John Varty Explained

Birth Date:1950 11, df=yes[1]
Birth Place:Johannesburg, South Africa
Spouse:[2]
Children:3
Occupation:Filmmaker, conservationist

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]

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] 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.

In 2019, Getaway reported there were 18 Bengal tigers at Tiger Canyon.[24]

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

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: John Varty, JV, conservationist and film maker, Tiger Canyons.
  2. Web site: Beeld KALENDER Dinsdag 24 Januarie 1995 Bl. 3: 'n Leeu-verhaal van hoop . 25 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120322225428/http://152.111.1.88/argief/berigte/beeld/1995/01/24/3/10.html . 22 March 2012 . dead .
  3. Web site: Nine Lives, author John Varty . 17 August 2011.
  4. Web site: 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. Web site: Cincinnati Magazine. Communications. Emmis. September 1984.
  7. Web site: Starry starry nights. Matteoli. Francisca. 2002-06-15. The Guardian. en. 2018-11-05.
  8. News: Local Experts. Travel + Leisure. 2018-11-05. en.
  9. Web site: Robot Check. Amazon .
  10. http://tv.nytimes.com/show/51746/Jamu-The-Orphaned-Leopard/overview Summary
  11. Web site: 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 . 25 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120322225440/http://152.111.1.88/argief/berigte/beeld/1993/09/25/5/1.html . 22 March 2012 . dead .
  12. Web site: Archived copy . 25 July 2011 . https://archive.today/20110705192553/http://wild1.natgeochannel.co.uk/programmes/caught-on-safari-live/presenters/john-varty . 5 July 2011 . dead .
  13. Web site: John Varty. IMDb. 2018-11-05.
  14. Web site: About Leopard Queen Show - National Geographic Channel - Sub-Saharan Africa . 2018-11-05 . natgeotv.com.
  15. Web site: National Geographic TV Shows, Specials & Documentaries. National Geographic Channel.
  16. News: Tiger Man of Africa . Fox News . 8 April 2011.
  17. Web site: Vartys 'misused' tiger funds . 27 August 2011 . 18 March 2003 . news24.
  18. Web site: Tiger Film a Fraud, says The Chinese Tigers South African Trust . 6 September 2003 . PRNewswire . 27 August 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110727084010/http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/Week-of-Mon-20030901/005990.html . 27 July 2011 . dead .
  19. Web site: Discovery Film Proclaimed A Fraud; Broadcaster to be Sued . Wildlife Film News 56 . February 2004 . 27 August 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090607012741/http://www.wildeye.co.uk/wildlife-film/Wfn/wfn56.htm . 7 June 2009 .
  20. News: Vartys 'misused' tiger funds . 27 August 2011 . 18 March 2003 . news24.
  21. Arrick, A., Mckinney, K. (2007) Purrrfect Breed? TylerPaper.com, 13 August 2007 online
  22. News: John Varty: I felt like a rag doll. Channel24. 2018-11-05. en.
  23. Web site: Corbett's Freedom. www.jvbigcats.co.za. 2018-11-05.
  24. Web site: 2019-01-15. Tiger Canyon: Africa's Bengal tiger conservation project. 2021-04-11. Getaway Magazine.
  25. Book: Varty. John. Nine lives: memoirs of a maverick conservationist. Le Roux. Dominique. Hay-Whitton. Lesley. 2010. Zebra. 978-1-77022-132-1. Cape Town. English. 696106646.
  26. Web site: In the Jaws of the Tiger. www.jvbigcats.co.za. 2018-11-05.

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