Ex-hunter's journey to fame

There are two sides to Ian Craig's life; one, as a game hunter-turned-conservationist, and two, as a Kenyan rancher whose daughter hit British tabloid newspaper headlines over alleged romance with Prince William, heir to the British throne. Craig admits the first, and he is even eager to discuss his exploits as a former game hunter and currently a conservationist. But the second score is a difficult and unsettling subject that he would rather not dwell on.

His background and encounter with animals are rather clear. About 25 years ago, Craig was a commercial game hunter, scouring the East African wild looking for prized game meat and other animal parts. Today, Craig is an avowed animal conservationist, battling illegal hunters in parts of northern Kenya and working with local communities to protect endangered species like the Rhino at the Lewa Animal Conservancy.

Although Craig would rather lead a quiet life and be better known as an animal lover, a chance meeting between his daughter Jessica and Prince William put him in the limelight. 

Animal conservation could have earned Craig respect across the country. But what has thrust him onto the front pages of international tabloids is the rumoured love affair between his daughter, Jessica, and Prince William.

However, Craig will tell you the tabloids and the notorious paparazzi do not bother him; that what alarms him most is the threat posed to the world renown Kenyan wildlife by marauding poachers.

How did you deal with all these rumours surrounding your daughter and the prince? I ask Craig. He takes time to respond, his still eyes intensely fixed on me for a few seconds, as if trying to read my mind, before responding in a flat tone. 

"The tabloids have to do what they have to do. That is how they make their money," he says.

Although Craig is reluctant to admit it, Lewa attracts the rich and famous from Europe, United States, Africa and other parts of the world. 

"I really don't know who visits the lodges within the game reserve. My attention is mostly directed at the wildlife to ensure they are safe," says the conservationist, whose passion for wildlife is shared by his wife Jane.

But the not-for-profit Lewa, with its expansive wildlife grazing range, exotic setting and the deep privacy that it offers visitors, is a perfect hide-out for celebrities who want to escape media glare and the pressure that comes with being famous. Some of the guests fly to the conservancy and land at an airstrip within the sanctuary, while others travel by road to the game reserve on the Meru-Nanyuki road.

British tabloid reports even say that Prince William, second in line to the British throne after his father Prince Charles, met Jessica at Lewa during one of his several trips to the game reserve. Although Prince William and Jessica denied existence of any romance, the British media continued to report the two are romantically involved. They have even suggested that there was a secret engagement, just for fun.

However, what surprised royal watchers was that the family took pains to deny existence of any romantic relationship between the two. The first public denial was issued by the palace about Prince William and his love life.

Media-shy and elusive, Jessica was invited by Prince William to his 21st birthday party in England in 2003. The two reportedly met in 2001, when the prince visited Lewa. He has been to Lewa several times, the latest visit being about three months ago.

The story of the alleged romance led foreign journalists to camp at the sanctuary, hunting for those exclusive love stories and pictures that drive tabloid newspapers in the West. And as recently as this year, the British tabloids were still awash with stories about the dashing Jessica and the charming Prince, in what now appears like an unending soap opera.

But the media attention is understandable. After all, Prince William is one of the most coveted and romanticised young men in Europe, with his boyish and handsome face splattered all over the world. And the romantic liaison with a Kenyan girl makes extra-ordinary reading, and a fairy-tale that the Western media idolise.

Prince William, 23, is said to date model Kate Middleton, but the British Press is still enchanted by the brown-haired and natural-looking Jessica, described by some tabloids as having "earthly good looks".

Jessica, 23, one of Craig's two children – the other one is Mbatian – studied anthropology at a university in London, and was said to be a frequent companion of Prince William. She was brought up at Lewa and like other family members, the wild dominated her life. And given the media frenzy over the family and the family's high social connections, one would have expected Jessica's father to be a debonair and aristocratic-looking man.

But meeting Craig, one is disarmed by his simple and humble nature. His aging cap, simple khaki trousers and ordinary rubber shoes betray his achievements. He prefers the background, even during a high-profile event like recent charity marathon at his ranch attended by several Cabinet ministers and MPs. Craig thinks little of the tabloid stories about his family. In fact, it's something he would rather not talk about. 

"They have stopped disturbing us," he says, his face showing a disdain over intrusion into his family's privacy, before quickly moving to his pet subject; wildlife.

The tabloids and their constant nagging might have rattled the 52-year-old Craig, but he has not lost his focus. He looks at his 45,000-acre game reserve from his office window and does not regret the decision to abandon the family old tradition of cattle rearing in favour of entertaining the wild.

"I saw a lot of poaching in the 1980s and its devastating effect on Kenyan wildlife. Protecting the wild gives me unqualified peace and happiness," says the Nanyuki-born Craig.

His easy-going and unassuming persona masks a determined personality, whose love for wildlife, albeit one that came a little late in life, is only matched by his love for his family.

A few years ago, however, killing wildlife for leisure and commercial purposes was a way of life. 

"Hunting was the in-thing then and we used to hunt wild animals roaming the countryside," he says, with a hint of regret over his past days as an hunter.

Craig, tutored by some of the most avid hunters in the region, took up game hunting with a passion. At between 19 and 27 years, he travelled across the East African region, hunting for wild animals roaming the countryside.

Today, the death of an animal from a poacher's bullet or even through natural death pains him greatly. He believes that wildlife is the best heritage God ever gave this country, and sees every single death of a wild animal as a major setback to the country's future. 

His conversion from a hunter to a conservationist partly came through his own will and partly influenced by a government policy that outlawed game hunting in the 1970s.

The Government slapped a ban on ivory trade due to the threat it posed to wildlife. Most legal hunters were left with no choice but to abandon the practice.

Craig's journey towards wildlife conservation started around 1980, when a British woman, Anna Merz, came with an unusual request: "Can you kindly build a sanctuary to protect the endangered rhinos that are dying in their hundreds in the hands of poachers?"

Craig had no rhinos in his expansive ranch. Animals like zebras and elephants roamed freely in the ranch, although with little protection from poachers. He happily accepted to care for the rhinos.

And with that encounter, Craig's life was transformed from a hunter with seven years experience in game hunting in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan to a conservationist. 

He used his experience in the wild to work closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service in one of the largest translocations of animals in the 1980s and 1990s from private ranches to national parks. He takes pride in the fact that there were few deaths during the delicate exercise.

But his main challenge has been to involve the local Samburu and Maasai communities in wildlife management and assist them set up community sanctuaries like the 10,500-hectare Il'Ngwesi ranch.

A community-managed lodge on the ranch was runner-up in the British Airways "Tourism for Tomorrow" award in 1998. It is considered one of the best community-run lodges in the region.

Craig is emphatic that future survival of Kenyan wildlife heritage strongly depends on community participation in conservation. 

"When communities see the value of wildlife conservation, they will definitely become passionate about conserving the animals," he says.

It was the repulsive sight of the killings of elephants in the early 1980s that convinced Craig that the country's much-praised wildlife was doomed unless the community was involved in conservation.

Craig has in the past two decades worked tirelessly to convince local communities to see wildlife as a source of wealth that need to be jealously protected, and not as "intruders" and competitors for food to be hunted down.

And thanks to his efforts, a section of the Samburu community has embraced wildlife conservation with passion. Today, the region is a showcase of how the partnership between man and animal could work for both.

The Lewa conservancy itself is a successful partnership between the community, KWS and private sector working closely to protect wildlife under threat. 

The management of the sanctuaries and the local communities have also formed a grazing association to work out how local communities could