[REPLAY] Boyd Varty – The Art of Tracking

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
After talking to the brilliant string of guests the past several weeks, Patrick's brain needed a rest.
Oh, and a concussion didn't help matters. To hold you over until next week, here is one of the most interesting but less well-known conversations from the Invest Like the Best archives. Enjoy.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:20)
Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Invest Like the Best. This show is an open-ended exploration of markets, ideas, methods, stories, and of strategies that will help you better invest both your time and your money. You can learn more and stay up to date at investorfieldguide.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:40)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is a principal and portfolio manager at O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (1:03)
This week's episode is the most unique to date. My guest is Boyd Varty, who grew up in the South African wilderness, living amongst and tracking wild leopards. The main theme of our conversation is the art of tracking and how the same strategy for pursuing animals in the wild can be applied to all aspects of our lives. Boyd's family has been part of the South African safari world for four generations, and he is bringing what they have collectively learned to a larger audience around the world. The episode includes the best answer I've ever heard, which comes when I ask Boyd to describe his most memorable experience. We also discuss the potential dangers of an achievement or goal-oriented mindset and what he learned from spending time with Nelson Mandela as a young boy.
The episode is one I hope you share with those you love, because I think Boyd's ideas will have a profound impact on many who are thinking about what to do with their lives, whether they are young or old. For show notes, visit investorfieldguide.com forward slash Boyd. And now, please enjoy my conversation with Boyd Varty.
Maybe a really fun place to start would be there's a story in your book about an experience with your dad with a black mamba.

**Boyd Varty** (2:14)
Yeah.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:15)
To give people a sense for what your childhood was like. And then we'll use that as a springboard for everything else we'll talk about.

**Boyd Varty** (2:20)
When I was about nine years old, I went to hunt an impala with my father.
And we had sussed out the terrain and the land sort of fell away. And there was a termite mound, which would have been, which was a perfect position for us. And so we creeped up onto the termite mound and we were laying with our chests on it and our legs sort of. And the mound kind of rose up. So we were leaning up against it. And I looked over the top of the mound and down the clearing, I could see the impala. And I was waiting for the shot and eventually it presented itself. And I took the shot. And as I took the shot, the herd kind of scattered, but they didn't run away. They scattered and then they stopped, which sometimes they do when they get a little bit stunned.
And so my father said to me, just keep looking through the site and see if you can just be certain that that impala has gone down.
And so we're lying there and I'm looking through the site and I just felt this movement on my leg.
And I remember like just taking my eye away from the scope and just peering down.
And immediately I saw this coffin shaped head and moving over the back of my leg was about a two and a half three meter black mamba. And I knew snakes. I was passionate about snakes as a kid. So I immediately knew this is as bad as it gets. If it bites you, you know, it's a couple of minutes and you just you're gone. So I grabbed my dad. I said to him, my shit dad, there's a mamba. So he starts looking around like like where like it's somewhere around us. I said to him, No, it's honest. Look down. Then he looks down and I felt him start to shake and I knew we mustn't move. I said to him, Don't move. Do not move. So we stayed there really still and it just perused all over us.
And then at one point it turned and it started like coming up the mound towards where our sort of heads were. And I thought, God, if it gets like up around the face, that's going to be a little bit too much. And I look over at my dad and I can see blood coming out of his mouth.