan and Bray subsequently established the Save China's Tigers Laohu Valley Reserve, also near Philippolis.

Moreover, scientists have also established that the tigers are not genetically pure, which would imply that the project has no conservation value. [21]

On 29 March 2012, Varty was critically injured when one of his tigers attacked him on his farm near Philippolis. He suffered multiple injures and puncture wounds all over his body. [22] He spent approximately one month in hospital. [23]

In January 2014, KIA South Africa released a TV commercial, Tiger in Africa, with Varty's footage shot at Tiger Canyons. [24]

In 2019, Getaway reported there were 18 Bengal tigers at Tiger Canyon. [25]

Music

Varty writes and performs conservation songs with titles "Big Cat Love", "Celebrate the Big Cats", The Tracker", "Rolling Thunder", "Masai Man" etc. [26]

Filmography

  • Living with Tigers
  • A Secret Life
  • Ambush in Paradise
  • Brothers in Arms
  • Cycle of the Seasons
  • Defining Moments
  • Horn and Claw
  • Hunters
  • Hyaena the Great Opportunist
  • Jamu the Orphaned Leopard
  • Londolozi's Africa
  • Perfect Mothers
  • Perfect Predators
  • Return of the Kings
  • River Dinosaur
  • Savage Instinct
  • Savannah Cats
  • Sense and Scentability
  • Shingalana
  • Super Hunts Super Hunters
  • Survival on the Savannah
  • Swift and Silent
  • The Brotherhood
  • The Mating Game
  • The Silent Hunter
  • The Super Predators
  • The Tracker
  • Troubled Waters
  • Wet and Wild

Bibliography

Other articles/books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bengal tiger</span> Tiger population on the Indian subcontinent

The Bengal tiger is a population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phinda Private Game Reserve</span> Private game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal

Phinda Private Game Reserve, formerly known as Phinda Resource Reserve, is a 170 km2 (66 sq mi) private game reserve situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, between the Mkuze Game Reserve and the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park. Designated in 1990, Phinda is derived from a Zulu phrase "Phinda Izilwane" meaning 'return of wildlife', or more accurately 'do again'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South China tiger</span> Tiger population native to south China

The South China tiger is a population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies that is native to southern China. The population mainly inhabited the Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the China's Red List of Vertebrates and is possibly extinct in the wild since no wild individual has been recorded since the late 1980s. In the late 1990s, continued survival was considered unlikely because of low prey density, widespread habitat degradation and fragmentation, and other environmental issues in China. In the fur trade, it used to be called Amoy tiger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save China's Tigers</span>

Save China's Tigers (SCT) is an international charitable foundation based in Hong Kong, the United States, and the United Kingdom that aims to save the big cats of China from extinction. It focuses on the Chinese tigers. It also has other branches in Mainland China and South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Backshall</span> British naturalist

Stephen James Backshall is a British naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC TV's Deadly 60.

Dave Salmoni is a Canadian animal trainer, entertainer and television producer. He has his own production company, Triosphere, which is based in South Africa and specializes in wildlife films. Dave has dedicated his life to animal conservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Rabinowitz</span> American zoologist

Alan Robert Rabinowitz was an American zoologist who served as the president, CEO, and chief scientist at Panthera Corporation, a nonprofit conservation organization devoted to protecting the world's 40 wild cat species. Called the "Indiana Jones of Wildlife Protection" by Time, he studied jaguars, clouded leopards, Asiatic leopards, tigers, Sumatran rhinos, bears, leopard cats, raccoons, cervidae, and civets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Arjan Singh</span> Indian hunter and conservationist

Kunwar "Billy" Arjan Singh was an Indian hunter turned conservationist and author. He was the first who tried to reintroduce tigers and leopards from captivity into the wild.

Shambala Preserve is an animal sanctuary established in 1972 and located in Acton, California, a desert community 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Palmdale, off of California State Route 14 and 40 miles (64 km) north of Los Angeles.

<i>Running Wild</i> (1995 film) 1995 film

Running Wild is a 1995 film starring Brooke Shields, Martin Sheen and David Keith. It was written by Andrea Buck, Dee McLachlan and John Varty.

Living with Tigers is a 2003 documentary about tigers in Africa. It aired on Discovery.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife Protection Society of India</span> Indian wildlife protection organisation

The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) was founded in 1994 by Belinda Wright, its Executive Director, who was an award-winning wildlife photographer and filmmaker till she took up the cause of conservation. From its inception, WPSI's main aim has been to bring a new focus to the daunting task of tackling India's growing wildlife crisis. It does this by providing support and information to government authorities to combat poaching and the escalating illegal wildlife trade - particularly in wild tigers. It has now broadened its focus to deal with human-animal conflicts and provide support for research projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panthera Corporation</span> American charitable organization

Panthera Corporation, or Panthera, is a charitable organization devoted to preserving wild cats and their ecosystems around the globe. Founded in 2006, Panthera is devoted to the conservation of the world’s 40 species of wild cats and the vast ecosystems they inhabit. Their team of biologists, data scientists, law enforcement experts and wild cat advocates studies and protects the seven species of big cats: cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, lions, pumas, snow leopards and tigers. Panthera also creates targeted conservation strategies for the world’s most threatened and overlooked small cats, such as fishing cats, ocelots and Andean cats. The organization has offices in New York City and Europe, as well as offices in Mesoamerica, South America, Africa and Asia.

Lost Land of the Tiger is a three-part nature documentary series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit which follows a scientific expedition to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The expedition team is made up of specialist zoologists, explorers and the BBC crew. Together, they explore wilderness areas from the lowland jungles to high-elevation slopes, in search of rare animals and plants. The focus of the expedition is to investigate the status of the tiger in Bhutan, where little is known of the cat's distribution or population density. Evidence of a healthy population of tigers would elevate Bhutan's importance as a sanctuary for this endangered species. It would also support tiger conservationist Dr. Alan Rabinowitz's proposal for a vast protected corridor linking the fragmented pockets of tiger habitat which lie to the south of the Himalayas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laohu Valley Reserve</span> National reserve in South africa

The Laohu Valley Reserve (LVR) is a nature reserve located near Philippolis in the Free State and near Vanderkloof Dam in the Northern Cape of South Africa. It is a roughly 350-square-kilometre private reserve.

Li Quan is a Beijing-born wildlife conservationist who lives in London.

Steven R. Galster is an American environmental and human rights investigator and counter-trafficking program designer. Since 1987, he has planned and participated in investigations and remedial programs to stop wildlife and human trafficking and to mitigate corruption and build governance in Asia, Africa, Russia, South America, and the USA.

Don Clarke is a South African singer-songwriter, also known as The Songteller. Clarke is notable for his music contribution to South African culture with songs that celebrate South African sport, tell the story of heroes and support social issues.

References

  1. 1 2 "John Varty, JV, conservationist and film maker, Tiger Canyons".
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Nine Lives, author John Varty" . Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  4. "Tiger Canyons - to create a tiger population outside Asia". www.jvbigcats.co.za.
  5. http://www.kalahari.com/books/Nine-lives/68158/37881750.aspx
  6. Communications, Emmis (September 1984). "Cincinnati Magazine".
  7. Matteoli, Francisca (15 June 2002). "Starry starry nights". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  8. "Local Experts". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  9. "Robot Check". Amazon.
  10. http://tv.nytimes.com/show/51746/Jamu-The-Orphaned-Leopard/overview Summary
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "John Varty". IMDb. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  14. "About Leopard Queen Show - National Geographic Channel - Sub-Saharan Africa". natgeotv.com. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  15. "National Geographic TV Shows, Specials & Documentaries". National Geographic Channel.
  16. "Tiger Man of Africa". Fox News. 8 April 2011.
  17. 1 2 "Vartys 'misused' tiger funds". news24. 18 March 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  18. 1 2 "Discovery Film Proclaimed A Fraud; Broadcaster to be Sued". Wildlife Film News 56. February 2004. Archived from the original on 7 June 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  19. "Vartys 'misused' tiger funds". news24. 18 March 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  20. Arrick, A., Mckinney, K. (2007) Purrrfect Breed? TylerPaper.com, 13 August 2007 online Archived 11 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  21. "John Varty: I felt like a rag doll". Channel24. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  22. "Corbett's Freedom". www.jvbigcats.co.za. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  23. Video on YouTube
  24. "Tiger Canyon: Africa's Bengal tiger conservation project". Getaway Magazine. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  25. "John Varty | Recordings". John Varty, Tiger Canyon, Activist, Singer, Moviemaker. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  26. Varty, John; Le Roux, Dominique; Hay-Whitton, Lesley (2010). Nine lives: memoirs of a maverick conservationist. Cape Town: Zebra. ISBN   978-1-77022-132-1. OCLC   696106646.
  27. "In the Jaws of the Tiger". www.jvbigcats.co.za. Retrieved 5 November 2018.