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]
John Varty | |
|---|---|
 Varty filming with a tigress in 2009 | |
| Born | 27 November 1950[1] Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, conservationist |
| Spouse |
Gillian van Houten (TV news anchor)
(m. 1995) |
| Children | 3[1] |
| Website | johnvarty |
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]
Filmography
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Bibliography
Other articles/books
- Varty, Boyd. Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home, Random House (2014).
References
- ^ a b "John Varty, JV, conservationist and film maker, Tiger Canyons".
- ^ "Beeld KALENDER Dinsdag 24 Januarie 1995 Bl. 3: 'n Leeu-verhaal van hoop". Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
- ^ "Nine Lives, author John Varty". Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ "Tiger Canyons - to create a tiger population outside Asia". www.jvbigcats.co.za.
- ^ Varty, John. Nine Lives. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012.
- ^ Communications, Emmis (September 1984). "Cincinnati Magazine".
- ^ Matteoli, Francisca (15 June 2002). "Starry starry nights". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ "Local Experts". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ "Robot Check". Amazon.
- ^ "Jamu The Orphaned Leopard". Archived from the original on 17 January 2011.
- ^ "Beeld JOHANNESBURG FINAAL Saterdag 25 September 1993 Bl. 5: Shields-prent kan oorsee slag vir Suid-Afrika slaan Londolozi-manne gaan reeks vir Walt Disney maak". Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
- ^ "John Varty". Archived from the original on 5 July 2011.
- ^ "John Varty". IMDb. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ "About Leopard Queen Show - National Geographic Channel - Sub-Saharan Africa". natgeotv.com. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ "National Geographic TV Shows, Specials & Documentaries". National Geographic Channel.
- ^ "Tiger Man of Africa". Fox News. 8 April 2011.
- ^ a b "Vartys 'misused' tiger funds". news24. 18 March 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
- ^ a b "Tiger Film a Fraud, says The Chinese Tigers South African Trust". PRNewswire. 6 September 2003. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Vartys 'misused' tiger funds". news24. 18 March 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
- ^ Arrick, A., Mckinney, K. (2007) Purrrfect Breed? TylerPaper.com, 13 August 2007 online Archived 11 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "John Varty: I felt like a rag doll". Channel24. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ "Corbett's Freedom". www.jvbigcats.co.za. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ Video on YouTube
- ^ "Tiger Canyon: Africa's Bengal tiger conservation project". Getaway Magazine. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "In the Jaws of the Tiger". www.jvbigcats.co.za. Retrieved 5 November 2018.