One Man Goes on Safari (in his garden!)

The Year of Sitting Dangerously is the story by Simon Barnes, whose trip to a Zambian safari was put on hold, due to the pandemic.

So instead he walked to a folding chair at the bottom of his garden, and sat down. His plan is to sit in that same spot each day for a year to see (and hear) what happens all around him.

As he watches the world around him change each day, he begins to see his surroundings in a new way. And by restricting himself, he opens up new horizons and grows closer to a world he thought he knew well. 

I used to be important. Taxis, aeroplanes, hotels, press conferences, deadlines, ‘something to drink, Mr Barnes’. Movement, travel, passport, laptop, plug adaptors and toothbrush always in the bag, ready to go. Bloody good fun it was, on the whole.

I got less important, but I still travelled a fair bit. And then all of a sudden no-one was important, least of all me. I couldn’t even travel the dozen miles to Norwich. Forbidden to move, I resolved to travel in the only way I could; by staying still. I would sit in the same place, day after day, for a full year and become part of the landscape of Norfolk.

I would notice things: birds of course. Also deer, hares, butterflies, bees, mosquitoes, plants and the miracle of the seasons. I would think, and I would not think. I might even be forced to face the fact, that as winter turned to spring and blackcap raised his voice in song, I was now as unimportant as I had always been.

About the Author

Simon Barnes is the writer of many books on nature and wildlife. He is a council member of World Land Trust and patron of Save the Rhino. Awarded the Rothschild Medal for services to conservation, he lives in Norfolk, where he manages several acres for wildlife.

His previous book On the Marsh is just as good! It tells the story of how he and wife bought a plot of land that would be lost to development, to allow it to remain for Chinese water deer, otters and hedgehogs, and not be lost to development.

And how this wild place became a place of inspiration and calm for their son, who has Down Syndrome. Watch with him, as the species of birds arriving tops 100, and two marsh harrier families move in.