Black Lion by Sicelo Mbatha
Wilderness guide Sicelo Mbatha shares lessons learnt from a lifetime’s intimate association with Africa’s wildest nature. Black Lion begins in rural South Africa where a deeply traumatic childhood experience – he witnessed his cousin being dragged away by a crocodile – should have turned Sicelo against the surrounding wilderness. Instead, he was irresistibly drawn to it. As a volunteer at Imfolozi Nature Reserve, close encounters with buffalo, lion, elephant and other animals taught him to ‘see’ with his heart and thus began a spiritual awakening. Drawing from his Zulu culture and his own yearning to better understand human’s relationship to nature, Sicelo has forged a new path, disrupting the conventional approach to nature with an immersive, respectful and transformative way of being in the wilderness. Both memoir and philosophical reflection, Black Lion - co-written with environmentalist Bridget Pitt - is his brilliant and profound account of life as a wilderness spiritual guide. As humanity hurtles into the anthropogenic 21st century, Black Lion is an urgent reminder of just how much we need wilderness for our emotional and spiritual survival. A brave account of a natural disaster, and of achieving reconciliation with the predatoriness of life.’ Richard Mabey on Sicelo Mbatha's essay, Letting Go, commended for the Irish Moth Nature Writing Prize.
Sicelo Mbatha is a facilitator of spiritual experiences of the wilderness. He has devoted his life to fostering deep connections between humans and nature, and in enabling members of his own community to experience the wilderness. He grew up alongside the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi nature reserve, and nature has always been his medicine, his teacher and his spiritual home.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781776191284 |
| ISBN 10 | 1776191285 |
| Title | Black Lion |
| Author | Sicelo Mbatha |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Jonathan Ball Publishers SA |
| Year published | 2021-10-21 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |