Black Lion: Alive in the Wilderness

I really struggled to get into this book. Its mostly a panegyric about the iMfolozi nature preserve and nothing really happens. The bits where Mbatha shares stories of his own life are interesting but there's not enough of them to push the narrative along. I agree with the author that nature's awesome and I would much rather enjoy it first-hand than read about it.

Thank you to the publisher who sent me a free copy for review.

What a beautiful, unique voice. And soul. I found myself in a turmoil for the first third or so: loving the descriptions of his experiences, rolling my eyes at the heavyhanded Significance Junkie writing (I could feel my own new birth stirring within myself, the birth of some new wisdom and awareness [...] an awareness that here, intertwined, were perhaps the two most sacred strands of life. There's a lot of that. No orchestral string crescendos due to technical limitations of the printed page, but I had little trouble imagining them.) Loving his ethics and vision, scoffing at the occasional intrusion of woo-woo. Then my brain shifted: I have my own forms of woo-woo; and, okay, I too marvel daily over a sunrise or a leaf or just a moment of wonder—I just don't TALK about it, so let's keep this confession between ourselves, okay? Once I made that mental shift, I just felt humility and awe.

Mbatha is a small fish in a small pond; promoting healing and, okay, wisdom; and now getting some press. Good. This book evoked Rilke: I live my life in widening circles / that reach out across the world. From all the way across the planet, his circle has reached me, and I'm infinitely grateful.