Boyd Varty - Lion Tracking, Meaning Making, And Healing Trauma

ManTalks Podcast

Connor Beaton

Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Relationships, Society & Culture, Mental Health

4.8 • 591 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Talking points: working in/with the wild, initiation, trauma, what nature teaches you, masculinity This has been one of my most anticipated guests of all time. Like, years. An incredible storyteller, a man with a mighty heart and passion for everything wilderness, this is an episode I encourage you to share with the men in your life. Seriously. The wildlife and literacy activist Boyd Varty, author of the memoir Cathedral of the Wild, had an unconventional upbringing. Born to a family of conservationists, Boyd grew up on Londolozi Game Reserve in the South African wilderness, a place where man and nature strive for balance, where perils exist alongside wonders. Founded more than 90 years ago as a hunting ground, Londolozi was transformed into a nature reserve beginning in 1973 by Varty’s father and uncle, visionaries of the restoration movement. But it wasn’t just a sanctuary for the animals; it was also a place for ravaged land to flourish again and for the human spirit to be restored. When Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years of imprisonment, he came to the reserve to recover. Since childhood, Boyd shared his home with lions, leopards, snakes, and elephants and has spent his life in apprenticeship to the wisdom of nature. Boyd survived a harrowing black mamba encounter, a debilitating bout with malaria, even a vicious crocodile attack, but his biggest challenge was a personal crisis of purpose. As a university student, he studied psychology and ecology, supplementing his education by learning martial arts in Thailand, hiking through the jungles of the Amazon, and apprenticing to a renowned tracker from the Shangaan tribe, deepening his intimate knowledge of the natural world. Boyd grew up speaking the local language and learning the true meaning of coexistence between people and with nature. Connect with Boyd -Website: https://boydvarty.com/ -Book: The Lion Tracker's Guide To Life: https://boydvarty.com/book/the-lion-trackers-guide-to-life/ -Podcast: https://boydvarty.com/about/40-days-40-nights/ -Twitter: https://twitter.com/boydvarty -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boydvartyinc/ This podcast is brought to you by Organifi! Plant-based nutrition that's science-backed, high quality, and something I use literally every day. Hit up the link for 20% off your next here: https://www.organifi.com/mantalks See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, team, welcome back to the Man Talks podcast. I am Connor Beaton. And joining me today is somebody that I've wanted to interview for years.
0:23.5	This is one of those conversations where I feel very fortunate to get to talk to somebody who's lived a very, very fascinating, very interesting
0:28.5	life. So joining me today is Mr. Boyd Vardy. And Boyd is a Lion Tracker, a storyteller and a life
0:35.5	guide. He actually wrote a book called The Lion Tracker's Guide
0:39.2	to Life. Since childhood, Boyd has shared his home with lions, leopards, snakes, and elephants,
0:45.7	and has spent his time, spent his life, in apprenticeship to the wisdom of nature. He has survived
0:52.1	a harrowing Black Mamba encounter, a debilitating bout of malaria,
0:56.4	and even a vicious crocodile attack. But his biggest challenge was a personal crisis of purpose.
1:03.5	So we talk about many things in this podcast. And honestly, with no word of a lie, with no
1:10.3	embellishment, Boyd is one of the single best storytellers
1:13.3	I've ever encountered in my life. And I think in part it's because his stories, the stories
1:19.1	themselves are just so profound and wild, but also because he's very gifted storyteller.
1:24.6	And so we talk about his upbringing, his life growing up in South Africa, growing up basically
1:31.8	a nature reserve with lions, with leopards, and growing up with one of the most profound
1:39.5	tracking cultures and tribes in Africa.
1:43.8	And so he actually apprenticed and spent a ton of time
1:46.7	learning how to track lions and leopards and elephants. And so Boyd shares a good amount of
1:54.3	his journey and lessons in tracking what he learned along the way. We draw some parallels to
2:00.0	how we can track our own healing, how we can track our own healing,
2:02.6	how we can track our own sense of purpose and meaning in life. Boyd shares some absolutely
2:07.7	incredible stories along the way. So this is one of those episodes that I thoroughly hope that
2:12.8	you enjoy. I hope that you listen all the way through. Please make sure to man it forward and
	...

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