Back to the Bundu Matt Artz 9781304008541 Books
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Returning to southern Africa for the first time in 35 years, Matt Artz shares his adventures while volunteering for a conservation and research program in the Tuli Wilderness of Botswana. Despite close encounters with lions, hyenas, and elephants, it's the people of Botswana that left the biggest impression on him.
Back to the Bundu Matt Artz 9781304008541 Books
I loved this book. What a great adventure he had in Botswana. He has a gift for telling his story, would like to hear more of anything he writes.Product details
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Tags : Back to the Bundu [Matt Artz] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Returning to southern Africa for the first time in 35 years, Matt Artz shares his adventures while volunteering for a conservation and research program in the Tuli Wilderness of Botswana. Despite close encounters with lions,Matt Artz,Back to the Bundu,lulu.com,1304008541,Travel & Holiday Guides: General,Travel & holiday guides,Travel General
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Back to the Bundu Matt Artz 9781304008541 Books Reviews
A few years ago a good friend recommended "A Life Outside (one and two)" by Matt Artz. Reading those, I was transported to places I've never been; stories told in a non-pretentious way by a guy you'd imagine having a beer with. Matt Artz has really hit his stride as a writer, and "Back to the Bundu" doesn't disappoint.
I really like Matt's style of presenting the book in a series of chapters; vignettes that could easily stand alone as short stories, with tales weaving seamlessly in and out of the whole book, tying it all together. "Back to the Bundu" reads simultaneously as a really well-written National Geographic-style story and a travelogue, but includes a splash of autobiography with a dash of introspection. His Down-to-Earth writing style makes the reader feel comfortable, like you are his friend, and riding along on right beside him.
I will probably never get to Botswana, much less Africa at all, but while reading these tales I felt like I got a taste of the Dark Continent, and a front row seat to the mysteries us Suburbanites can only dream of. Lions, Gators, Snakes and Porcupines, oh my !
Mr. Artz is a very engaging writer as his 'return-to-Africa' experience draws the reader into the adventure - as if being there yourself. Ecologists, zoologists, ornothologists, archeologists, conservationists, wildlife enthusiasts and anyone needing to escape their own personal four walls will find this book a delight. The book is easy reading with carefully chosen words and phrases that will flood you with adventure and inspire you to experience an African adventure. It was an awesome read - the kind you don't want to put down.
One of the true joys in life is to read a story that transports you to a time or place that you are unfamiliar with - a story that captures your imagination and transports you to the writer's experience (real or imagined) as though it were your own. Matt Artz's "Back to the Bundu" is one such story.
Matt is a gifted story teller and is able to draw the reader in with humor, awe-inspiring mental imagery, and suspense. His 3-week odyssey -- 35 years in the making - gives him a perspective of what `normal' can be if you are willing to get out of your comfort zone and go on a `grand adventure' rather than continue to settle for life's `little adventures' (as he describes them).
As an avid reader, I have experienced many an author's `journey' (real and imagined) but, have never felt as exhausted and exhilarated (simultaneously) as I did when I completed this one.
Thanks for the adventure!
The mark of a successful writer is the ability to put the reader in his own shoes and frame of mind; to evoke the same emotions he is describing; and to leave the reader craving for the narrative to continue.
Matt Artz achieves that goal in spades with his delightful memoir, Back to the Bundu. The writing flows as smoothly as one of the rivers in the Tuli Wilderness. The people he's working with, especially Andrew and Johannes, come across as real individuals you'd really love to meet and interact with. And the various encounters with animals are described not just as events but as moments of sheer wonder and, at times, spine tingling apprehension.
What also makes such an enjoyable read is the author's introspection, reflections on his youth and how his earlier experiences impacted his whole adult life and, in particular, his relationship with Africa. The fact that his account is frequently peppered with dry (unlike Botswana) humor makes for some delightful chuckles.
The proof to me of how effective this book is is that for someone who never had the slightest interest in a safari, I'm tempted to go on one now--but, admittedly, in more comfortable surroundings.
I feel very strongly about the connection between the origins of humans (that is, you, me, everyone else) and east Africa. I wrote a book on the subject myself. So it's only natural, I suppose, that when I encountered this passage from this book that I happened to luck into, my spine tingled and I knew I had crossed paths with a like-minded soul. I recommend the book. That's enough from me. Now read this passage from Matt Artz' journal of the culmination of his mid-life crisis
"There’s something so primal about red dirt. At least it’s always been that way to me. Whenever I see red dirt, I experience a mysterious attraction.
"Soil appears red when it contains a high concentration of iron. Perhaps somewhere, deep in our DNA, our instincts tell us to go towards the blood red dirt because of the iron content. Humans need iron to survive. It’s literally in our blood.
"Or perhaps it’s something else, something more cerebral. Perhaps it’s more of a calling; to go back, to a place we’ve never been, but to the place we came from.
"Like the salmon born and raised in captivity, released to the wild, attracted like a magnet to one stream out of so many, a stream it has never been to before, yet it somehow knows This is it. This is the one. This is home.
"Like a magnet, Africa had pulled me back. It was an attraction that was strong, steady, and irresistible; it tugged a little at my brain, and at my heart, but mostly at my gut, rekindling a deep desire—a desire to return to a place I’d never been before, the Tuli Wilderness of Botswana; but to a place where I had always been, through my ancestors, through all of our ancestors, so long ago Africa.
"To finally see a place I’ve always seen.
"To get to know a place I’ve always known.
"To finally understand where I came from. Where we all came from.
"The real “old country”. The original homeland.
"Because we are all African. The rest is just a matter of timing.
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"I remember once hearing a scientist say that by the time you smell something, microscopic particles of whatever you smell have already entered deep into your body. Although the context was toxic and potentially poisonous chemicals, the same goes for anything else—if you smell it, it has entered your body. By the time you’ve smelled it, it’s already inside of you; it’s become part of you.
“Tuli” is the Setswana word for dust, and the dust is everywhere in the Tuli region. It works its way in to everything. You can smell it in your nostrils. You can taste it on your tongue. You can feel the grittiness in your mouth.
"It’s hard to put an experience like my time in the Tuli Wilderness into words, but I have attempted to do so to the best of my abilities here. It was an experience, or more of a magnificent portfolio of experiences, that will stick with me forever. The Tuli is inside of me. It’s become part of me. I can still taste it. It’s pumping through my veins.
-----
"Two weeks, alone but not alone, in a place where man was meant to be—always meant to be. I set about this adventure thinking that it was just a deeply personal journey, maybe even a “midlife crisis,” a vacation of sorts meant to reconnect with nature and with the true meaning of humanity. But in the end, it was not about a vacation, but about a life.
"It wasn’t an escape from technology, civilization, and people, but a blending of old and new experiences, of the past and the future. And though at times it was deeply personal and illuminating, in the end, it wasn’t at all about “me”; it was about something bigger.
"Going back isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. A journey that never ends.
"Back to the basics.
"Back to the beginning.
"Back to the bundu."
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“All I wanted to do now was get back to Africa. We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.”
—Ernest Hemmingway
I loved this book. What a great adventure he had in Botswana. He has a gift for telling his story, would like to hear more of anything he writes.
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