Track Your Life with Boyd Varty

Journal Entry: Discovered a perfect white fluff ball of feathers. My roommate, a chinspot basis. I got to bed to roost. Living in a tree you don’t look up at birds, you are eye level. African Hawk Eagles, Chinspot Batis, Tracks, Lions, Roost, Presence, Richard Siwela, Manyelethi Why am I Here? Why have I always known I would live in a tree? Why do I track solo? Why do you know you must do that you have not rational reason to? Out here I do one thing at a time. If you are into being present, I would give it a try. I found a pride of lion in the Manyelethi. Decoded the pattern of the tracks. Some young, some old. With young cub present I must be especially aware. The tracks had no night traffic. I began to follow. There is a unique feeling to following a pride of lions alone. When tracking solo your tracking should be sufficiently good that you are not trying to track. Now you are self reliant. If you encounter danger from the lions, the outcome will be dictated by the quality of your reactions. React slowly, do not run, do not panic. Condition yourself in advance for presence. You are in a conversation that is communicated primarily with energy and body language. Stand your ground and then move backwards. The general rule is to have respect and be humble. The goal should be to see the lion before they see you. I don’t know why I must follow but I want to follow. A tracker must follow as a form of self expression. On a track alone, there can be a purity of self expression. I think of my childhood hero, Richard Siwela. He was an incredible solo tracker. He was a leopard specialist. He was meticulous, judgmental and aloof by nature. He carried himself with the superiority of the superior. Today I have been beaten by the boundary but I have enjoyed my art form. The ability to let more life into my heart is surely a trail worth following. Eugene Marais - Purposeful action towards an unknown purpose. Homing towards something towards their is no ….. Homing instinct in young pygmy boy. Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

Let me tell you an ancient story I just made up. Try and listen with the wild part of you. Listen close and push your rational mind away, a myth is a lie about the truth. This is a myth about Lalela, the Wildebeest and the Man. All of this because yesterday a wildebeest crossed the river. I did with great trepidation cross the river and walk the other side of the river. I cut across his tracks and I suspect he risked crossing the area because he may have had a fight with another bull. As a tracker I could see how the hunter gatherers understanding of his place grew infinitely. Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

Journal Entry: Wildebeest crosses river? Why did the wildebeest cross the river? Tree looks like Robinson Crusoe has taken residence. River sings songs to me. Its tune change with the breeze. I haven’t felt this still in years. I feel so much more connected to my life through this simplicity. I feel present and grateful. My days are simple. The joy of being in your own energy. So many people feel like they are living their life behind a pain of perspex. I’m certain this is related to complexity and convenience. If you want more life: simplify, simplify, simplify. All over Africa where there tends to be less stuff I feel more generosity. The stillness is however confronting. Without the news of the world insights arise. Somewhere inside I’m still trying to grow up and overcome the ten year old. When the tied is turning I must teach myself to use the most simple words. It seems simple here to feel without running. Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

Journal Entry - Elephant, Buffalo, Bushbuck, Nyala, Giraffe, Rhino, Monkey Status Report - Very damp with plenty of spiders weaving their webs around camp. I wonder if they are weaving me in? What order of emergent order weaves webs through spiders? Today I will run through the bush like people have always done. There are tricks to running in the African bush. Its good to run when its how and animals are less active. There are three phases to being safe when running in the wilderness. Phase 1: Mindset and awareness you live in that is forward thinking, route planning, route assessment, knowing the terrain, local knowledge Phase 2: How you handle the dangerous situation Phase 3: The safety itself as a result of the first two phases. I think of the idea that we live inside the mind of God? Safety in the wilderness, has been a place where I have practiced mindfulness for years without knowing it. Slow deliberate awareness. The highest form of martial arts if the avoidance of conflict and in this way animals are black belt. Returning to camp means that I have to keep my presence and awareness up. Safety is a mindset. We need to find out how to go beyond safe spaces with more awareness. The wild has a way and I need to transfer this into other parts of my life. Not needing to be safe but willing to go with open alertness and guidance where life happens safely. Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

Safety check Sat by the fire listening to night sounds Think of all the ones you love Book: Mike Boon - Zambezi. Arriving with humility to the greater rhythms of nature Rhino bull tracks: notice follow listen decipher. Level the scores with the rhino. Buffalo bulls sleep in the river, genet cat investigating, mouse at the fire pit, kingfishers up and down the river. Flock of doves drinking at the same time in the evening. These are the rhythms and patterns of behavior. Developing an intimacy with my family place Then things went south...An unexpected encounter with an animal. Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

Sounds of silence and stillness. Wind comes up, coffee undrinkable. Hyenas arrive, sunrise meditation. Giant baboon flood debris (Raymond). Minimalise my emanation of physical output is the ground from which deeper changes can emerge. Understanding and attuning to the frequencies of the animals days. Emergence of anxiety - what are those old stories and how am I making sense of them. Looking at my own patterns and how they keep me from deeper levels of presence. Being alone is profoundly different to doing anything even with one other person. Scope of this time where anxiety rises. Thich Nhat Hanh book - FEAR. Going on the experience to have the experience without trying to control. Understanding the Bhudda beset by demons under the groves. Could this just be a mind not allowed to rest in itself? Surrender is asking for more courage than action. Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

Find the track of a more purpose driven life: https://boydvarty.com/course-listing/track-your-life-online-guided-retreat/ Enroll in Boyd's Online Course Here: https://boydvarty.com/courses/track-your-life-online-retreat/ Boyd reflects on Day 1 of his 40 day, 40 night journey into the wilderness. He sets up camp at the Treehouse and takes us through his daily routine Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

Boyd begins preparing for his immersion into the wilderness by spending the morning tracking a pride of lions which ends in an unusual encounter. Together with the increase in temperature at the end of the summer season Boyd contemplates the impact of the weather (hot and cold, dry and wet) on his time in the wilderness. Boyd discusses books that he is considering taking out to the treehosue with him. Some titles include: The Call of the Wild - Jack London The Ivory Trail - Cecil Barnard and T. V. Bulpin West with the Night - Beryl Markham The Overstory - Richard Powers St Francis of Assisi - Richard Rohr Boyd tells the story of Shangaan tracker Winnis Mathebula and some of his ingenious bushcraft borne from a life of simplicity. Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

What happens to your consciousness and being stripped away from modern life. Why did all the mystics return to nature for extended periods? What does the exploration of spirit look like in a completely natural environment? What am I and What do I become? Connect with Boyd Varty: Website | https://boydvarty.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/BoydVarty Find out more about Londolozi Website | https://www.londolozi.com/en/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/