I learned the passing of my friends, Tony and Rose Dyer in July through an announcement posted by their first son Michael’s facebook. I have corresponded with Tony and Rose from 1994-2017. They were life members of the Jim Corbett Foundation (Canada) since it was established in 1994 when I first visited Kenya to restore Corbett’s grave in Nyeri with the help of the late R.J.Prickett, a former game warden who then worked as a senior hunter/escort for the Tree Tops, and he had escorted the Queen and Prince Philip to Tree Tops in 1983, during their second visit. Jim Corbett had escorted them in 1952, when Elizabeth was a princess. During my second visit to restore Corbett’s grave in Nyeri, I stayed at the Outspan Hotel. It was here I first met Tony Dyer in flesh and blood. He came to pick me up for a week’s stay at their beautiful Ranch in Ngare Indare, overlooking the majestic Mount Kenya. Breakfast on the Verandah, listening to the melody of birds in the garden and watching the Mount Kenya coming out of the mist under the bright sun - they were magic. Game drives in the mornings and evenings with Tony, and sometimes with Rose helped me to capture hundreds of images of wildlife, trees, plants and flowers and Tony knew every one of them in English, Swahili and Latin names. On my birthday on April 6th, Rose spotted a handsome tusker from their verandah, and immediately Tony and I jumped into his Land Rover and arrived at the scene. A huge, magnificent tusker calmly feeding. Tony estimated the tusks were 65lbs each and estimated the elephant, if left unmolested, would be carrying 100 lbs tusks on either side in a few years. Every day we discussed other East African Professional Hunters with whom Tony associated with; from J.A.Hunter to John Kingsley Heath (prickly heat) CJP Ionides (Iodine) to Temple Perkins ( purple tomkins) Andrew Holmberg to Tony Archer and many others. I made detailed notes on these conversations in my diary each night before I went to bed. Tony was tireless, always full of wisdom. Before I went to visit Tony, I asked his best friend, artist Bob Kuhn who was also a life member of Jim Corbett, what could I bring to Tony. Kuhn said “ get him a bottle of whiskey, he wiil be your friend for life”. I did get a large bottle of Seagram’s Whiskey and Tony loved it. He had an extensive library with volumes of books covering big game hunting, travel as well as charts, maps and manuscripts. He was working on a new book “Eagles” covering the lives of Peter Jenkins, Bill Woodley, Myles Turner etc. who dedicated their lives to protect African Wildlife by patrolling from the air. I received a signed copy of it when it was published a few years later. I knew Tony worked for Safariland when Jim Corbett was its Director in the late 1940s. There is much more.. Tony was a rare breed, and sincere who took genuine interest to show you the beauty of the African veldt. I will miss him and his wife Rose.
