About This Blog

July 23, 2009

In 2008, Dave journeyed to the Erindi Private Game Reserve in Namibia, Africa to take on the ultimate opportunity to immerse himself totally within a pride of lions.  This is Dave's journal detailing his thoughts, experiences with the lions and life in the middle of a mind-blowing African landscape.

Dave's entries are in chronological order, beginning as Dave prepared to leave civilization for the African bush. Click "Next Page" at the bottom of each page to continue reading Dave's dispatch in order.

INTO THE PRIDE premieres August 13 at 8PM e/p. 

Am I Still the Same Person I Think I Am?

May 26, 2008

I’m sitting on a train heading to my parents’ house from my new home in Toronto, Canada. I’m getting close to the time that I will have to say goodbye to them, but this isn’t a goodbye trip. I haven’t ridden the train since I was a kid, but it used to be my way of getting around to see my family before I had a car and could drive. It’s a cool feeling knowing that I can decide to go see my parents on a whim. It’s the whole reason I moved back to Canada. As my days are becoming more and more consumed with thoughts of lions, I can’t even begin to understand how I got to where I am right now.

I mean that in a grand scale kind of way, like, “I really have the best life I can imagine for myself. But also, and more pressing right now, in a “how did I become a city slicker who is preparing to go into the bush, when I have been a wild man who prepares to go into the city for so long?” kind of way.  Of all the second-guessing I have done in my life, wondering if I can give up my family life, social life and comfortable life has never even crossed my mind, until now.

A Discomforting Lack of Nature

June 01, 2008

I am really getting anxious now. There has been lots of planning and talking and getting ready for this project, but I am still in the city. I am done with cites and large groups of strangers and a general lack of nature. I haven’t had a relationship or interaction with a non-domestic animal in weeks. It’s getting so bad I have to go to the park to see trees. I sit there and watch all the dogs interacting just to get a tiny fix. The feeling of being cooped up in the city is like having a nervous itch. I walk around with this itch and know the only way to scratch it will be to get out in the bush. I can feel myself creating distance between me and my friends and family and everyone around me. The more uncomfortable I get, the more introverted I become. All this while, I am sitting wondering what the lions I meet are going to be like.

Will They Like Me?

June 10, 2008

Every time I sit down to write, I want to start with “It’s almost time to go.” I’ve been sitting around feeling like life is on hold until I get out to meet my lions. When you live a lifestyle like mine, you are always about to leave. Sometimes in days and sometimes in months, but you are always about to leave. Not that I’m complaining, but at times that feeling overwhelms you and makes it impossible to do any of the usual things that one might do. There is no need to buy that bookshelf to put your books away or hang those paintings; it’s pointless to date someone that you see a future with, because in the end you are leaving.

The thing that I find most interesting about my preparations to go is the mental relationship I feel like I have with a pride of lions that I don’t even know. I know all the stats — i.e., I know how big they are, how many male and female, where they live, and so on — but I don’t know them. So every day I wonder what each one will be like and worry if they are going to like me. It feels almost like I am in the second grade and am changing schools.

I guess it’s odd, but my largest responsibility to prepare for this project is to be ready for an attack. I spend hours every day in the gym working out to fight off an attack. I spend hours a day planning for the “what if” scenarios, but my biggest hope is that I am accepted and liked.

Freaking Out About Lions

June 23, 2008

Well, that’s it, it finally happened. I had my first panic attack of the project. I was up all night last night freaking out about lions. I expected to get panic attacks, because in the past during dangerous projects I have had the same. It’s funny, I am always asked if I’m scared with the animals and generally speaking I never am. It’s usually after I am in a dangerous situation that I start thinking about the things that could happen and that causes me to get scared. It seems now that I am a bit older, and much more experienced, I can get my mind into those terrible “what if” situations without ever being in one. Too much knowledge is sometimes a bad thing.

If I had to explain my panic attack, I would call it a partial mental breakdown. I say partial because the whole time that I was absolutely gripped and crushed by the fear of what I have gotten myself into, I knew and even verbally told myself “When I wake up tomorrow, it will all be fine.” When I did, it was.

It's Almost Here!

June 30, 2008

I saw pictures today of where I might set up camp. Holy cow! I’m so excited that it’s almost here — I almost get to start this journey. I have been planning this since before Christmas. I am short of breath, I am so excited!

That, and I have a cold.

The Journey Begins

July 02, 2008

WE ARE HERE!!! It's hard to explain the feeling of arriving at a place that you have been planning to come to for so long. It’s not my personality to want to go somewhere and have to wait. If I want to get somewhere, I usually just go. This has been planned and talked about and waited on for eight months or so. It feels so good. The hard part now is not just running out to find the lions; there is a lot of set-up and planning to do before I can safely meet the cats.

First things first: finding a camp site. I am looking for is a bit of open ground so that predators and elephants don’t have too much cover to just appear in camp, plus a bit of water to help with daily life (not to mention it will help attract some animals to camp). I want to make sure it's in a part of the park that the lions frequent ... and I guess I want it to look nice — I'm living here for about six months!

All the fear, sense of danger and safety planning aside — this is exciting!