Track Your Life with Boyd Varty

Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi Join Boyd’s community: Follow the journey - Subscribe to the Track your Life Podcast and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s newsletter. Follow Boyd on Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more.

Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. The persistence method is possibly one of the oldest forms of hunting, practiced long before the invention of bows and arrows, and the domestication of dogs. It is also known as the great dance, and together with the art of tracking, it has evolved into more sophisticated levels that are still practised today, by modern hunter-gatherers, in some parts of the world. Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi Join Boyd’s community: Follow the journey - Subscribe to the Track your Life Podcast and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s newsletter. Follow Boyd on Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more.

Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. The persistence method is possibly one of the oldest forms of hunting, practiced long before the invention of bows and arrows, and the domestication of dogs. It is also known as the great dance, and together with the art of tracking, it has evolved into more sophisticated levels that are still practised today, by modern hunter-gatherers, in some parts of the world. Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi Join Boyd’s community: Follow the journey - Subscribe to the Track your Life Podcast and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s newsletter. Follow Boyd on Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more.

Alex, James and I are going back to the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. On one level, these trips have a practical component - we are assessing and fostering tracking skills. But there is a symbolic level too - something happens deep in my psyche in the face of the wild. Certainly, last year's trip changed me fundamentally and prepared me for the love that was going to come into my life. We are intrigued to hear what has transpired since our last trip, what stories have been told around the campfires by the Bushman people. Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi Join Boyd’s community: Follow the journey - Subscribe to the Track your Life Podcast and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s newsletter. Follow Boyd on Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more.

Tracking the Kalahari lion is an intense experience of extreme endurance, grit and absolute commitment. Few environments cultivate extreme mindfulness like the desert. There is no margin for error here and I consider my own fragility. If you don’t yet know what that track is in your own life, you must discover it. In this final episode, I share some thoughts from what I have learnt, to help you on your path of discovery. Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. Timestamps 1:55: Kalahari tracking 3:45: Fragility in the wild 6:05: A lesson in commitment Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi Join Boyd’s community: Follow the journey - Subscribe to the Track your Life Podcast and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s newsletter. Follow Boyd on Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more.

In this episode we embark on what feels like a masterclass in desert tracking. The first light of dawn hadn't yet cracked the horizon when I found myself breathless, feet sinking into the sands of the Kalahari, trying to match the pace of Kecao, Hamku, and Tamai, on the tracks of a cheetah. In this story, experience the rush of the intense pursuit, unmatched tracking skills and exhilarating enthusiasm. The vast landscape challenges every ounce of our stamina while we learn the language of the land. We sit in ceremony around the campfire - and learn about the cultural skills and knowledge that are still preserved. Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. Timestamps 1.22 On the tracks of a cheetah 7.44 Music, dancing and games 09:27 A prophetic story about a plane crash in the Kalahari Resources: **Online Courses: -Become a Story Hunter - Enroll in the online course. Uncover the track of your life through Boyd's online guided retreat - Track Your Life. *Discover Boyd's books: * The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life Cathedral of the Wild Experience Africa. Immerse your senses and awaken your spirit on a Londolozi Safari *Join the community: * Follow the journey - hit subscribe to Track your Life and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s mailing list Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more

Is there something you know that lights you on fire, that somehow you keep falling asleep to? I am reminded that the wild has my heart. I reflect on how my work is, in some ways, to inhabit and remember wildness, in an ever more domestic world. I must not forget this secret art of my life - to be in tune with wilderness. Our organic plans to meet with the Bushmen people are coming together. I am ready and excited to learn from the Bushmen people - who are renowned trackers and people of the land. Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. Timestamps (05:22 - - 06:08) The intersection of energy of the trackers and the energy of the Shaman Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi Join Boyd’s community: Follow the journey - Subscribe to the Track your Life Podcast and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s newsletter. Follow Boyd on Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more.

Our first morning of tracking in the Delta starts early - following the tracks of a lonely hyena track with lacklustre enthusiasm. Suddenly, our morning takes an exhilarating turn and the energy of the group shifts, as we find ourselves on the trail of a pack of Wild Dogs - also known as African Wolves, or Painted Wolves. In most places, we wouldn’t bother following the tracks of wild dogs as the ground they cover is too vast. But here, in the Delta we have no boundaries or time constraint. We feel the vitality and the movement of the wild dogs and we begin to move as a pack. The hours pass and we follow onwards into a massive wilderness. We are interacting with the wild like few people can. The wild has started to shape us. Mentioned in this episode: The San people is the broad term for the name of many clans that make up the Bushmen. I will refer to the people I met with the term Bushmen because that is how they asked me to refer to them. Timestamps 1.34 - On the track of Wild Dogs 09.22 - Losing the track 12.35 - We will always remember this track Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi Join Boyd’s community: Follow the journey - Subscribe to the Track your Life Podcast and never miss an episode. Sign up to Boyd’s newsletter. Follow Boyd on Instagram X Visit Boyd's website for more.