Plot Synopsis

For two years, big-cat expert John Varty filmed lives of the tigers he raises at Tiger Canyons near Philippolis, South Africa, where Varty wants to create a new population of wild tigers outside their natural habitat and eventually rehabilitate captive tigers back to the wild. Starting with two young, zoo-born tigers, Varty now has more than 15 tigers and has used ever-present cameras to document two years of their lives -- whether they're mating, birthing or hunting. Varty's biggest obstacle is getting a tigress to raise her own litter so that he will have wild-raised tigers. Quite often a tigress is unable to care for her young cubs, and Varty must step in or her cubs could die. Nat Geo first aired an episode of TIGER MAN OF AFRICA on Friday, April 8, 2011 at 10pm as part of its EXPEDITION WEEK.