Non-fiction Audiobook: Cathedral of the Wild, by Boyd Varty

Another in my long list of books about being in or traveling in the wilderness, Boyd Varty's memoir is a little different.

 

Title: Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home

Author: Boyd Varty. Audiobook narrated by the author.

Publication info: Random House Audio, 2014. 9 hours. Hardback Random House 2014, 304 pages.

Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb:
When Nelson Mandela was released after twenty-seven years of imprisonment, he needed a place to recover and adjust to his new life. He went to Londolozi Game Reserve. Founded over eighty years ago by Boyd Varty's great-grandfather, Londolozi started as a hunting safari. But in 1973, Boyd's visionary father, Dave, transformed it into a nature reserve, creating a blueprint for modern-day conservation. This transformation is the backdrop of Boyd's family history and his own personal odyssey.

Alongside his feisty, daring sister, Bronwyn, Boyd grows up learning to track lions, raise leopard cubs, and pilot Land Rovers. The two of them tag along with their larger-than-life uncle, John, who repeatedly flung them in danger's way to capture the best footage for his legendary wildlife videos. Boyd survives harrowing rhino charges and a vicious crocodile attack, but his most difficult challenge was a private crisis of purpose. After a period of intense spiritual questing, Boyd reconnects with nature and is able to "rediscover the track."

With conviction, hope and humor, Boyd sweeps readers along his journey of discovery and rediscovery, making a passionate claim for the power of the wild to heal and restore the human spirit.

My Review:
That last paragraph of the blurb kind of nailed how this books went for me: I was swept along, listening to the book for far longer than I should have at any one time, and intent on the discussions of the healing powers of the wild.

I was also fascinated by the history of the preserve, in many ways the vision of two teen-aged boys who refused to let the property go when their father died. (The blurb gives credit only to Dave, Boyd's father, but John was equally instrumental in creating the reserve). I don't know how to take the author's insistence that apartheid was more or less rejected on the reserve; they certainly didn't enforce the separation of the races but I can't imagine the place was, or is, free of racism.

That said, what a way for Boyd and his sister to grow up! It's a little unclear at times up to what age they were truly on the reserve all the time, or how much they were there once they started school, but the tales of outings with their Uncle John are priceless and the place obviously became an intrinsic part of who they are.

On one level, then, the book is a wonderful story of an unusual childhood. But as Boyd ages, you might say the serpent in Eden is uncovered, and the trauma affects him deeply. The final chapters of the book are his account of how the wild brought him back from the darkness, as it were. And that journey (despite some rather different forms of wild from my own) spoke to my own use of wilderness and walking to center myself.

 

FTC Disclosure: I checked Cathedral of the Wild out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2024
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