Meet Gary Stafford who fought in the Bush War which the white minority lost and lead to majority rules in Zimbabwe. He decided to stay in Zimbabwe despite attempts by war vets to take his property. He founded Kuimba Shiri at the lake Chivero, Zimbabwe’s World famous bird sanctuary. He shares with us how he decided to build the sanctuary and tells us a short history of Zimbabwe.
Vlog in Text:
Folks, we are here with Garry, the founder of the Kimbashiri and that means the singing birds in Shauna. The singing bird sanctuary. A wonderful place worth visiting. Uh we are next to the Chivera Lake. Lake Chro Lake Chro. It was named after the local chief in the area. But before that, when it was built, it was built in 1952 as the water supply for Harrari. Well, back then it was Ssbury and then of course uh it was called Lake Mwain and now it is called Lake Chro. Lake Main. Mwain. Is that the surname or it's Yeah. Well, it was a man's surname. He was a water and an engineer in the area back in the 1950s. So, in the 1952, it was the biggest man-made dam in the southern hemisphere built out of soil. So the wall is built out of concrete but the the the the sorry the the weir is built out of concrete but the the wall is out of soil and it was built in 1952. So it's 9 km wide and 14 km long. Right. It's a it's a big one. Big one. Is it is it a reservoir for drinking water from the capital of Zimbabwe Har? Correct. Correct. This is where the water comes from. But the problem is that it's [snorts] we're 300 m lower than Harrari. So all the rain water and everything that comes from Harrari comes here. I'm just looking out at the at the distance there. You can see my horses galloping along the shoreline.
Look how beautiful that is.
Oh, hey. When did you open the place? Well, that's a long story. When I was a little boy, I I I kept a lot of birds. I always kept birds and horses and so on. And then when my son was born, I bought the land here. That was in 1991. And I bought the land so that I could just build my house and live here. And um then I thought, wow, you know, this is such a it's a beautiful place and that's where I want to be. So instead of building my house over here where the restaurant is, I decided to build a restaurant and then start building a bird park because I had a lot of injured birds already that I'd been collecting since 1984. and I had all these birds and then what happened was uh BBC asked me to train some eagles for documentaries. So, so that was a it was a compliment, a big compliment and I enjoyed doing that. And then I thought, you know, from here just training birds for documentaries, fine. And then people are coming and watching me exercising my birds every day. And then slowly but surely then I thought, yeah, you know what? I want to share this with my with friends. And then I decided to build a bird park. And uh from there it just got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and up to 2002 I had over 2,000 birds here. But then of course we had a lot of uh issues, political issues and then I moved a thousand birds to South Africa in 2010. We had a major food problem in Zimbabwe, economic uh meltdown and a lot of my birds died then because we couldn't feed them. And then in 20120, things started picking up again and we started being able to fix things and and adjust things and uh now we're doing we're surviving. But of course the biggest problem that we have now is the lake was to come to Zimbabwe and film interesting white Africans. Wow. All right. That's that's [laughter] so that one there. Interesting white Africans. Interesting white Africans. Right. That is in a in a art museum in Paris. And certainly Gary, you were in there right as a interesting white African. [laughter] Well, there I have in the in the Land Cruiser there. Yeah, you're there, right? Cool. See the next one up here in the Land Cruiser. Gary, many thanks. Yeah, Katherine Cooper as well. So, you're quite known person, Gary. Aren't you? Not really. [laughter] A great persona. Anyway, so why is the lake the biggest problem? Well, like I said, the lake is 300 m lower than Aari. And unfortunately our um administration, the people, the mayor and the the whole of the council have neglected in maintaining the the the treatment plants that [snorts] feed into the lake. And because all the sewage treatment plants have collapsed and broken down, they pumping raw sewage into the lake. And about 5 years ago, I warned them. I said, "We're going to hit a disaster soon if you don't rectify what you're doing now." And then a year and a half ago, we I took a whole lot of editors and media on the lake and I showed them the extent of the pollution and they were shocked. But of course they did nothing which is uh quite typical actually which is unfortunate. And then what happened was uh in November last year four rhino died from drinking the water out of the water out of the lake. Rhino four white rhino died and then the the national parks came and removed the other rhino from here. They took him to a safe place and then that was in October last year, November. And then then we started making a huge noise about the pollution because nobody cared the officials. And then um last year rhino died, zebra died, vibbeus died and and a lot of birds died. And then the officials still did nothing. And we've got methods of repairing it, but they be they they've still done nothing. And then we came right through to this year to about four weeks ago. We went on the lake and we had a big cleanup campaign of picking up plastic and and bottles and nets and so on. And we removed quite a lot about five tons of plastic. And while we were out in the bush there, we found zebra dead, giraffe dead, uh, impala dead, baboons dead, and and more than 25 birds dead as well. And the the the the water was green green, like thick thick thick green. Anyway, we came back and because of the urgency and the absolute desperation, we then went and called a number of uh people and we formed the re the Chava Revival Campaign. Right. So, we've had a lot of media coming out here recently uh to cover the Chavar Revival Campaign. And then this last Friday, we had another cleanup of plastic and nets along the lake. And uh we moved we had 350 volunteers from Harrari and we moved um over 27 tons. Oh my god. of plastic and waste. Plastic. People are unfortunately in Zimbabwe the culture of of uh consumption I call it consumption and greed has got beyond. So they drink everything and they throw the can on the ground. You know in other countries they take pride in their nation and they clean up. They consume something but put it in a bag, take it away with you. Here they just throw it everywhere and that's the problem. That's one problem. So we have a having a drought at the moment. The lake is 5 m lower than it should be. Yeah, I've heard about that. And that is why there's such a huge problem with the plastic and everything. So So we are pushing to clean up the lake, clear it out. And then we also want to treat the lake with um the they call them enzymes. And with barley, we can treat the lake in areas so the animals can have fresh water and then when the rain does come, it'll come in and it'll be able to clean the lake. So, we will get this lake back to what it should be. Unfortunately, we're waiting for the authority to say, "Okay, you can clean the lake." Can you imagine? You have to wait for them to say you can clean it. Incredible. And it's taken one company's been trying for 14 years and they haven't been given authority yet to clean the lake. Oh, can you imagine? I mean, it's incred. Anywhere else in the world, they would beg you to clean the lake here. Oh well. Oh well. Let's talk about it. Let's have another conference. Let's We'll see. All right. Thank you for giving us the insight about the Lake Cho. Uh Gary, but you have a very interesting uh personal story. You actually are a Dutch descendant, right? The from the BS that came from South Africa when we were having a lot of political issues here uh during the McGabby regime, we uh many many times uh they tried to take this property. some people were trying to uh take the property uh for whatever reason they they they came up with and um we've been fortunate enough to to stay. we lost other properties. But my family, they people they say, "Oh, go back to Britain because of course a lot of Africa uh don't like what the British have done or should I say the English uh because there's a big difference." And uh for us as white Africans, my family go back over 300 years in in in southern Africa. We escaped Europe when the Catholic Church was persecuting people in Europe. Was it the Hugenotes or the Hugenos? Correct. But at the same time, people went to America and they called them pilgrims in America and they came to southern Africa getting away from right the church there. And so they came to this to the southern tip of Africa as booers as Afric in fact they were Dutch and then of course Germans came in as well a bit later and the French as well and they formed a colony of of the Cape and then the British came along or the English came along and said, "Oh, we we see a strategic value here." And then they occupied the Cape and the Dutch or the the the Boers by then try moved away from from the British. They were trying to escape the British because the British were taxing them and they crossed over the Orange River and they called it the Orange Free State cuz they were free from the British. Right. The problem was then they discovered diamonds there and the British came again and the boers went across to the Transval across the V River and then they discovered gold there and the British came again. Okay. So, so yeah, so there were a couple of wars, the B war, which made it really interesting. And you know what, we we look at at at uh some of the things the Nazis did during the Second World War, and we say, "Oh, how atrocious." But a lot of people don't realize that the English did that to black and white people in Southern Africa in the 1800s, long before the Nazis. So as a result of that, a lot of people supported Germany during the Second World War. Oh, I see. Yeah. Because of what the British the British Yeah. like the the BS were supporting the Nazis because Well, they they chance to to get free from the a lot of the lot of they didn't they actually never got a chance to support the the the the Germans. uh they eventually had a referendum and and went and fought on the side of Britain. Oh, there was a referendum in South Southern Africa. Was there Rodasia in that time? Well, no, Rodesia was a separate country was so the referendum was in South Africa. It was in South Africa to support Germany or allies allies. Correct. So they they went to go supported uh Britain because Britain promised them independence if they fought on the side of I see and they offered the same thing to Rhdesia as well. But then of course they lied about Rodesia and uh that led to being in Rhodesia. There was a a referendum again and we declared unilateral independence from Britain in 1965 and that was when Britain and basically the whole world turned to fight Rhdesia because we told the British to get out of here. All right. On the Rodesian side. On the Rodesian side. The whole world was supporting the the Rodesian independence movement. No. No. They were against the Redesian because Britain is a world power, right? They had and we told the British to get out. Yeah. There was a war, isn't there? Was a Do did your family take part uh in in that conflict as well? I did. I was part of it yourself. Yes. Yeah. I went into the Redesian army when I was 16 years old. Hello. Hello. This is your boy Vlogger Zupa. Welcome to the new series from Africa, Zimbabwe. I have 3 weeks to travel around this country. The size of Zimbabwe is about the size of the UK, but it's only inhabited by 14 million people. 80% of that population is Shauna tribe. And we will look closely at them. We will look at their oral traditions, music, food, and of course night life. Snaf tobacco is a big part of Shauna culture. I had the experience to use it myself. Find out if I've connected [music] with my ancestors. Ancestors totems and spirituality is a big thing in Shona culture. So is the music. A traditional instrument called serves as the telephone to the spirits. Their has been estimated to exist in Shona society for the past thousand years. It is a mystical instrument full of tradition and history. The repatory dates itself back many centuries [music] and it's only passed down orally. I was very fortunate to meet the right people who explained to me complicated history of this region. Zimbabwe and street food is amazing. Watch the episode where I eat chicken and cow feet. At Lake Chiver, I've met Gary who showed me his birds and told me interesting history of his Dutch side of the family. I've also met Ian Darl and Alex whose stories were as incredible. Make sure you watch the interviews I've had with them. Also definitely watch the episode about the Johan Masawa church which is a phenomena of Zimbabwan church. It is a church without a church. Yes, they pray in nature. 30% of Zimbabwan territories covered with national parks or protected areas. Animals are protected by the common belief of totems. But it is the [music] people of Zimbabwe that made the biggest impression on me. They were very kind and helpful and I never felt unsafe. subscribe to the channel and watch the series from So we we we were basically because of the United Nations and Britain and America being big shots in the UN. The UN imposed sanctions on this little country. At the same time, the Russians were supplying one of the guerilla armies called Zapu with weapons. At the same time, China was supplying weapons to uh Zandla uh as well. So this little country was fighting not only the United Nations but also China and Russia. All right. There were three different enemies for you. All fighting against here. Okay. And in 1980, after 15 years of civil war, 15 years of civil war, of civil war, the white people went to have a referendum again and then voted for black majority rule. So it wasn't one because of a war. It was one from an election. So we had a peaceful transition over and that is where pe a lot of people the propaganda said ah we won a war. Well no we had a a referendum and voted for majority rule and that was quite a big thing back then because um yeah we had a peaceful end but a lot of people were killed [sighs] for not very much. I see. Okay. uh how how many people were actually on the Rhodesian side at that point. Do you know what was amazing is is for me it was never ever a racial war because some of my best friends in fact were black people. My next door neighbor in Mabel Rain was a black man, Mr. A very good friend of mine, Mr. Matabanadu. I call him Mr. or Mr. matabanads because they were older than me and it's my sign of respect. So it wasn't a it wasn't a racial war which people love to make it sound like it was. Um and that is to suit their own political gains and we see this all around the world. Look at America. Everything there is is based on on racial racial racial or whether you're gay, lesbian, what it's about dividing people. For me personally and a a lot of my friends and colleagues, it was about us not wanting to become like Zambia, like Mosmbique, like Kenya was where where where um [clears throat] the countries were actually from very very wealthy, very affluent uh rich countries, well educated, good um health systems, good everything apart from elections. Uh they were they they were broken down and this country had the highest education, the highest cost um standard of living in the whole of Africa. In fact, we were higher than Australia. Yeah. I've heard that it was was one of the best places to live in the 70s. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's what we fought against is the destruction and the evidence here of Chao. This was and the treatment plants there were all worldass standard but we've neglected it for 45 years we've neglected it and that's what we fought against. All right. Got it. So so so interesting to talk to you. You are a source of knowledge. I met you here accidentally really because I'm staying next door but you give me the the insight of the Zimbabwean history and the perspectives from the white person. How is it to be white now in Zimbabwe? Do you know I've always well when when the invasions were on it was very difficult because there because there was a small group and even during the war there was a small group of people that wanted to fuel racism here but the majority of the people both during the war and afterwards and now are very peaceful, very happy, uh very generous. [snorts] just the nicest people you can come across. And I'm sure in your travels around here, that's what you will see. You'll see generous, nice, healthy. And it's not just because you're white or it's because that's generally what a Zimbabwean is. Whether he's black or white or even Chinese now, generally they they they are very very very nice people. So what's it like to be a white person in Zimbabwe? Well,
is it any different to my to my black colleagues? No, we always say Yeah. because you you said earlier on that you've never been out of Africa and you say you don't see the reason why going there. I've never been I'm 66 going on 67 years old now. Never been outside. I've traveled Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, a little bit in Zambia, Mosmbique, and my sister lives in England. And she said, "When are you going to come visit?" I said, "What for?" This we are the most fortunate people in the world to be here. It's Yeah, it's absolutely amazing for me. I came from Europe couple days ago and because of the attitude we how how high we are here we're 1500 m above sea level and I think that's the reason why the the the climate is quite friendly. It's actually quite just just just perfect for for it's perfect. And in winter it gets a little colder and then now October it gets a little warmer but it's it's beautiful. It's glorious. It is you know what I I appreciate that that [snorts] you actually see this you appreciate it by living that living here. A lot of people live in the place and they don't see the the the good points of it but you well maybe because they don't live in Zimbabwe. [laughter] Well, you know, I I look at this and and where we sitting here on this land be uh in 192 1902, which is what 23 years ago. The the farmer who came here, the white farmer who came here and bought this bit of land from the British government back then cuz they they had you could buy commercial land. [snorts] He started the first Virginia tobacco farm outside of America was here in 192. Wow. And then in 195 that same farmer was producing hybrid maze. And that hybrid maze became the maze the made this country the bread basket. And I'm sure you've heard that while you've been here, the bread basket of Africa. That hybrid m and that was started here on this farm. 123 years ago. 123 years ago. And then of course they built the lake here in 1952. So um that's when they set or sectioned off areas for recreation and the national park. So that's quite interesting. What exactly is hybrid maze? where where he was crossbreeding types of maze to make it hardier and more compatible with our environment. Uh breeding different types of maze to make it uh stronger and and more resilient in our climate. All right. And that was like the biggest export it to but Yeah, exactly. It became one of the in fact in 1972 1975 I think it was before before in uh dependence um this country produced more grain than any other country in the world and was second biggest tobacco producer in the world in 1972. Can you imagine? incredible because it's because it's it's not a huge country and you know and the land was sectioned off so there was and you could look at the government uh land classification maps [snorts] the land during roads's day large sections were set up for tribal areas and you only had a small population back then and then other land was set allow for commercial value. So commercial meant black and white could buy in those areas. Tribal areas only black people from those particular tribes could occupy that. And then of course there was state land and national parkland. But the the the the land classification map is available to people who want to have a look at it. So when people come and say, "Oh, the whites own 80% of the land in Zimbabwe." Well, that was never ever ever ever true. It's just a political stunt to justify what they've done. It's It's not true. It's not accurate. It was land the the land. They might have owned large parts of the commercial farmland, not tribal land or forestry land. Well, fantastic. Fantastic. It's interesting. in our history. We know a lot about Zimbabwe country, not a big country and uh not many of us know actually about the history of Zimbabwe. Uh can you tell us more about yourself? You know what your hobbies except birds obviously. [laughter] Do you have any other hobbies? Because I don't think you you got time for it. Well, yeah, that is a problem. Um, well, I've I grew up here, obviously, not on this property, but around. My father used to take me across the lake when Look at the big leavon over there coming out of the water. Oh, yeah. I can get that like a like a crocodile. You say some of the your horses are Polish. Watch. Look here. Here they come. So, some of my horses are Polish because um during [snorts] the Cold War, the Russians were breeding horses and in Poland you still got some of the top quality um Arabian horses in the world in Poland at the moment. Are you kidding? Business died out. No, not at all. I just saw some a friend of mine just bought a horse from Poland cost €400,000. Arab one. Arabian. Yeah, Arabian one. Wow. Look at this. Here he comes. Poland. But I don't know these things.
Lost soul. And you see my horses. That's amazing. You know, my horses run straight through the restaurant. Same as the last 20 horses come galloping through. [laughter] What an experience. What an experience. It's like different work, you know. I wasn't expecting to experience this. Hey, come on. He's calling everybody.
Very often they all come galloping inside here. It's how they should be. Amazing. What a place. Uh G, if somebody's watching this and is thinking, "Yeah, I would love to visit your place. How do you get here?" How do you mean that? Like where you know like from Har is there like public transport getting people here? Public transport's a bit dodgy to be honest. Um, it is possible. Uh, but most people would get a taxi. Yeah, you can do that. Yeah, I believe a thing called in drive is very economical. Uh, they charge about $15 to get here from Harari to here. Um, yeah, but it's it is possible, but most people come in their own vehicles and they and then we've got chalets and I've got camping ground. So, a lot of people There's a campsite here as well. Got a campsite. We got the c the the chalets and that all goes to supporting the bird park. So, that I just have to say I used to work in a campsite in Scotland. Okay. But this gentleman called Hugh and you actually, you know, remind me of Hugh. Oh, I hope so. I'm sure [laughter] you know. Well, as long as he's Scottish and not English. Scottish. I'm joking. [laughter] [clears throat] Out here. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago. But yeah, I used to work. You remind me actually of him a lot. I've always enjoyed being outside in the country in the bush, uh, boating, fishing, and so on. And my father used to take me across there when I was, uh, 11 years old, 12 years old. dropped me there with my friend in the bush with a tent and a little canoe and we used to paddle right to the opposite side which is about 9 kilometers away and go fishing and come back and we he drop us off on a Monday and pick us up on a Friday. Oh wow. as a I wasn't afraid to as 11 year old then I look at at and I look at our generation of children nowadays and I I shake my head at them because they are totally useless. They they they the mothers are looking after them, wiping their noses every step of the way instead of allowing little boys to become little boys and those little boys become men. And I look at parents now and I just think and they oh you mustn't go here because there might be
some problem or like a lady there. Oh, the birds are out. Well, I don't know what's wrong with you. You know, it's [laughter] people are not exposed like they but they should be. And I and I often say, you know, my ancestors from the Cape to here is over 2,000 kilometers and they walked behind ox wagons and they rode horses all that distance. I've just had a friend who rode a horse from here to Ventuk in Namibia and then from Vinuk he's ridden down to the Cape Point. That's a long trip. One man by himself with one horse. Okay, that's really Isn't it amazing? Now that is the kind of men you want [laughter] as opposed to some of the things you see in Europe and uh and I say things because that's what they are. [laughter] Right. Right. So like the nature and you were always like the outdoors person and I take care of animals, take care of birds. Look, I've also hunted a lot. At first I used to shoot a lot of things. Okay. And that's part of growing up. It's part of it. But then um then I got involved with falconry, training eagles and falcons for hunting. You do that as well. That's my that's my that's my hobby. Hobby hobby. A black eagle. Yeah. It's a black eagle. An African one or Yes, of course. Cool. Southern African black. Are you coming to camp? Like a chicken. Like a chicken? Yeah. That big chicken. O. That's all the animals that are around the lake Chivero.
Quite impressive, right?
And then so for falconry, you train dogs and then I keep horses as well. I love horse riding. Uh so those are all the things that make me who I am. All right. you don't mind me asking you you know what what what were you doing you know was was was your job uh before well I left the military in 1982
um 1982 left the military I then went and got an apprenticeship I became an electrician and then I looked at this and then I started my own company but at the same time I always had my birds and horses as my hobbies and Then uh I bought this property because my my business was was good and I decided to that I'm going to live here. And then because I was living here and I was having my birds and so on, people started coming to watch me flying my birds and exercising uh and horses as well. And uh it took about 3 years and then I decided that I'll build a bird park instead of just living here. And that's what I did. I built a bird park and now people come from all over to see what we're doing. And of course, because I'm very much involved with um trying to protect this beautiful area and try to look after it, not just for me, but for my grandchildren when they come. Then it's it's important that we we that that somebody stands up and tells the truth because when you look around at the world's uh at at the world's uh news [snorts] the majority of it is fake and they're just pushing climate change and stories like this and I'm just like are you serious? You know [laughter] I can't believe it's always been up and down. Yes, of course. It's we've we've always had where they said global warming and then global freezing and now they oh gee we made mistakes there. So let's have let's just call it global I mean climate change. So but it will go like this because everything moves up and down anyway. Uh we had the corona virus and when that happened here in Zimbabwe I looked I said this is just a con that Europe is trying to push on everybody and China and the rest just a con. And they thought it exactly what we know it to be. Yes, some people. But here in Zimbabwe, it didn't affect us whatsoever. No, there was no no deaths. You know what I did is I followed what we do for our animals and we followed our own medication. If I'm prepared to use some of the medication on my my birds and my animals, then I must be prepared to use it for myself, right? because they are far more valuable than I am to me. Okay. So when it came to treatments, we had we had ivamekin and we had uh F10 as a disinfectant as a nebulizer and not one of of any of our community died of corona. They got sick. We all got we had a cold or a flu. Treated ourselves. Bang. We're okay. And with God and the sunshine and fresh air outside here, no wonder people died in England. They're living in a little box on top of each other like little rabbits in a in a cage. Yeah. Did you Was was the vaccination uh like you did you have to take the vaccination or was it a voluntary thing? It was a voluntary thing but they've tried to force it, you know. They try to push like in some countries they force people to do it. We avoided it because it was logical. And think about it. Who who created the Corona virus? The pharmaceutical companies. Who's selling you the medicine? Pharmaceutical companies. Who's making the money? They all are. So for me, it was logical that you don't join up and you stay away from it because it's man-made. Yeah. Well, wasn't it? God is over now and you don't really hear about it. When you said about the corona earlier on, I was like, yeah, you don't hear that word, thanks God, anymore. You don't because it doesn't suit them. And they know that people know they were conning everybody. I see. And and I mean you look at countries like Australia uh where you where you can't say certain things because it might offend somebody or if you're a doctor you you can't say hey I think this is better for you. my horses out there. I've got horses there that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and certain people say you must you mandated to vaccinate them against let's say ecquin flu, horse flu. Um the other one is African horse sickness. You must do it. All it is is about keeping the pharmaceutical companies in business to sell you the vaccines. And we know that only 1% of horses ever die from African horse I mean from from ecquin flu. 1% so you you don't think how many die of of of uh African or sectus? In fact, more horses die from the vaccination and from treatment where there are vaccinated horses than out here. My horses I do not vaccinate. You do not vaccinate and I've got healthy horses. Yeah, I saw them. My horses are healthy because I don't introduce those pathogens into my environment. That's that's wonderful. You having this this I would say do you have aund hund of them? 100 animals. Probably about that. More. Yeah. Well, yeah. More than that. I've got I got here come the the horses galloping along the shoreline. Look at that. That's how they should be. That's how it should be. They're going to come galloping up along here. Just you. Let me let the drone later on above them. I get a nice If you want to if you want to do that quickly, but they're going to be coming very fast now. We will do it. We will do it. Watch. They're going to be coming cuz it's the right time now. They're coming home. Yeah.
See you later. Take care.
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