What wildlife are worth

Earlier this week I sat with my family to watch Davina McCall’s new wildlife documentary ‘Life at the Extreme’. Whilst the premiere received mixed reviews about Davina’s capability of presenting a wildlife documentary, I thought it was good to see an ‘ordinary’ person immersing themselves in the wilds of Africa.

Near the end of the show, a scene shows Davina standing on the peak of a hill looking out at the African wildlife, she says that it is humbling to be in the African bush and realise that at that moment you are not at the top of the food chain.

I have felt this many times, and it is oddly one of my favourite feelings. It’s strangely the most exhilirating feeling that I have ever experienced, but it also humbles your soul in the purest form.

To know that you are small, you are vulnerable, you are defenceless.

We often don’t think about it but, as humans, we are so used to being the ones in control, the ones at the top, the ones who can triumph over anything.

But put yourself in the middle of the African bush, with no manufactured weapons, no material defence systems and no barriers, and see how long you can survive on your instinct for.

Knowing that you are one with nature, one with the strongest lions, the toughest rhinos and the most venomous insects.

It humbles you to know that without machinery, without these tangible defences, you cannot triumph over the beautiful beasts of the bush, and it makes you realise that we really are all equal.

It is not you who makes you think that you can defeat the king of the jungle, it is the gunpowder that you buy. Without tangible goods, you are nothing, you are not superior, you are equal. So today, on the 3rd March 2016, World Wildlife Day, pledge to treat them that way, every day.