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Pawcurious: With Veterinarian and Author Dr. V

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You are here: Home / Daily Life / Musings / If I get eaten

If I get eaten

September 23, 2011 by Dr. V

I took my kids to see the Lion King 3-D yesterday, which I would have done regardless but has special import to me now. I think that movie is what did me in for the Africa-lust back in high school. They were moderately impressed, though the overall response was, “Forget you lady. You’re going there tomorrow. We have to go to school.” Which, to be honest, is totally fair. They’ll live. So anyway:

Auf wiedersehen, my friends. Today, it’s a plane to Chicago, then to Amsterdam, then to Arusha/Kilimanjaro, then to chimp camp. Total travel time to reach chimp camp via that route: 3 days. Then it’s CHIMP TIME. I have some posts set to go live so you won’t be without things to read here- but check the site! I don’t know if I’ll be linking from Facebook like I usually do. And some of the places will likely have wifi, so I expect you’ll be hearing from me between now and October 6th. But as I’ve said I’m kind of also digging the idea of time away from the computer, so I might just pretend there was no wifi after all.

As you probably know by now, one of my big phobias in life is getting eaten by a carnivore. I’ve written about it, about the local mountain lion attacks and the Great White who killed a veterinarian off the San Diego coast a couple years ago, so it’s not an entirely unfounded fear. One of my college classmates was mauled by a lion in Africa after college. It happens.

I’m not going to be stupid about things. I’m not going to throw back one too many martinis and go stumbling around the bush roaring about how I’m Hemingway while I face down a pride with an olive on a toothpick. If I’m out and about at night, I’m to be given an armed escort. That being said, things can happen, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that if weird things happen, they happen to me.

So if I get my leg chomped off by a hippo, my intestines devoured by a lion, my liver gored by a rhino, or my calf pierced by a Boomslang, I just want you all to remember one thing:

It was totally worth it. Carpe diem and all of that. Grab a little joie de vivre and put yourself out there to get nibbled every now and then. You only live once, right? Adrenaline is good for your complexion.

Oh, and one other thing:

If I die and any of you make a Flat Dr V and bring it around to BlogPaws, I will haunt you till your dying day.

Photo: Indiana Jones World Map by Matt Busch
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Filed Under: Musings

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Debbie jacobs says

    September 23, 2011 at 10:59 am

    Have a blast! Oh & the lions called. They want you to bring salt.

  2. Lisa W says

    September 23, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Hope the trip is everything you could wish for it!

  3. Tabitha says

    September 23, 2011 at 1:14 pm

    Have an amazing time! Try not to smell too good while your out there, just in case.

  4. Leigh says

    September 23, 2011 at 2:37 pm

    Have a WONDERFUL time! I worked with chimps in captivity for my Master’s Thesis, and I’ve watched as one of my best friends has rehabilitated chimps in Guinea, and tracked them in Cote de Ivory. I think it would be INCREDIBLE to see them free, outside of cages, acting like ‘normal’ chimps. (Chimps in captivity are much more neurotic and aggressive!) And yet… I am too chicken to go to Africa. So, if you don’t mind, I will live vicariously through you a little bit!

    Congrats on seizing the day and fulfilling your dream!

  5. Nancy Hough says

    September 23, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    If you drink lots of margaritas you will be the Dr V equivalent of Carne asada – what’s not to like?

  6. petesmom says

    September 23, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    I will miss you, but if you are incommunicado until the 6th, that’s OK by me – just DON’T you dare get eaten by ANYTHING or I’ll NEVER forgive you! Definitely Carpe Diem!

  7. Julie Melfi says

    September 23, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    Can’t wait to hear all about it! Have a wonderful time!!

  8. Tamara says

    September 24, 2011 at 11:45 am

    Have the time of your life! And please say hello to the chimps for me too 🙂 Would LOVE to visit chimp camp!

  9. Tamara says

    September 24, 2011 at 11:45 am

    Have the time of your life! And please say hello to the chimps for me too 🙂 Would LOVE to visit chimp camp!

  10. Flat Tyler says

    September 26, 2011 at 9:07 pm

    A flat Dr. V? ah! Sounds like a challenge to me….

  11. I HAVE CAT says

    October 8, 2011 at 8:01 pm

    OMG!!!! THIS IS AMAZING! I’m dying to go to AFRICA!!! have you been before?!??!!?!?! can’t wait to hear back!

  12. I HAVE CAT says

    October 8, 2011 at 8:02 pm

    I am totally making a Flat Dr V now! 🙂 No matter what!

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