Faced with a life spent working in a factory, my father, Allister Brebner, who has died aged 83, and his brother-in-law Derek Hulme set up Highland Safaris in 1963. It was the first guided holiday company in the Highlands (probably the first in Scotland) and they ran it successfully for 40 years.
Allister was born in Aberdeen, the youngest of three brothers. His father, Albert, was a maintenance engineer at an envelope factory and his mother, Alice, a milliner. Allister served his apprenticeship as a motor mechanic, but his interests lay elsewhere and he spent his limited spare time climbing and skiing in the southern Cairngorms.
Soon achieving a first descent of “the Black Spout” gully on Lochnagar, using ex-army skis with no steel edges and “rat-trap” bindings, he was one of those people in the 1950s who, despite having little time or money, helped instigate the Scottish outdoor boom. It was around that time that he, along with a number of close friends, built the now famous Secret Howff, a tiny bothy the location of which remains a closely guarded secret. The bothy is open to anyone, however you can only find out where it is by word of mouth.
Through his work with Highland Safaris, Allister became an accomplished wildlife photographer and a film-maker. One of his films, Highland Winter (1983), was shown on TV and retained in the Scottish Film Archive.
When he finally wound up Highland Safaris in 2000, Allister developed his talent for woodcarving and his work can still be seen in a number of locations in the Highlands, including the grounds of Strathpeffer Pavilion as well as Raigmore hospital in Inverness.
Allister’s first book, Beyond the Secret Howff (2017), is packed full of interesting and often humorous tales of his exploits over the years.
He is survived by his wife, Norma (nee Horne), whom he married in 1959, and by their two children – my sister, Derry, and me.
