The Full Circle

The Full Circle: To Londolozi and Back Again – A Family’s Journey by Dave Varty (with Molly Buchanan) is an inspiring and deeply personal conservation memoir first published in 2009 by Penguin Global under ISBN 9780143025764. This hardcover edition of approximately 223 pages combines adventure, family history, and environmental passion to tell the story of how a young South African boy helped build one of Africa’s most respected private game reserves and became a powerful voice for wilderness conservation.

At fifteen, Dave Varty faced the sudden death of his father and the precarious future of his family’s bushveld farm on the edge of the Kruger National Park. Rather than sell the land, Dave and his brother John chose a path less travelled — turning the property into a modest safari camp. With only R62 in the bank, they forged ahead, founding what would become Londolozi Game Reserve, a name that in the local Shangaan language means “protector of all living things.”Their journey was marked by hard lessons, bold decisions, and a growing realisation that conservation and ecotourism must go hand in hand to safeguard Africa’s remaining wild spaces.

Part memoir, part motivational manifesto, The Full Circle blends gritty realism with uplifting insight. Varty’s narrative is populated with anecdotes of success and failure, reflections on the meaning of stewardship, and the enduring love of wildlife that has driven his life’s work. Readers are taken on a transformative journey — one that traces a personal odyssey of rediscovery and returns, full circle, to the roots of both family and wilderness. With humor, heart, and a deep respect for the natural world, this book stands as both a testament to perseverance and a compelling call to protect the wild places of Southern and East Africa.