For years she was the calm, familiar face on South African television screens. Then Gillian van Houten did something few expected. She walked away from the studio lights and into the bush, choosing a life with wildlife filmmaker John Varty over the certainty of a high-profile news career.
Varty has spoken openly about their love story following her death at the age of 72. He recalls falling for the popular SABC news presenter like so many other South African men at the time. What set their path apart was a handwritten letter he sent to the SABC, inviting her to leave the newsroom and join his leopard project at Londolozi. The message was simple and direct: come with me on safari, leave your life of luxury, and see the natural world.
Varty has described how she stood by him through some of the hardest moments of his life, including a serious helicopter crash that left him with spinal injuries, a tiger attack, and a heart attack. In tributes he has spoken of enduring love and gratitude for the woman he called “Gilly.”
Van Houten died on 25 July 2026 after living with frontotemporal dementia in her later years. She is remembered both as one of the recognisable voices of South African television in the 1980s and 1990s, and as someone who chose a different kind of life, one rooted in the bush, family, and the animals she came to care for deeply.
Their story remains a quiet reminder that sometimes the most lasting chapters begin when someone decides to step away from the expected path and into the unknown.
