Guru of the wilderness

Meeting Sicelo Mbata for a hot tea ( I have to mix these meals up) is akin to taking a masterclass with a highly evolved spiritual guru. I thought I was going to talk wildlife conservation and our relationship to nature with a remarkably adept story teller. I had gleaned that much from my speed reading of his book Black Lion – Alive in the Wilderness co-authored with Bridget Pitt. What I got was a crash course in living and dying. And more importantly how to do those things well. The tea, the delightful little buccelato cake from Tortelino D’Oro and the sumptuous seasonal cherries that pop in your mouth like small love bombs were incidental and offered up in my dining room as Sicelo and Bridget rushed around Joburg on a whistlestop publishing tour.