Interview With Tony Park

Best-selling author of Safari and African Dawn.

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Tony Park is an Australian fiction writer whose novels touch on conservation, survival adventure and conflict. However, there is one common thread running through all 15 of them – Africa. Tony was bitten by the safari bug more than 20 years ago, and he now spends half the year in his home just outside the Kruger National Park. We sat down with him to examine his serious Africa addiction, and his passion for Land Rovers.

This is the question you probably get asked the most, so let’s get it out of the way. When did your love affair with Africa begin? 

My wife Nicola and I came in 1995. She’s the planner in the family, so she says, “We’re going to Africa!” And I just say “Okay”! To give you an indication of my level of interest – and this is a true story – on our way to the airport, I asked her, “Where are we going again?” We hired a little Corolla, and we drove through South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The first place we stopped was the Kruger National Park, and that’s probably where it started. It all happened so quickly. All of a sudden, I was driving faster than I ever had in my entire life, because in Oz, we don’t have high speed limits. I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. I just about freaked out the first time I saw a zebra! It’s not a love affair – it’s an addiction. By the end of our first week, we had already started planning our return trip. It was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and the next year we were supposed to go to South America. I’ve never been to South America. I don’t know what it is about this place – the wildlife, the landscapes, the people, or just the general attitude towards life, but it’s addictive. Why do we get in our 4x4s and go to some pretty uncomfortable places? Because we can’t get enough of it.