Anton Mzimba’s story is well renowned and was told in the Kruger2Canyon News (August 2022) soon after his untimely death. Now through the efforts of Howard Walker, the landowners in the Timbavati and others, Anton has come to life once more. A sculpture of Anton was unveiled at the Graeme Naylor Museum in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve.
The sculpture came about through the efforts of Howard Walker dealing with various donors and funders for the project. Renowned bronze sculptor Brendan Leggat from Plettenberg Bay was commissioned for the project, which took a total of five months to complete, from inception to unveiling!
As Brendan said, “Few people get to have a sculpture made of them which clearly is testament to the man Anton was. Through this piece I hope that his legacy will live on forever”. “For me I wanted the piece to be very impactful because of the presence that Anton projected … I sculptured it in a way that he is looking out and beyond what the people around him are doing. It signifies his deep understanding and empathy for the bush, the animals, and the critically important work that he did in the conservation of our natural heritage,” says Brendan.
Anyone viewing this sculpture will agree that the concentration by the artist on the smaller things and nuances of the person allowed him to create an extremely life-like sculpture on the man that Anton was. Howard Walkers first impression was one of total amazement – it was like looking at Anton in real life. Matt Lindenberg (Global Conservation Corps) commented that it was like he was looking at Anton’s youngest son – a splitting image of Anton!
The sculpture was placed and unveiled at the Graeme Naylor Museum on the 1st July 2023 to coincide with the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve AGM. The sculpture was ‘constructed’ from Brendan’s close study of pictures and videos of Anton. It was cast at the Bronze Fields Foundry in Plettenberg Bay. The sculpture is a complete once-off – a total of 40 panels were cast into bronze directly and were put together with seamless welding in bronze, to appear as a ‘one piece’ sculpture. It is a life-sized bronze sculpture of Anton and weighs a total of 130 kilograms.
To round off this amazing tribute to a giant of a man, a small miniature of the sculpture was cast in bronze and will be presented as the floating trophy for the annual award of ‘Ranger of the Year’ within the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve.
It is hoped that this sculpture will bring the memory of Anton Mzimba to life for everyone that sets eyes on it. Hopefully it will also create an awareness about all those incredible people that involve themselves, and put themselves on the frontline, in pursuing their passion to safeguard our fauna and flora for generations to come.
