web01.fireside.fm Thu, 23 Apr 2026 18:11:59 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Track Your Life with Boyd Varty - Episodes Tagged with “Buffalo” https://trackyourlife.fireside.fm/tags/buffalo Thu, 15 Aug 2024 14:00:00 +0200 Somewhere deep inside, you know what your gift, purpose, and mission are. Boyd Varty, a lion tracker and life coach, reveals how the wisdom from the ancient art of tracking can teach you how to recognize these essential ingredients in a meaningful life. Know how to navigate, don’t worry about the destination, and stay alert. These are just a few of the strategies that contribute to both successful lion tracking and a life of fulfillment. Trackers learn how to use all of their senses to read the environment and enter into a state of “greater aliveness.” When we learn to find and follow our inner tracks, we learn to see what is deeply important to us. en-us episodic How wisdom from the ancient art of tracking can teach you how to recognize the essential ingredients in a meaningful life. Boyd Varty Somewhere deep inside, you know what your gift, purpose, and mission are. Boyd Varty, a lion tracker and life coach, reveals how the wisdom from the ancient art of tracking can teach you how to recognize these essential ingredients in a meaningful life. Know how to navigate, don’t worry about the destination, and stay alert. These are just a few of the strategies that contribute to both successful lion tracking and a life of fulfillment. Trackers learn how to use all of their senses to read the environment and enter into a state of “greater aliveness.” When we learn to find and follow our inner tracks, we learn to see what is deeply important to us. no Boyd Varty, Tracking, Personal Development, Storytelling, South Africa, Safari, Nature, Wildlife Boyd Varty info@boydvarty.com Stories are attention http://trackyourlife.fireside.fm/s4-e2 1c0eebb9-00c5-4132-90e5-61340617964e Thu, 15 Aug 2024 14:00:00 +0200 Boyd Varty full 4 Boyd Varty How it looked to Amber - Stories are attention. If the truth is stranger than fiction, then the art of storytelling is not to make something up, but rather to really see what is there. Reality, if you look close enough, is almost always hilarious. 11:28 no If the truth is stranger than fiction, then the art of storytelling is not to make something up, but rather to really see what is there. Reality, if you look close enough, is almost always hilarious. Storytelling is about providing context and meaning. It's a discipline of attention, a way of helping others understand the world around them. Mentioned in this episode Listen to Boyd’s epic account of 40 days and 40 nights spent alone in a treehouse in the wild eastern part of South Africa. https://boydvarty.com/about/40-days-40-nights/ Learn more about Londolozi (https://boydvarty.com/retreats/visit-londolozi/) Timestamps (02:04) Barry, the Buffalo (08:00) Safari storytelling tradition Resources: Online Courses: Become a Story Hunter - Sign up for the Story Hunter Online Course. (https://boydvarty.com/story-hunter-online-course/) Uncover the track of your life through the Track Your Life Online Guided Retreat. (https://boydvarty.com/course-listing/) Discover Boyd's books: https://boydvarty.com/book/ Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi (https://boydvarty.com/retreats/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. (https://boydvarty.com/contact/) Follow Boyd on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/boyd_varty/) and X (https://twitter.com/BoydVarty) Visit Boyd's website (https://boydvarty.com/) for more. Boyd Varty, story hunter, storytelling, adventure, 40 days and 40 nights, tree house, Londolozi, wild stories, buffalo, tracking, If the truth is stranger than fiction, then the art of storytelling is not to make something up, but rather to really see what is there. Reality, if you look close enough, is almost always hilarious.

Storytelling is about providing context and meaning. It's a discipline of attention, a way of helping others understand the world around them.

Mentioned in this episode

Timestamps

(02:04) Barry, the Buffalo
(08:00) Safari storytelling tradition

Resources:

Online Courses:

Discover Boyd's books:
https://boydvarty.com/book/

Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi

Join Boyd’s community:

]]> If the truth is stranger than fiction, then the art of storytelling is not to make something up, but rather to really see what is there. Reality, if you look close enough, is almost always hilarious.

Storytelling is about providing context and meaning. It's a discipline of attention, a way of helping others understand the world around them.

Mentioned in this episode

Timestamps

(02:04) Barry, the Buffalo
(08:00) Safari storytelling tradition

Resources:

Online Courses:

Discover Boyd's books:
https://boydvarty.com/book/

Come to Africa. Visit Londolozi

Join Boyd’s community:

]]> Day 18 - Golden http://trackyourlife.fireside.fm/20-day-18-golden a0d68161-f2ac-4688-bba5-e59e24109a5d Sun, 19 Apr 2020 11:00:00 +0200 Boyd Varty full 1 Boyd Varty I’m also aware of how I have objectified myself. We think of ourselves as an object on a scale. We should be much further ahead or I’m not where I should be. I’m talking about a continuous comparative dynamic that is structured into a culture where everything is automated and commodities until your own psyche makes you a thing and judges that thing comparatively. Just think about how you drive yourself when you are exhausted. Just watch what you do to yourself when you start duding yourself. Inside that mind all the dimension of person gives way to something terribly binary. Good bad, failing winning or losing. 12:55 no Day 18 - Golden People have a saying in South Africa, we are looking golden. Well if this experience has its own ebbs of fortune, emotionality and joy then we are looking golden. The lions have returned to Londolozi and I could see the tracks of the pride heading further west into the bush. They cut off the road and I scratched around a bit on their line o movement. The light was beautiful and the smell of a fresh morning was invigorating. I was feeling totally in tune with their movement. Tracking in these moments is a beautiful combination of skill, concentrations and even somatic intelligence as your body feels the terrain. I though of that tracking saying “I don’t know where I’m going but I know how to get there.: Here on this beautiful morning I am trying to keep this dying art form alive inside of myself. What a strange thing, an art that does not live on a wall, an art that lives inside a person. If you keep tracking alive you keep a thread to a way we used to be, to another time. The track cut further north and I’m flying along now in total flow. No trying, no mind just flow state. I come across the land manager who is following a male leopard in his vehicle. I see his vehicle through the bushes and crouch down in the long grass and watch them go by me no more than 20 meters away. They do not notice me and when they are gone I continue on the tracks of the lions. The lions cut through a dry water course. Two other guides arrive by chance and are also looking for lions. They want to join the tracking. The 3 of us set off and only 60 meters later we hear a squirrel alarm. James behind me starts to click. My eyes come up off the ground and there is a big male lion and a lioness looking at us. Gold cats in golden lights….Golden. The male snarls without any real intention and we move back. The rest of the pride is in the long grass all around them. There is something so satisfying about finding something in a huge wilderness using just your skills. I had been waiting for this morning of tracking. What else do I feel? What do you want from life? What is life asking of you? What would you hear if you listened? It Is 7:30 am and I have lived the aliveness of 10 years. More presence is more life. Not doing more. Something so tangible. I would like to write a book called the dynamics of satisfaction. Scene of man in the wild making himself water to bathe with. I’m also aware of how I have objectified myself. We think of ourselves as an object on a scale. We should be much further ahead or I’m not where I should be. I’m talking about a continuous comparative dynamic that is structured into a culture where everything is automated and commodities until your own psyche makes you a thing and judges that thing comparatively. Just think about how you drive yourself when you are exhausted. Just watch what you do to yourself when you start duding yourself. Inside that mind all the dimension of person gives way to something terribly binary. Good bad, failing winning or losing. All I want you to know from me out here is that it is not you. It is structured into the psyche in the modern life. Buffalo Story 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/ Impact | https://londolozi.africa Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/ Boyd Varty, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Wilderness Immersion, Londolozi Game Reserve Day 18 - Golden

People have a saying in South Africa, we are looking golden. Well if this experience has its own ebbs of fortune, emotionality and joy then we are looking golden.

The lions have returned to Londolozi and I could see the tracks of the pride heading further west into the bush. They cut off the road and I scratched around a bit on their line o movement. The light was beautiful and the smell of a fresh morning was invigorating. I was feeling totally in tune with their movement.

Tracking in these moments is a beautiful combination of skill, concentrations and even somatic intelligence as your body feels the terrain.

I though of that tracking saying “I don’t know where I’m going but I know how to get there.:

Here on this beautiful morning I am trying to keep this dying art form alive inside of myself. What a strange thing, an art that does not live on a wall, an art that lives inside a person. If you keep tracking alive you keep a thread to a way we used to be, to another time.

The track cut further north and I’m flying along now in total flow. No trying, no mind just flow state.
I come across the land manager who is following a male leopard in his vehicle. I see his vehicle through the bushes and crouch down in the long grass and watch them go by me no more than 20 meters away. They do not notice me and when they are gone I continue on the tracks of the lions.

The lions cut through a dry water course. Two other guides arrive by chance and are also looking for lions. They want to join the tracking. The 3 of us set off and only 60 meters later we hear a squirrel alarm. James behind me starts to click. My eyes come up off the ground and there is a big male lion and a lioness looking at us. Gold cats in golden lights….Golden. The male snarls without any real intention and we move back. The rest of the pride is in the long grass all around them. There is something so satisfying about finding something in a huge wilderness using just your skills.

I had been waiting for this morning of tracking. What else do I feel? What do you want from life? What is life asking of you? What would you hear if you listened? It Is 7:30 am and I have lived the aliveness of 10 years. More presence is more life. Not doing more. Something so tangible.

I would like to write a book called the dynamics of satisfaction. Scene of man in the wild making himself water to bathe with.

I’m also aware of how I have objectified myself. We think of ourselves as an object on a scale. We should be much further ahead or I’m not where I should be. I’m talking about a continuous comparative dynamic that is structured into a culture where everything is automated and commodities until your own psyche makes you a thing and judges that thing comparatively. Just think about how you drive yourself when you are exhausted. Just watch what you do to yourself when you start duding yourself.

Inside that mind all the dimension of person gives way to something terribly binary. Good bad, failing winning or losing.

All I want you to know from me out here is that it is not you. It is structured into the psyche in the modern life.

Buffalo Story

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/
Impact | https://londolozi.africa
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/
Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

]]> Day 18 - Golden

People have a saying in South Africa, we are looking golden. Well if this experience has its own ebbs of fortune, emotionality and joy then we are looking golden.

The lions have returned to Londolozi and I could see the tracks of the pride heading further west into the bush. They cut off the road and I scratched around a bit on their line o movement. The light was beautiful and the smell of a fresh morning was invigorating. I was feeling totally in tune with their movement.

Tracking in these moments is a beautiful combination of skill, concentrations and even somatic intelligence as your body feels the terrain.

I though of that tracking saying “I don’t know where I’m going but I know how to get there.:

Here on this beautiful morning I am trying to keep this dying art form alive inside of myself. What a strange thing, an art that does not live on a wall, an art that lives inside a person. If you keep tracking alive you keep a thread to a way we used to be, to another time.

The track cut further north and I’m flying along now in total flow. No trying, no mind just flow state.
I come across the land manager who is following a male leopard in his vehicle. I see his vehicle through the bushes and crouch down in the long grass and watch them go by me no more than 20 meters away. They do not notice me and when they are gone I continue on the tracks of the lions.

The lions cut through a dry water course. Two other guides arrive by chance and are also looking for lions. They want to join the tracking. The 3 of us set off and only 60 meters later we hear a squirrel alarm. James behind me starts to click. My eyes come up off the ground and there is a big male lion and a lioness looking at us. Gold cats in golden lights….Golden. The male snarls without any real intention and we move back. The rest of the pride is in the long grass all around them. There is something so satisfying about finding something in a huge wilderness using just your skills.

I had been waiting for this morning of tracking. What else do I feel? What do you want from life? What is life asking of you? What would you hear if you listened? It Is 7:30 am and I have lived the aliveness of 10 years. More presence is more life. Not doing more. Something so tangible.

I would like to write a book called the dynamics of satisfaction. Scene of man in the wild making himself water to bathe with.

I’m also aware of how I have objectified myself. We think of ourselves as an object on a scale. We should be much further ahead or I’m not where I should be. I’m talking about a continuous comparative dynamic that is structured into a culture where everything is automated and commodities until your own psyche makes you a thing and judges that thing comparatively. Just think about how you drive yourself when you are exhausted. Just watch what you do to yourself when you start duding yourself.

Inside that mind all the dimension of person gives way to something terribly binary. Good bad, failing winning or losing.

All I want you to know from me out here is that it is not you. It is structured into the psyche in the modern life.

Buffalo Story

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/
Impact | https://londolozi.africa
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/londolozi/
Twitter | https://twitter.com/londolozi
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/londolozigamereserve/

]]> Day 4 - Safety Third http://trackyourlife.fireside.fm/6-day-4-safety-third 18f7d36e-682b-4d7f-92a2-00db603aa7c8 Sun, 05 Apr 2020 11:00:00 +0200 Boyd Varty full 1 Boyd Varty 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. 14:15 no 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/ Boyd Varty, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Wilderness Immersion, Londolozi Game Reserve 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/

]]> 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/

]]> Day 3 - Watch Out For The Small Things http://trackyourlife.fireside.fm/5-day-3-watch-out-for-the-small-things abf4f99d-188f-4101-bdc2-dcfae1038777 Sat, 04 Apr 2020 10:00:00 +0200 Boyd Varty full 1 Boyd Varty Boyd enters day 3 hot on the tracks of a rhino to try and find them. He details how he is arriving with humility to the greater rhythms of nature and developing an intimacy with his family place. Then things go south... 11:37 no 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/ Boyd Varty, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Wilderness Immersion, Londolozi Game Reserve, Mike Boon 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/

]]> 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/

]]>