Great Plains' Dereck Joubert's Reflections on Robert Redford

Dereck Joubert, co-founder of Great Plains Conservation, with his wife Beverly, recently recounted his experiences with the late Robert Redford at Duba Plains Camp, Botswana, a place Robert referred to as his "second home."

Joubert remembers a special day when Redford, who starred as Denis Finch Hatton in the film version of the famous book, sat with the Jouberts, his wife, Bylle, and the Joubert's friends, Pat and Scott, under a tree not far from Zarafa Camp. Bob soon got impatient and asked just how long we were going to sit there watching what appeared to be a sleeping leopard.

It was under a sausage tree, in flowering season (September) and the leopard wasn't there by chance. Joubert replied to Bob, "It will take as long as it takes," and settled back to rest for a long time. The leopard wasn't sleeping, she was there in ambush, and it paid off four hours later, when she leapt down and made a kill right next to the vehicle.

Redford later recounted, at the Sundance Film Festival, that he learned patience that day. Africa is about creating friendships around sharing a special moment. That too is the unique gift of 'safari,' or any journey; the sharing and bonding that takes place around a tree, or a fire.

As Dereck poignantly remembered Redford - "We will miss you, dear friend. Your story. While touching so many people from the hills of Utah to the screens around the world, it is also woven into the narrative of Africa."