Part 49
I initially tried something slightly different with this blog but, as usual, I ran it by my ever-patient wife Hero, whose reaction to all my writing is a wonderful barometer of how my words communicate to other people. She’s a tough cookie in this respect and never tells me that I’ve written something good if she doesn’t like it. So, apart from an impulse to strangle her on occasions, I feel that she’s acted as a wonderful filter between my writing and its readers.
On this occasion I also had my daughter Xanthe listening in. Their reaction was almost identical. In a word: “Boooring!”
So, instead I thought I would tell you about one of the more extraordinary characters I’ve met in my travels. His name was Charles Asterly Maberly; he was born in 1905 in Clifton, Gloucestershire, England, and died in 1972 in Duivelskloof, South Africa. Duivelskloof is translated as “Devil’s Ravine.” The area is surrounded by huge boulders and craggy outcrops.
From his early years, Charles was fascinated by all living creatures, although perhaps less so by the human species. He started drawing local English animals, birds and insects while still at Repton, an English public school. He went on to become one of the foremost writers and illustrators of African Wildlife in the 20th century. His books include Animals of Rhodesia (1959), Animals of East Africa (1966) and Game Animals of South Africa (1967). He also illustrated many books by other writers, such as T.V. Bulpin and Harry Wolhuter.
At the age of 18, Charles went to South Africa and initially lived with a family on a farm close to Kruger National Park – which today is the largest game reserve in Africa, if not in the world.
The park is named after Paul Kruger, who as President of the Transvaal Republic had tried to interest his government in setting aside some land for the preservation of wildlife. His appeal fell on deaf ears. His fellow Afrikaners were hunting-mad and could not conceive of the need for conserving game. In their view the huge herds that roamed freely across the vast plains of Southern Africa would never be depleted. In fact, they were very wrong.
When the park was eventually created, one of its founding fathers was Stevenson Hamilton, a former military man who was a stern administrator but widely admired by those who worked for him. Even the local Tsonga tribe, who also had little idea why wildlife should be preserved – and called Stevenson Hamilton “Skukuza,” which means “The Man Who Has Turned Everything Upside-down” – still respected his leadership.
Charles was determined to explore Kruger Park, where he expected to find virtually all the species he wanted to illustrate. He purchased a bicycle and set off on the tracks that the park’s game rangers had created over the years. For a time, he happily parked his bike and stood sketching a great variety of animals, almost oblivious to the dangers he faced.
When the formidable Stevenson Hamilton discovered what Charles was up to, he immediately banned the intrepid little man from the park, saying that he did not want to be responsible for sending Charles’ remains back to England, if any were left, after he had been eaten by a lion. Charles argued convincingly that his illustrations and writings would encourage more visitors to frequent the park. Stevenson Hamilton finally agreed to a compromise. He told Charles that if he were to take a gun with him and promised to be sensible, he would allow him access to the park.
Charles was due to travel to Britain for a few weeks. He promised that he would return with a weapon. While dining with a wealthy aunt at the Dorchester Hotel in London, he was asked if there was anything she could get him for his return to Africa. Charles replied that he needed to obtain a shotgun but it should be a short-barreled weapon that would be easier to carry on his bicycle. The aunt, who knew nothing about guns, went to the top gunsmiths in London and ordered a custom-built, short-barreled shot gun. It was delivered with a beautifully embossed stock. A real collector’s item!
Charles returned to South Africa and proudly showed his gun to Stevenson Hamilton, who sternly told him that he was only to use it if his life were in danger. Little did he know that Charles promptly lashed the gun to the crossbar on his bike with a stout cord that would have taken him about ten minutes to unwind. Years later, when I met and filmed Charles we laughed over the bizarre idea of his having to aim his bike at a charging lion to fire the gun – which would undoubtedly have blown off the front of his bike and only hopefully would still have reached the offending lion. In any event, he never had to use his gun and somehow avoided being eaten.
Charles eventually bought his own farm in a tiny village called Duivelskloof, still close to the park, and set up a small nature reserve there. He no longer rode around the park, when I met him in 1969, but I had heard that he was able to persuade the bush pigs, who lived in the forest next to his farm, to come and feed on his lawn. Bush pigs are nocturnal animals and seldom seen by humans. I was keen to film them for a documentary I was making at the time. Charles welcomed me warmly and warned that he could not guarantee the bush pigs would appear while we were there. But he did show me photos of the little animals on his lawn.
I found Charles to be an incredibly interesting person to speak with. His whole life had revolved around animals. He had married a South African lady, Doris Burman in 1939 but divorced her in 1961. They had no children and I suspect that she played second fiddle to his obsession with wildlife until she parted company with him.
That pretty well summed up Charles’ attitude towards his fellow man.
I never saw him again. Three years later, he was murdered one night in his house. The official verdict was that he had been attacked by a robber but there was another theory that I had heard from friends of his. The local African people had the belief that when one of them died, their spirit entered the body of a bush pig. Charles’ efforts to lure these animals onto his lawn where he could study, draw and even photograph them, were regarded as his attempts to interfere with their spirits, or ancestors as they call them.
Who really knows why he was killed. It was a sad ending for a man who had devoted his life to understanding the life and ecology of Africa.
From sad endings to bright new beginnings: As the history of our planet unfolds, people like Charles form part of a vast tapestry of special and unusual people who have left the legacy of their particular gifts to the world. It will not be long before another very special and unusual genius will have contributed a massive slice of progress to our future. His name is Peter Warren, and his evolution of the next major step forward in communication is called ExoBrain!
An ExoTech Ltd shareholder, Chris is currently authoring two of the four books to be published the day ExoBrain launches and has helped to create ExoBrain’s introductory video to the Confidential Technical Briefing. Chris has spent his working life in the film and television industry, starting with BBC Television in London, then ATV in Birmingham becoming, at the time, the youngest Studio Manager in Britain.
Later, in South Africa, he wrote and directed film and TV commercials, having four South African entries at the Cannes Advertising Festival. After a number of years of writing and directing or producing documentaries (eight international awards) and corporate videos, he concentrated on writing feature film screenplays (five screened) and television series (seven screened). He has a novel, ”Pursuit of Treachery,” with a literary agent and is currently obtaining finance for an action adventure feature film he has written and is co-producing. He is a published poet and has given many readings.