Boyd Varty — The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life | The Tim Ferriss Show
47,137
Published 2022-02-16
Boyd Varty (@boydvarty) is the author of The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life and Cathedral of the Wild. He has been featured in The New York Times, on NBC, and in other media and has taught his philosophy of “tracking your life” to individuals and companies around the world.
Boyd grew up in South Africa on Londolozi Game Reserve, which, under his family’s stewardship, has become renowned not only as a sanctuary for animals but as a place where the human spirit could be restored. When Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years of imprisonment, he went to Londolozi to recover.
Please enjoy!
00:00 Start
04:09 Genesis story and a “get on with it” attitude
06:21 Saving a wasteland
08:30 The White Knuckle Charter Company
17:22 Creating a thriving safari business + Shangaan trackers
27:28 Supreme tracker Renias Mhlongo
33:05 Most difficult animals to track
36:25 Protecting oneself in Londolozi
40:31 Boyd's changing tracking process
59:11 What is Ubuntu?
1:01:44 40 days and 40 nights, alone, up a tree
1:15:06 Birds who help humans rob bees
1:26:52 The dos and don’ts of interacting with lions in the wild
1:31:18 The conversation of death + ancient myths
1:37:29 A way out of trauma
1:40:54 What is ceremony work?
1:44:55 “An authentic life infused with meaning is a kind of activism.”
1:46:31 The Work of Byron Katie
1:55:11 Boyd’s First Medicine encounter
2:01:52 Feelings. Nothing more than feelings
2:03:33 Healed by a leopard
2:12:46 The therapeutic value of spending time with animals
2:17:45 Boyd’s Hall of Shame public speaking moment
2:24:06 An invitation to visit Londolozi
This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,’ and they currently oversee $20 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost. Let the professionals do the work for you. Go to Wealthfront.com/Tim and open a Wealthfront account today.
This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 overall mattress of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free travel packs) with your first subscription purchase!
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/1dSzTkW
LINK TO ALL SHOW TRANSCRIPTS: tim.blog/2018/09/20/all-transcripts-from-the-tim-f…
About Tim Ferriss:
Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 500 million downloads and been selected for “Best of Apple Podcasts” three years running.
Connect with Tim Ferriss:
Sign up for "5-Bullet Friday" (Tim's free weekly email newsletter): go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-yt/
Visit the Tim Ferriss PODCAST: tim.blog/podcast/
Visit the Tim Ferriss BLOG: tim.blog/
Follow Tim Ferriss on TWITTER: twitter.com/tferriss/
Follow Tim Ferriss on INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/timferriss/
Like Tim Ferriss on FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/
All Comments (21)
-
Absolutely delightful. I laughed until I cried many times. What a storyteller! What a teacher! Thank you, Tim, for this gift.
-
I used to dislike being around dogs because I had been brought up with the idea that animals are wild and do not belong inside homes. I had some fear of them, and a disgust reaction to their beast-like features until well I to adulthood. Then one day, I walked into a relative’s home very near tears after a particularly grief inducing encounter. The moment I opened the door, her large dog came running toward me unable to contain her concern. Up until then I had been keeping my distance from her while staying there. She was audibly whimpering and in a panic unable to know what to do for me as she pawed at me and licked me. Suddenly I started to ball my eyes out. It was a complete release of all my inner turmoil and sadness. No human could have communicated the type of untamed, unconditional love that animal gave me that moment on that day. My life has never been the same. She made me a better, kinder person. It was as if she drilled through every trauma I had ever had and knew them all intimately. The depth of emotional understanding was one I will never be able to fully comprehend. No human could have given me what she gave me that moment, that day.
-
Wow. I came here from your recent interview with Martha Beck. There is something so powerful and true about what they’re sharing. Thank you for this.
-
I realized how blessed I am to live in South Africa. Thanks, Boyd, for being such a great conservationist and helping us understand how disconnected we are with nature.
-
I've been fortunate to go to Londolozi twice in my life. Once in 1999 and once this year, 2023. This was so incredible to listen to. Both times I have been I have tried to explain to people the experience there and the word I come back to is always "magical". It is truly beyond words and if you can go, it will be food for your soul beyond any price. Every minute I am there I feel filled with unbelievable gratitude. The Varty family have left and continue to leave a legacy of love and respect for animals and our earth.
-
The storytelling in this podcast is top notch. Made me proud as a South African but also wish I could meet those guys 🇿🇦🤗
-
One of the best episodes! I've listened to it three times just to hear Boyd narrate all these events. What an excellent storyteller!
-
Have had multiple breakthroughs from Boyd's beautiful stories and am on my third or fourth watching/ listening. His courage, awareness level and profoundly open heart are breathtaking. I'm incredibly grateful for the processing he helped me with 🥰🥰🥰
-
One of those miracle guests who just take a question and run with it, telling absolutely amazing stories along the way. Arnold was another one in the same vein, but REALLY enjoyed Boyd Varty.
-
Sharing this with soooooooooooo many people. The whole world should listen to this. Daily!
-
I am mesmerized by the capacity of Boyd Varty to share these stories.... I have personally been in Uganda for 3 months, volunteering in an orphanage and I felt back at the safari camp I went during that time while listening.... Couldn't sleep all night after watching this. Trully stunning, thank you, Tim!
-
Tim! One of my favorite aspects about your podcasts is the consistency of finding interesting people from all disciplines that I have yet not learned from or researched. I've been hearing about this book and Boyd Varty for a while now and it's been on my list. It's such a treat and a great surprise that it's on your podcast that I see him come up (and it's a long conversation as a cherry on top!). I think the quality of your questions strike a great balance between being specific (prior homework) yet allowing for room to play in conversation while the guest answers. Thanks so much for this episode and thanks again to you and Boyd for your work. I'm really looking forward to watching! Best wishes to both.
-
A healing transmission, truly profound, thanks Tim for bringing this forth! So many lessons and layers to this. Heart lifting, intense trauma and equally intense healing 🙏💓
-
Mind bending. Amazing teacher. Great job by Tim on shaping this conversation.
-
What a profound, entertaining, inspiring, educational and healing interaction! Thank you both. ❤️
-
There is something truly remarkable about the bush - and Boyd articulates it so well. Never been half eaten by a crocodile, but did have a solitary moment with a Kudu (and so many other magical experiences over the years). Loved this and ordered the audible book. Thank you.
-
Great podcast - thanks so much. Proudly SA. The Varty's are legends in wildlife and conservation here, along with parents of mates I was lucky enough to grow up with such as Orty Bourquin, Mark Astrup, Nick Steele etc... My son is looking forward to entering the guiding field after school.
-
Great storytelling ! I noticed Tim kept Boyd from descending down too far into the rabbit hole located in whoo-whoo territory. lol. Personally Im fairly down that rabbit hole myself and enjoying it immensely.
-
2 of my favorite books. Magnificent. Wish more people in our society would read them for the attitude of adventure and deep meaning of nature.
-
This was an absolute gem! The stories of this guy :D I have never laughed so hard!
