Fiona Macleod
I SPEAK OF AFRICA: THE STORY OF LONDOLOZI GAME RESERVE by Shan Varty and Molly Buchanan (Londolozi Publishers, R300)
THE ENVIRONMENTAL FUNDING GUIDE by Jill Ritchie (Papillon Press, R100)
WHY would anyone want to pay R300 for the eulogy to the Varty dynasty in I Speak of Africa? Firstly, because the Vartys have pioneered a conservation model which has not only proved extremely successful at Londolozi, but which has been exported to various other corners of the world and which has earned their company, Conservation Corporation, the sobriquet “the Microsoft of conservation”.
The model had humble beginnings: when the Varty brothers, John and Dave, inherited Londolozi in the early 1970s, it was a degraded stretch of land with few wild animals. On the advice of ecologist Ken Tinley, they set in motion some revolutionary projects – clearing the bush with bulldozers and translocating various species, including elephants.
They were controversial moves at the time, but the success of Londolozi as a wildlife tourism venue since has proved they were the right moves: in the early 1970s, they had a maximum of eight guests, each paying R3 a day; by 1996, Londolozi had a capacity of 48 beds and generated up to R60 000 a day.
Having learnt how to take care of the land and the wildlife, with the help of Shan Varty, Dave’s wife, they set about perfecting the third element of Londolozi’s success: taking care of people – guests, staff and communities neighbouring on the reserve.
It is clear the Vartys have never stooped to offering neighbouring communities a few proverbial trinkets in exchange for the abuse of their wildlife, as is so often the case with “sustainable utilisation” conservation models.
They rejected hunting in favour of photographic safaris, and they have offered their neighbours real economic benefits and meaningful participation in their projects.
These are not least among the reasons why a number of other tourist African destinations – in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya and Zanzibar – have been so keen to import the Vartys’ ecotourism model.
A second reason to buy the book is that it is filled with entertaining anecdotes about life in the bush (“In those [early] days a good game drive was not measured by what you saw, but whether you got back to camp without a breakdown”). These adventures, together with a stunning array of wildlife photographs, make it a delightful book to dip into from time to time.
Thirdly, in the course of their business over the years, the Vartys have won the support of some very highbrow and influential people – among them President Nelson Mandela, who wrote the book’s foreword, and Enos Mabuza, now chairman of the National Parks Board. Such friends should not find it too much of a sacrifice to fork out R300 for this high-quality publication.
That said, it needs to be pointed out that the glitzy PR-speak of Molly Buchanan’s narrative is often tedious and irritating (why say “the lovely thatched rooftops of the camp buildings” when “thatched rooftops” will do?) So many superlatives may prove counterproductive, too, because those who have never been to Londolozi may be misled into believing they belie the real nature of the Vartys’ truly happy camp.
Aspirant Vartys will find a lot of handy fundraising information in The Environmental Funding Guide. It’s filled with practical details on planning, budgeting, raising sponsorship, developing membership and public relations. It also lists details of more than 300 potential donors, both local and in the United States and Europe.