Celebrating a maestro
HUNDREDS turned out for conservationist Ian Player's memorial service at Hilton
College this week. For all of us he had been such a towering figure in the background
and for so long it's difficult to grasp that he is no more.
The service itself was infused with Ian's quirky fancies. He apparently went to
elaborate lengths well in advance to make sure his wishes would be fulfilled.
Hence piper Colin McKay playing Flowers of the Forest; Norwegian opera singer
Ranveig Eckhoff with Lili Marlene (one of Ian's favourites – he used to sing it
himself in the bush) and Born Free; and Andrew Muir, of the Wilderness Leadership
School and the Wilderness Foundation, being obliged to recount an incident in an
upper crust London club where Ian collided with a waiter and sent him sprawling with
a tray of champagne.
A rousing eulogy came from Ian McCullum, who wrote the foreword to Ian's
biography and declared that were it not for Ian and his team, the white rhino would
almost certainly be extinct today.
Vance Martin, formerly of the US Fish and Game Commission, spoke of the
launching of the World Wilderness Congress movement, which was supposed to be a
one-off but has now been running for more than 30 years.
Former Natal Parks Board colleague David Cook (who actually organised the
logistics for Operation Rhino) spoke of the way Ian lifted the agency out of complete
obscurity into an internationally respected organisation.
Sheila Berry spoke of Ian's deep immersion in Jungian philosophy, which sets such
great value on the experience of wilderness. Todani Moyo, CEO of Msinsi Holdings,
which runs the conservancies around KZN's great dams, directed the programme.
And Bishop Geoff Davies – the "green bishop"- delivered a most powerful sermon on
faith – all faiths – and reverence for all forms of life, not just human.
Then the cry of the fish eagle – the call of the wild – from a recording Ian himself had
made.
What a lassooing together in a couple of hours of the things Ian Player held dear. As
with most of what he organised during his lifetime, it was powerful and it went off
without a hitch.
Afterwards a squadron of the Bateleurs did a fly-past. The Bateleurs are private
aircraft owners who do recces and other work for conservation, without charge. They
were in the "missing man" formation, signifying somebody has been lost.
Ian died at 87, a very ripe old age. The memorial service was a celebration of his life.
But you can't avoid a great sense of emptiness now he's gone.
Enduring legacy
IAN Player often used to talk about holocausts. He came in on the tail of one when
he joined the old Natal Parks Board in 1952. The government had been deliberately
slaughtering game by the hundreds of thousands in Zululand, carcasses left rotting
in the bush. It had also been poisoning Zululand from the air, spraying DDT against
mosquitoes.
It was a civilising mission, eliminating tsetse fly in the interests of the cattle ranchers;
making the region habitable for humans. It was every bit as dangerous and destructive
as today's rhino horn poaching. The predicament of wildlife in Zululand in those days
was more precarious than today.
Ian often mused about a possible new holocaust. Rhino and ivory poaching getting
absolutely out of hand; a breakdown of wildlife management as poachers and protein-
hungry hordes simply invade the parks.
But the rhino gene pool is now safely dispersed. A worldwide conservation ethic has
taken hold, that simply did not exist before. Traditional communities are profiting
from eco-tourism.
My impression is that Ian felt the wilderness areas are safer now than when he started
out. That is his enduring legacy.
But a luta continhua!
Spider
OVERHEARD in the Street Shelter for the Over-Forties: "My daughter wanted a pet
spider. They were R100 each at the pet shop. I thought: 'Blow this – I'll get one off
the web.'"
Tailpiece
DADDY takes his little boy to the zoo. When they get back, Mummy asks: "Did you
have a nice time?"
"Great!"says the little boy. "Especially when one of Daddy's animals came in at 30 to
1!"
Last word
This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a
hardcover book - it makes a very poor doorstop.
Alfred Hitchcock
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