Times have changed: Syd Downey with a ‘trophy’ shot in 1938. The beast was eaten but Downey later turned to film-making.

SIR Peter Scott did it, but his friend – my great-uncle – Arthur Cadman did not. Great white hunters Syd Downey and Donald Ker did it, but many others of their ilk could not.Giving up hunting to embrace conservation – or at least shooting with cameras – as an alternative has been the making of many great naturalists.

Uncle Arthur was head warden of the New Forest and as such was responsible for culling deer, which were too numerous for the habitat, so he had an excuse.

He was an amazing shot, however, and could not sleep on nights when wild geese were flighting above the estuaries and marshes over which he had shooting rights.

I met a man who had seen him take a brace of geese with both barrels one stormy night.

‘Your uncle just broke his gun, bagged the birds, called up his dog and left,’ he said. ‘He had shot what he wanted – both high birds – and called it a night. He was a phenomenal shot.’

The late Sir Peter Scott gave up wildfowling in favour of drawing and collecting ducks, geese and swans. He set up the wildfowl centre at Slimbridge and made many discoveries about wild swans (whooper and Bewick’s) by simply observing and drawing them.

Both Scott and Uncle Arthur had collections of ducks and geese started as a result of shooting. They often exchanged birds.

I always found it odd that they might take a ‘winged’ bird home, return it to health and breed from it in captivity. It was as if killing the bird was impossible under certain circumstances, even though they had aimed to kill it.

The same did not apply to Syd Downey and Donald Ker, who were traditional ‘great white hunters’ in Kenya.

An old friend of mine recalls the safari she and her sister did as young women with Downey. Born into one of Britain’s aristocratic families, they had the wherewithal to do two back-to-back expeditions into the Kenya bush in September and October 1938. Each was three weeks long, the first cut short due to the threat of war. The party returned to Nairobi and stayed at the Muthaiga Club, later to be part of the 1941 White Mischief scandal in which Lord Erroll was murdered.

My friend was not part of the Happy Valley circle in which Lord Erroll moved but undoubtedly met some of the personalities (maybe even Erroll’s killer – who knows?) at the club that was the hub of ex-pat colonial social life.

British prime minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Germany with the (worthless) Munich Agreement, the threat of war was lifted and the excited young people returned for a second spell on safari.

They roamed the wild places of Kenya living off the land, shooting game for the pot and buying vegetables from local people. In the six weeks spent on safari, not another white person was seen.

Living conditions were extremely basic: simple tents to sleep in and showers made from buckets with holes in suspended over a simple tube of canvas for privacy.

The daily routine included ‘de-ticking’, in which searches were made of each other’s torsos for blood-sucking ticks. Malaria areas – such as swamps – were avoided and mosquito nets slept under, but there were no anti-malaria pills in those days.

Syd Downey as a young white hunter.

Transport was by private cars – Downey had a great reputation as a mechanic and could get his car anywhere.

There was great rivalry for clients and little love lost between the white hunters.

Times became hard during the Second World War. Few people ventured out to the colonies and many of the black and white guides signed up for active service.

But the peace for humans that came in 1945 saw a cessation of hostilities for animals, too. Guns were locked up in favour of still and movie cameras, hunting parties increasingly became photo-safaris and the skills of Ker, Downey and others were honed into guiding.

Ker and Downey went into partnership and set up a safari company, which was a leader in the development of today’s holidays. It was still a glamorous business, with the rich and famous flocking to experience the safaris, which were increasingly featured in travel magazines and books.

Facilities improved, with better vehicles, tents and portable kitchens.

Lorries were used as back-up transport and cars became better designed for the expeditions.

All guests were extremely wealthy, but some were world-famous. British hunter Bunny Allen looked after Grace Kelly, Clarke Gable and Ava Gardener.

Gardener had been out filming the Snows of Kilimanjaro with Gregory Peck the year before and had been closely monitored by her suspicious fiance, Frank Sinatra.

Another former hunter, Tony Seth-Smith, was a great friend of Downey’s and recalled leading one party on a six-month safari in Tanzania, on which a grand piano was lugged around with them.

Not all celebrities were easy-going. Stewart Grainger was described as a nightmare, the complete opposite to his on-screen image as professional hunter Allan Quartermain in King Solomon’s Mines.

Ker and Downey took part in scientific safaris from the 1950s onwards collecting ‘habitat groups’. Ker collected for the Copenhagen Museum and New York Museum of Natural History, while Downey produced many movie films (quite a few of animals charging him – he led a charmed life) and even appeared in a poster for Bolex cameras.

Ker and Downey Safaris Ltd is today one of Southern Africa’s leading agencies, organising holidays in its own right and acting as ground-handler for dozens of tour operators around the world.

A modern Ker and Downey camp in Okuti, Botswana.

Camps are mostly permanent in ‘concessions’ held in the national parks, luxurious and extremely exciting – wild animals are used to them and often wander between the tents.

Each is en-suite, with shower rooms, electricity, wi-fi and telephone links to the world.

The conservation of animals and birds has followed burgeoning tours and increasing interest, a feature of international travel that many tree-huggers will not acknowledge.

Without the tourist trade, most of the world’s wild places would be destroyed for short-term gain.

Ker and Downey are at the forefront of wildlife conservation in all the countries they operate in.