| John Varty | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Varty November 27, 1950 [1] Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Occupation | Film maker, conservationist |
| Spouse | Gillian van Houten (TV news anchor) (m. 1995–present) [2] |
| Children | 3: Daughter Savannah and twin boys, Sean and Tao.[1] |
John Varty (born November 27, 1950) is a controversial South African wildlife filmmaker[3][4] 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.[5] However, some experts feel that this is a money making venture by Varty in an attempt to earn money from the tourism industry. This was documented in a film called "Living with Tigers".
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As a child, John learned hunting[6] on the family game farm near the Kruger National Park.
After his father, Charles, passed away, John and his brother, Dave Varty, terminated the hunting activities and converted it into a game reserve in 1973.[7] 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. After Nelson Mandela stayed there in 1998, he said: "There, I saw people of all races living in harmony amid the beauty that mother nature offers. Londolozi represents a model of the dream I cherish for the future of nature preservation in our country."[8]
John 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 2011, John Varty starred in Leopard Queen, a documentary about a leopard he has filmed for 17 years.[13]
He also wrote, produced and starred in Running Wild a feature film starring Brooke Shields.[14]
In 2000, John started a 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 has drawn a lot of criticism: Firstly, his financial backers accused him on national television of misusing funds and that his only motivation has been to make money.[3] Funds for the project were initially supplied by Li Quan and her husband, investment banker Stuart Bray. However, the Vartys were accused of financial mismanagement after a legal audit uncovered that he had borrowed R5.7-million of the funds for extraneous and personal expenses.[3][17] Quan and Bray subsequently established the Save China's Tigers Laohu Valley Reserve, also near Philippolis.[18]
Secondly, scientists have also established that the tigers are not genetically pure, which would imply that the project has no conservation value.[19]
Thirdly, the Varty's have been accused by their investors and conservationists of manipulating the behavior of the tigers for the film's production, with the tigers believed to be unable to hunt.[20][21] 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."[20][21]
Lastly, the Karoo is not suitable habitat for tigers.[22]
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