Life Safari
John P. Strelecky
Reviewed by Karen Morse
Consultant and motivational
speaker, John Strelecky follows
his best-selling debut, The Why Café,
with another allegorical story about pursuing one’s goals in life. In Life Safari, 22-year-old protagonist
Jack travels to Africa in hopes of finding
himself.
“I didn’t
know what
to expect when I began my journey to Africa. Other than pictures I had seen in books, I
knew almost nothing about the people, the animals, or the environment I
would
encounter. But at the time, none of that
seemed to matter. I knew one thing, and
that one thing was enough. I knew I
needed to be happy. For some reason, I
thought Africa was the place where I would find
my
happiness.” (2)
The journey inspired by Jack’s inexplicable desire
to go to Africa
becomes a turning point in his life. Life Safari is the story of that
journey.
Once he arrives in an unnamed African port, Jack pinpoints
what believes to be the goal of his trip:
to see African wildlife in their native environs.
His search for a suitable guide ends when he
meets Ma Ma Gombe, an elderly African woman, whose eyes danced with
life. In the months that they spend
together
throughout the course of the novel, Ma Ma Gombe becomes much more to
Jack than
a guide through the wilderness and animal tracker.
She is the one teaches him about the “Big Five for Life,” which
she defines as “the five things that if you did, saw, or experienced
them, you
would consider your life to be a success” (22).
She also becomes his chief “Who,” a person who helps others
avoid “Mad
How disease” as they are trying to complete their Big Five. Both through her teachings and by example of
her own life, Ma Ma Gombe inspires Jack to overcome his fears and take
control
of his life. Because of her, Jack is able to articulate his goals in
life and
begin to start accomplishing them.
Jack’s African safari, then, becomes just the first step in his
life
safari.
Like The Why Café,
Life Safari is both novel and
self-help book. Inspired by the author’s
own time in Africa, Life
Safari encourages its readers to look inward, to identify their own
goals
in life, and to work on accomplishing those goals in the here and now. It will no doubt have success similar to that
of The Why Café.