John Varty (born 27 November 1950) is a South African wildlife filmmaker who has made more than 30

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

and one feature film. Varty is an author, singer-songwriter and activist. He co-owns Londolozi Game Reserve and Tiger Canyon - A project which aims to create a free-ranging, self-sustaining

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

population outside of Asia.

Early life

John Varty attended

Parktown Boys' High School Parktown Boys' High School is a public English medium high school for boys situated in Parktown, a suburb of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is one of the oldest schools in Johannesburg. Parktown Boys' sister school is ...

in Johannesburg. As a child, John learned about hunting on the family game farm near the

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from ea ...

. After his father, Charles, died, John and his brother, Dave Varty, terminated the hunting activities and converted it into a game reserve in 1973. 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 ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark ri ...

's world's best 4 times in the late 90s and early 2000s.

In the News

2012 - John Varty mauled by a tiger 2014 - January 2014 KIA South Africa released a TV commercial, Tiger in Africa, with John Varty's footage shot at Tiger Canyons. 2019 - John Varty offered Johannesburg zoo R1m to release an elephant 2019 - Wildlife filmmaker Varty joins protest to close East London's zoo

Awards

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

Filmography

''*Leopard Queen'', appeared in, **A Secret Life, with Gillian van Houten and Elmon Mhlongo, ***Running Wild, appeared in, with Brooke Shields

Tiger Rewilding project

In 2000, John started a

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

re-wilding project near

Philippolis Philippolis is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. The town is the birthplace of many South African celebrities including the writer and intellectual Sir Laurens van der Post, actress Brümilda van Rensburg and Springboks rugby ...

in the Free State. Starting with captive bred tigers, the aim is to establish a wild tiger population outside of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. In 2003, the progress was documented in a

The Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

production called '' Living with Tigers''. In 2011,

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

made a second documentary called ''Tiger Man of Africa''. In 2019, Getaway reported there were 18 Bengal tigers at Tiger Canyon.

Singer and Songwriter

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

Controversy

2012 - Varty stated a one-off auction might help to preserve rhinos. 2004 - The tiger rewilding project was the subject of controversy in 2004 after public accusations of misuse of funds by investors Stuart Bray and wife, Li Quan following the release of Living with Tigers. The investors and an American conservationist questioned how some filming footage was obtained and a dispute followed. John Varty was granted a court interdict on March 17 from the Bloemfontein High Court restraining Quan and Bray from harassment.

Bibliography

* ''Nine Lives - Memoirs of a Maverick'' (2011) * ''In the Jaws of the Tiger'' (2013)

References

External links

* documentary
Discovery Channel profile

Tiger Man of Africa

Guardian article on Londolozi and Mandela
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varty, John South African zoologists Living people South African conservationists 1950 births People from Johannesburg Alumni of Parktown Boys' High School