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Joe Phillips: What Safari Survival Teaches You About Business · The BEYOND Podcast

• 0:00
  Unknown: in this episode I interview Joe Phillips who is a self-proclaimed James Bond of the Jungle he talks
• 0:07
  about why he's not scared of alen sugar because he's faced far worse things in the jungle and
• 0:13
  we cover which animal made him faint we cover some of the weirdest things fans have ever sent
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  him or said to him it's a really interesting and funny one so I hope you enjoy it [Music]
• 0:30
  Joe welcome to Beyond The Boardroom podcast I'm really happy to have you here because out
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  of all the apprentices you kind of Stand Out ex apprentices because never have I ever or anyone
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  seen a Apprentice candidate who's also a safari guide it just doesn't fit cuz aren't aren't all
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  The Apprentice people supposed to be mean it's weird isn't it yeah yeah well most of it but like
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  a safari guide yeah it doesn't really add up no it doesn't add up it doesn't add up yeah thanks for
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  having me on this uh show hopefully we can dive into that in a bit more detail thanks for coming
• 1:02
  on Pleasure we'll start with if you could describe yourself in three words what would those three
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  words be and why oh my gosh positive enthusiastic and ambitious I think that would probably be the
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  three to enthusiastic and ambitious yeah okay I'd say so yeah ambitious or driven one of them
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  I think one of them okay okay I said three three so let's go for positive enthusiast fastic and
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  ambitious I can see that I can I can definitely see that okay let's talk about the Safari side
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  first you clearly love animals like did you always love animals so I was I was lucky enough to grow
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  up in the developing world so I spent most of my childhood kind of hopping around these fantastic
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  countries like Zimbabwe and Malaysia and Egypt why were you why were you doing it was mainly
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  my dad's job so my my mom's a doctor and she was working out in Uganda at the time my mom's side
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  grew up in Zambia dad works as venture capitalist so completely different um I guess that's you can
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  probably already tell that's where I get my kind of business side from there and then the kind of
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  nature loving side from my mom I grew up in South Africa so and I visited a lot of the countries as
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  well the nearby country so Zimbabwe is one of them which city did you live in was it Harari in Harari
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  in Harari yeah in Harari listen when I was there never in my life have I seen spiders of there size
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  oh yeah you love them though you've got to love them no you don't love them I mean I just looked
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  up in the ceiling one day and it was about that big it dropped on the ground and it's start oh
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  no the thing is so spiders yes our house I don't know what it was our house in in Zim and Harari
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  was like I don't know if there's like a scorpion Nest or something there but it was infested with
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  scorpions go you can die from there there's a lot of yeah you can you well there are two types of
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  this is like where my passion here we go scorpions no there's bu day scorpion day scorpion day is
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  fine which luckily is what we had so we've all been stung by them and it's like a hot beasting
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  like really painful but you won't die um butha day if you get stung by them sure is it hours a
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  couple of hours or days no not really no it it it you can die from them it's not fatal every
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  single time but for if you're young like when we were if we got stung by a scorpion ber SC when we
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  were 3 years old yeah it can be a matter of days just the way they put their tail I know they just
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  freaky but I loved it so to answer your question I know we deviated a bit to answer your question
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  my earliest memories are like running around the African bush Barefoot and I've always been curious
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  and around Nature close to it close to it and I think when you're exposed to a such a diversity of
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  biomes from the African Savannah to the Malaysian jungle to the Egyptian desert it's impossible not
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  to fall in love with it is impossible they say that once you've you've you've lived in Africa
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  you've got that magic of Africa within you that's there is something in there is you'll never it's
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  like so special I encourage anyone to be watching to go submer yourself in it but also as a kitty
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  when you're so close you know because I mean kids on these days on their phones whatever blah blah
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  blah um and they indoors and stuff but when you're outside and you get to know like like ants and
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  what they do and they become like your friends but in a way they you're playing with different kinds
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  of animals and insects and you're learning about them and you close them like that bug and this bug
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  and the birds and this and that you kind of you then get really close and then you feel like you
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  want to protect them don't you and that's what I loved about guiding and learning about the bush
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  is it just it opens your eyes to like saying people think about conservation they think of
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  pandas you know what it's more than that like the ants and the bugs and the Beatles that's that's
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  the exciting thing that's what I get excited about cute aren they there's so much to them
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  but not just the ones in the in the in Africa and in the bush cuz like we we'll get to this
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  but I also like because of my love for Animals as well like you in in Africa I've also started
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  to discover the ones that are here so the reason why I agree with you saying ambition as one of
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  your points to describe yourself is because in our pre- podcast call you said that you want to follow
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  in David aten's footsteps I mean that's a massive thing to say oh yeah I'd love to try you're going
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  to try yeah well you want to that's an ambition so no one can say you're not an ambitious person
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  you 100% are very ambitious and I think that would suit you cuz you've got you like the whole TV side
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  right yeah exactly yeah not shy and then you love animals so why not exactly and I love education
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  as well I think when you look at conservation one of the big most powerful tools we have is
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  educating people about nature and David at just does that so well yeah and so that's what i' i'
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  love to do okay so speaking of Education I mean seriously what do you actually study in Zoology
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  like just literally what is it uh so obviously I studied zoology at xter and ethology at Oxford
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  which is like animal behavior it's not like you learn this is a this is a cow this is a giraffe
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  this is how a cow behaves exactly um it's so you start you start off and it's starts off broad like
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  any University degree and then it goes narrow so what do you mean Broad like these are the types of
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  animal categories and exactly yeah exactly so like our modules in first crustations these are 100%
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  100% so like we had modules called invertebrate zoology and vertebrate zoology so like these broad
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  clades where you dive and learn about cordat and you learn about arthropods um they have a like a
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  backbone thing on exactly exactly yeah um but then you kind of specialize and you can go you
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  know first you'll be broad like sustainability ecology yeah and then as you progress you kind
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  of choose the one the direction you want to go in so I love like physiology learning about the
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  body and hormones and things like that um and eventually specialized into Behavior
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  like animal behavior was something I fell in love with yeah but what do you learn in animal behavior
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  like how does a lion behave when he's you know angry with another lion entering to so what you
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  well the lion is angry exact like I like I said I've always been curious about nature and I loved
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  as a guy just sit I could sit and watch like a troop of baboons or or elephant for hours and
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  just be like what do you what are you thinking right now what what is I know what they think
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  I'll tell you a story The baboons they're like feisty little things oh yeah I was in a really
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  nice resort in South Africa but it's kind of like one of those really in touch with nature kind of
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  resort basic stripped back and um I was outside on the balcony looking at the ocean you know very
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  nice Vibe sort of in my own world with my little child who was 1 years old she was eating a banana
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  and then I looked and there was a baboon bigger than a man yeah looking at me and then he start
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  towards me and reached out to take the banana off my child yeah and on my instinct I just literally
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  took her and I shoved her behind the doors and like sliding sling and he's fall coming towards
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  me and I'm like I only just his hand human hands like honestly the nails you could see it like so
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  human it's crazy and he was so strong trying to open the sliding door and I'm shouting from
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  husband going hell yeah help me and my husband runs and both of us versus this baboon and the
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  booon S of looking and I'm like oh no you don't you're not eating my mother's instinct kick in
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  you know what my strength I tell you I'm we're animals too you know so like yeah come come on
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  baboon you know what I mean Bring It On you're not taking the banana nor the child but appar
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  they go in they go inside these homes they raid the fridges they know this stuff man yeah what
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  behavior is this like yeah well they're scary as well they're their canines are actually bigger
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  than a lions they the male baboons are scary I've also been scratched by a a baboon yeah
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  baboon scratched you yeah I've I've had so I've been like bitten and scratch stung by all sorts
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  of how scratchy I don't I even know I was I was super young but it's actually very embarrassing
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  like I've I've been bitten by things scratched by things wild BS monkeys scorpions and then in Egypt
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  I got it's actually so embarrassing I don't know why I'm saying this say it um so I've had like
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  so many rabies Jabs I'm sorted for life like just because of all the wild animals I've been Scratch
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  by and then when we're in Egypt I was in like a pet shop like the back street of Cairo and playing
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  with this little kitten like the so I could fit it in one hand um and then the kitten bit
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  me on the top of my finger o and uh I fainted you fainted I was just so embarrassing I remember like
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  I remember looking at my finger and like watching the blood Trickle and then next thing I remember I
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  was I was waking up to like fresh orange juice and stuff oh wow it was so embarrassing did
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  you have antibiotic though after he he bit you I actually went and got another rabies jab because
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  I think the reason why I fainted is as I was looking at this Blood like my mom was talking to
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  the pet shop owner and the Pet Shop was like yeah I think um you should probably get him some rabies
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  Jabs cuz we don't quite know and I was like yeah you freaked out bang yeah wow okay so you have
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  this sensitive side to blood but no because um so my dad uh was a veteranary scientist but sort of
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  like that's a reason why he got asked to go from Poland to South Africa in 1981 right so he but
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  he didn't he worked on like vaccines like Ebola type stuff so these big fridges and everything
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  but um he's always say that if you um ever got bitten by a cat like as in blood that you should
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  get an antibiotic because you can get sepsis from that and literally die cuz of the bacteria
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  they're very unique to having this toxic bacteria there and yeah like Lion's one of the like if you
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  don't die of blood loss it'll probably be kill you eventually all theia yeah so the cats said they're
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  very nice but you get bitten so yeah probably were right to faint actually yeah um so I was going to
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  ask what's the wildest thing that's that's ever happened the wildest experience you know when
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  you go on far you can either go on drive like you you take the vehicle out um or you can go on foot
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  trek trek yeah that's what I specialized in so I it's Brave yeah but I love it when you learn to
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  be a guide you qualify as FASA level I wanted to take that further and get my Trails qualification
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  which is where you do your Advanced rifle handling you learn how to track how to Trail um that's the
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  danger because you're you're in their their environment you know yes their house yeah
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  it's their it's their house their rules their neighborhood so when you're in a vehicle you
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  feel very safe when you see a lion walking by when you're on foot yeah it's a whole different story
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  yeah um so the wild experience I I've been charged by elephant by lion by Buffalo you've been charged
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  by an elephant yeah yeah how does that feel being y i as you can imagine it gets your heart how did
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  you run away from oh you never run never run never run okay um except okay I'll tell you a story so
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  the goal and obviously you want to avoid these situations you never want to be the whole purpose
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  in in learning how to Trail and track is to be able to cope in a situation like that and it's so
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  much fun like we I and camped in the Lim poo for 3 months straight every day we would track a new
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  animal so it would be you know today we're finding lion find the Spore track it find the pride
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  approach the pride next day elephant b b bom and each day and remember our trainers they would want
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  us to push the boundaries intentionally so each animal would have like their zone of confidence
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  we call it like where they're comfortable they see you but they're like okay he's fine there
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  if you go a bit closer he's like I don't want him to come closer and then if you step further
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  that's when it initiates the charge or the run so you kind of deserve it though oh yeah and
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  you know and like elephant they're so they that they're just so obvious with their emotions and
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  if they're unhappy they'll tell you they shake their head or they trumpet yeah yeah but yeah so
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  our trainers would intentionally get us to push those boundaries so we knew how to deal with it
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  MH and it so it would get to the point where you know based on their behavior and you're studying
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  this Lon intensely if I take another step here that thing's going to charge and and then you'd be
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  stood there and the trainer would be like one more step and then you take one more step so who you up
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  against you a lion or a lion elephant so yeah I was going to tell you a story so been charged by
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  both but lions are quite easy to be honest they they they're they're scaredy cats at the end of
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  the day um elephant are really emotional so you can tell if it's a mock charge like they usually
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  pull up 5 10 met away from you um but buffalo buffalo yeah they are another story okay um so
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  probably yeah if I was to give you my wildest experience we um actually I'll give you one for
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  lion first M so we were on trail and this was only like day two or something of the training
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  program and so I was like super naive I was don't know what to do here trainer was leading the walk
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  and we didn't even get out of camp we literally went around the corner and bumped into this female
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  lioness and I think we both just scared each other but um she just mock charged us again
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  and again she's a lioness so yeah she's she's not a scaredy cat like her husband exactly yeah you
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  know you don't mess with the Lioness no way um but yeah we like hey hey like stop stop you bang the
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  yeah 100% that's that's what you do like display dominance nature is a game of dominance um but she
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  wasn't having any of it she was mock charging mock charging um and then what did it in the end is my
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  trainer put a bolt in the chamber and I think that noise scared her off okay she's smart yeah cuz it
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  was like an artificial you know like and she was like what's that and then ran clever oh wow but
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  yeah so the Buffalo one sorry I let me know if you want to move on cuz I could just talk forever
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  about we'll do Buffalo and then we'll yeah got it um but yeah this was also during training and
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  the thing about Buffalo is they show no emotion this is why they they're hard to read they're so
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  hard to read and they they actually cause the most deaths in Africa when you're on Safari um but yeah
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  we were tracking this one Buffalo we were actually tracking the herd and then the older balls usually
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  fall behind the herd uh and they're The Dangerous Ones cuz they're on their own and anyway we come
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  across this one and we basically get too close to it and it sees we're coming and all I remember
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  it's doing is like all they do is like this like they look at you and then they're like like in
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  a Bine way like Curious and they take one step and then and then they just come and I remember
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  seeing this thing like coming like this and then that Joe from The Apprentice he's going to get it
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  I'm coming from and the golden rule is don't run yeah but with Buffalo no no run and that's
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  what my trainer did he literally ran and before I knew I was like oh we're running and we ran and
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  the backup Trails guide actually fell and she dropped her rifle and Y it was just hectic and
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  and I remember looking back and seeing this thing coming came around the corner went round a tree
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  and eventually it went off but um but yeah that's probably the that's probably the wildest story
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  yeah that's why you're called Jungle Joe I guess so do you like that name uh I think so I don't
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  know where that originated but I think yeah cuz I was going to ask what if you you were
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  quoted as saying you face worse than Lord sugar I believe you now I yeah the Buffalo
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  but isn't a hippo hippo's the most dangerous and feisty and unpredictable I mean they also
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  in the water you only see the little ears and exactly yeah charge for you they're aggressive
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  and they're fast as well fast yeah they they yeah I think they cause the most deaths just
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  because um they're Territorial and if you're by the Riverside you know the locals will be fishing
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  or something um and then yeah they'll they'll Chomp you but also on a on a more serious note
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  because you said like obviously in a car you feel safer but I mean I've heard stories of people you
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  being trampled in in cars squashed and stuff by elephants getting too close and things like that
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  and it's I I'm never compet I always like yeah yeah you're in their environments so it's like
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  that's their world and you kind of have to be respectful and just you have to be respectful
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  you don't want to get into those situations but like you said yeah like one of the quotes was
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  I've faced worse than it Lord sugar yeah yeah so the the reason behind that is I feel like these
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  days no one experiences fear like a real fear like primitive raw fear we we don't have it you know
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  you might be stressed out if you miss your train yeah but um but very rarely these days you have
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  that experience so for me that raw fear yeah get it like business is a game money is a game you'll
• 19:12
  win it you'll lose it and the next day you'll be alive life you know he's all right he's a teddy
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  bear he's fine he's fine so why did you apply to Apprentice um I've watched it for years with my
• 19:25
  family um and I thought why not yeah I thought why not not chucking an application I think there were
• 19:31
  110,000 applicants there's loads of ridiculous so many so I submitted this video uh application
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  and then forgot about it and then I was actually on Horseback in in the kria river like on Safari
• 19:48
  when they rang me and they're like it's BBC here we want to chat to you about The Apprentice I was
• 19:53
  like is this a seriously yeah is this a joke um overall was the experience on The Apprentice as
• 20:00
  intense as it looks or how did you find it oh it more so I'd say more more intense than you see
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  on TV holy Crums yeah so like for the boardroom for example is what like a 20 minute segment or
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  something per episode whereas in reality you're in there for like 4 hours oh it's like more sometime
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  yeah more four it's a whole day thrashing it a day yeah but yeah you have a boardroom day don't you
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  especially if you lose you obviously come yeah um and then each day is like you know you're working
• 20:34
  6 days a week 18 hour days you're not eating properly oh I think that's intentional yeah you're
• 20:40
  not of course is it you're just you're fueled on like caffeine sugar adrenaline yeah yeah yeah yeah
• 20:47
  yeah um youve got a health issue that's a problem you're that and that's what I struggled with as
• 20:51
  well just a lot of sugar and yeah I couldn't cope without the food and sleep like that that I can't
• 20:56
  do that well I think got a very high metabolism I don't know about me too yeah and food all the time
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  100% you call yourself the James Bond of business are you actually the really no offense like no
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  offense no I think that's one of the things they wanted me to they wanted you to do so you don't
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  really believe no no no secretly no the I'll tell you the story behind that so when you apply you
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  have to submit a video yeah and I told you I decided to apply the day before I flew out to
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  Africa okay so when I landed in South Africa I thought why not I'll apply and when I was
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  getting the boat into the lodge I was working at I thought this is a better time than any so
• 21:39
  I gave my friend my phone to my colleague and she said just film me getting out the boat it was the
• 21:44
  first thing it came to my my mind I was like I'm Joe Phillips I'm the James Bond of the business
• 21:48
  world and then I regret saying that then they like you got to you got to you got to um you got to be
• 21:56
  good on camera you got to give them what you got to got to be a character I think that's what they
• 22:00
  stand out or it ain't going to happen how has your life changed since the Apprentice it's been like
• 22:05
  a year now yeah but a good year so how was it been have you enjoyed it do you feel famous do
• 22:10
  you not feel famous um I absolutely loved it like I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to
• 22:18
  go on the show it's helped to the business but not not as much as I thought kind of on your own when
• 22:24
  you get out yeah yeah it's not like a big yeah the exposure is great like so for my most of my
• 22:30
  sales come through my retailers like I wholesale to them but I do have an e-commerce section that
• 22:34
  equates like 20% of my Revenue but when you go on your fired you know the show after The Apprentice
• 22:42
  they give you like one sentence where you can plug your business so so what's the business
• 22:48
  and I remember I said something I was like I run a sustainable uh lip care company called surf Barm
• 22:56
  yeah and I remember watching it back with my phone on the side side of the thing and I was
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  I said that one sentence and 10 seconds later my phone bing bing bing bing binging like all these
• 23:07
  sales coming in it was ridiculous are you doing that now still you're doing that in terms of the
• 23:13
  fame and stuff do you feel famous yes no feel bit um it definitely drops off so like when the show
• 23:20
  comes out it's mad and you go from zero to 100 and people recognize you and take pictures everywhere
• 23:29
  and then it slly drops off and people yeah people which is which is obvious um but it starts off
• 23:35
  with people saying like you know in the street you're Joe from The Apprentice and then it goes
• 23:40
  to you're that guy from The Apprentice yeah to the other and then it goes and then now it's like
• 23:44
  you got to make the effort to to stay relevant but also if you do stay on these platforms you'll find
• 23:49
  that actually you're left with at the end of it because I mean I was in 2016 I mean we're talking
• 23:54
  about a while now but you're left with sort of like a a community that they they just love what
• 23:59
  you're doing interested in you and you're left because once you've been on TV you're you're sort
• 24:04
  of entertainment that's what you are you're you're a source of entertainment you know the board
• 24:08
  they're looking what's what's she doing what's what's Joe doing today what's he posted it's just
• 24:11
  like TV for them so so you're left with quite a dedicated loyal fan base and they stay with you
• 24:16
  like if if if it's I mean if you if you put the effort in you can but obviously you get some weird
• 24:23
  oh my God weird can we talk about the weirdos yeah what's the weirdest weirdo thing fan type thing
• 24:29
  that's happened come on say it I'll tell you I'll tell you mine you tell me yours you go first um
• 24:37
  okay I'll go first okay yeah thank you I've had okay say there's what I obviously like indecent
• 24:43
  things being sent is like I don't like obviously okay that's but um what's this thing with feet Yes
• 24:51
  I my one was about feet as well why what's your thing what is this no no I think feet is is for
• 24:56
  me the the we I think I find that disgusting like obviously the is it a lot of people I've had a
• 25:04
  lot of messages even um I did I did a half M Iron Man last weekend and posted a couple pictures of
• 25:10
  of that yeah um and some of the messages I got off the back of that were yeah about your feet oh yeah
• 25:18
  yeah yeah yeah most most of them are feet related yeah no that that's completely creepy so do you
• 25:25
  have like wild mad fans messag feet fans yeah yeah definitely so yeah you love your Fitness don't you
• 25:33
  you're very into um so what's like do you do like follow any feds do you do the cold plunging do you
• 25:38
  do like keto do you do what like obsession with a gut like what's your thing tell me um I love
• 25:45
  Fitness I love all sports a massive rugby player I love football Cricket tennis golf any sort of
• 25:52
  sport I love but I don't follow any fads actually you don't called plunge or anything like this no
• 25:57
  I I I don't I I actually it to be honest with you it annoys me when I see it on Instagram it's just
• 26:04
  another it's like a fade it's like people do it to post it on Instagram type thing so do you do
• 26:09
  you like how many hours of sport do you do a day do you dedicate time a day to do sport every day
• 26:14
  seven days six days uh every probably six days a week six days a week you probably or seven
• 26:21
  six seven yeah I had a depends on what training program I'm going through but it'll usually be
• 26:29
  like I recently did a a half Iron Man so the training for that is pretty intense so what
• 26:34
  does that entail tell me half Iron Man so so Triathlon so it's Swim Bike Run y so how many
• 26:39
  k so it the half the half is 2K swim it's quite difficult yeah it's quite the swim hard 2K is
• 26:47
  yeah um 90k bike yep and then a half marathon so 21k 21k running oh gosh you good runner you
• 26:58
  um I wouldn't say I'm a natural Runner no okay you don't belong to like an Athletics Club or
• 27:03
  like no no no I've never I've more been like a rugby player so which isn't really built for like
• 27:09
  longdistance running no but like to elevate your running you should join like some sort of you know
• 27:13
  yeah yeah you can do your intervals yeah and I did that so like my training would be for Chon um in
• 27:20
  the mornings I I usually I I'm an early riser anyway so I get up at like half 5 something go
• 27:25
  do a couple hours in the gym before work at lunch time I'll go for like a a walk just a couple hours
• 27:30
  so what like 2 hours an hour yeah hour and a half 2 hours in the gym so that's in the morning yeah
• 27:34
  then lunch you lunch I get an hour to to and I'm so like three and a half that was just that's just
• 27:42
  a walk that was just train training for this big event as well and then the evenings would be my
• 27:48
  like my endurance so I'd go bike or run yeah I think swimming is quite tiring but it's such a
• 27:53
  nice sport working everything isn't it yeah it's so tiring but it's exhausting yeah I remember
• 27:58
  doing it for the first time yeah I'm going to do an Iron Man which is like that's like 6K for and
• 28:05
  I I did one length of this 100 meter ball I was like I can't do this yeah especially when you're
• 28:10
  starting especially when you I mean but probably you probably swam a lot as a kid or not did you
• 28:14
  do I used to and I actually worked as a swim coach in in Zim um for the school kids there
• 28:22
  but that was the the coach used to just the head coach used to just teach to swim these kids would
• 28:28
  be crying I want to swim it's so scary so scary when you're starting out yeah yeah but he would
• 28:34
  get his tactic would be like Chuck him like they would be like grabbing onto the end of the pool
• 28:40
  and they' be like let go of the side go and um I don't want to and then he let go or I'll get Joe
• 28:46
  to take you to the deep end and he would get me to take these kids and just drop them in the deep end
• 28:53
  how horrible yeah but they learn to swim quickly they have a choice literally yeah I did no choice
• 29:01
  no my dad my dad did that to me I remember I trusted him I trusted him and then he took me into
• 29:07
  the deep end and I was like Dad oh it's so nice and he's just let go he's pushing me I'm going
• 29:12
  dad and he's like bye he's sort of moving away and I'm like Daddy and then you just yeah Daddy
• 29:19
  Daddy and then swi to Daddy but yeah it's yeah it's scary but like in South Africa I remember
• 29:24
  growing up in pools like you that's what you do in the summer you spend your whole entire day
• 29:28
  in a pool and it's just so nice it's like just you know age sometimes as an adult now when I get in
• 29:33
  the pool and I'm in like you know on holiday or whatever and I feel like oh yeah childhood you
• 29:38
  know this is like you're a good swimmer because you swm so much in your life you're like I'm
• 29:43
  confident in the water exactly yeah don't mind that but yeah I mean so on this thing remember
• 29:48
  I mentioned that like in South Africa obviously I got to know all the animals and you know and
• 29:54
  obviously Zimbabwe and all these countries and you kind of get to know those kind of
• 29:58
  insects and those kind of birds and blah blah blah and then when I got here I just like my one thing
• 30:03
  I thought when I buy a house I'm going to make sure it has a biggest garden ever so that I can
• 30:07
  have like my own little Wildlife Nature Reserve in in yeah so like make a massive you know in Co I
• 30:14
  dug up the I got really frustrated so I dug a pond single-handedly but like now I've improved it you
• 30:19
  know we've had time and I've made a mass it's like a lake have you got fish in there or yeah but but
• 30:24
  I got natural ones I don't want to do this whole goldfish thing so I got the ones that are in the
• 30:27
  children cuz I in the chillness so i' got the ones that are naturally in streams that occur next to
• 30:33
  everything else so I want the NES and all of that so you know you get to know these guys as well and
• 30:36
  you think shame cuz you know like it's almost like everyone thinks of safari like that's the place of
• 30:40
  conservation but what about the creatures in the UK you know you've got all these cute little and
• 30:44
  like the Great Crested n the one with a little thing above his you you'll know so like those
• 30:49
  guys and they you know they they in like you know they threaten so you've got to look after them and
• 30:53
  people fill up their ponds obviously because of safety and stuff like that even though you can get
• 30:56
  a cover and it's fine you know a net thing um but you sort of get to know these guys and then you
• 31:02
  want to protect them as well and like the birds and all of that and the little animals here so
• 31:07
  definitely yeah yeah I mean do you what where do you live at the moment and do you have you
• 31:11
  got to know the creatures here what do you think about them was like nah I care about the Buffalo
• 31:16
  no I care about all creatures and obviously big or small they all play a part in the ecosystem they
• 31:23
  live in um so I do love it but I've never never like to be honest with you I've never had the the
• 31:33
  same passion as I have for African Wildlife yeah um I think cuz I just grew up there and I find
• 31:39
  it thrilling and I love it um so in terms of like indulging in nature here it's it was actually more
• 31:49
  about the marine life cuz I I studied in EXA but fouth you know on the coast so my uni experience
• 31:58
  was very much like fishing and surfing and you'd be bobbing out back and this seal would just come
• 32:04
  pop up yeah that's so cool they're like dogs the seals they're awesome and that's actually
• 32:09
  how that's how my business surf bomb started okay was because I I set up this business at
• 32:15
  University supplying merchandise and whatnot to societies and stuff um but the lip balm was you
• 32:21
  know we' go on surfs um and I remember seeing the high tide Mark just littered with plas
• 32:29
  and I I hated it I just kills you doesn't it it's just the saddest thing um and loads of plastic
• 32:34
  chapsticks you know everyone use lip balm but like you know yeah that sort of I know yeah the
• 32:39
  tube thing yeah and I remember thinking like why does that have to be plastic so that's how like
• 32:45
  sustainable lip care started yeah just back to the conservation stuff um I was just just thought of
• 32:52
  something I think you know like the whole David ashur thing and he did I mean did he do stuff in
• 32:56
  the UK I think he did UK stuff that as well yeah I think it'll be good for you to to learn about
• 33:02
  the UK Wildlife I think you've got you've got that I understand the passion of Africa definitely do
• 33:06
  that but also I think it's so nice for people to learn about what's sort of in front of them
• 33:10
  and appreciate that and look after it and open up that world it becomes like you you don't realize
• 33:17
  that some some people that live in the city they they never experienced nature no but it's actually
• 33:22
  on that doorstep you know they can find it um so I actually I was working with the BBC Rec about
• 33:28
  doing a podcast for kids about nature and it's like it's basically nature on your doorstep so
• 33:35
  no matter where you are you can um yeah you can experience and and find nature even if it's just
• 33:41
  in your back Garden yeah um so that's what yeah I think that that's that's really cool because
• 33:46
  it's it's developing it as a kid to get close to it that then you care about the creatures
• 33:51
  more whereas if you and I always go back to this horrible story I used have an ex-boyfriend once
• 33:56
  okay and uh when we were in Seville I felt sorry for a donkey cuz the donkey was like very hot and
• 34:02
  like they kept putting people on and the donkey had to walk in I'm we talking about 45 Dee heat
• 34:06
  and I was just like thinking that's cruel like just stop now it's enough I mean I know that
• 34:10
  they sort of grow the animals have evolved in that environment but to have these big tourists
• 34:15
  and yeah and I felt really sorry and then I went up to to the guys with the donkey and I was like
• 34:19
  listen I'm going to give you this money I want the Donkey to set out the next few rides and give
• 34:23
  it water and put it in the shade and and this exp got really mad at me he's like what are you doing
• 34:27
  man he's like what are you doing just let let them do their thing it's an animal I was like
• 34:33
  you're an animal yeah you're an animal because but he never grew up with that close to animals that's
• 34:39
  what I'm saying if you don't if they're not like your friends animals and you don't sort of form
• 34:43
  that care for them then you'll never care about them how say that so important yeah and that's
• 34:48
  why you're right like education as kids if you can expose them to that as kids yeah I feel like
• 34:54
  when they're older and you say like don't Litter or don't plastic they'll understand why and the
• 35:00
  reason thing kills me yeah yeah on our on our Shores it's like I'm always picking up litter
• 35:06
  like like irritate my family when Go Walks I'm like oh I just can't Afric like no one's going
• 35:10
  to pick it up after you so yeah terrible no um but the other just one one last topic on like cuz
• 35:17
  if you do get to know like the UK Wildlife more intimately enemies cuz I live in the countryside
• 35:22
  now and I've sort of um and I go for these walks through Farmers Fields a lot with my dog and stuff
• 35:28
  and then um and I watch the wildlife and I see all these little butterflies and moths and everything
• 35:32
  and you can see them feeding on the little strips the little elways where you can walk and then the
• 35:36
  field is just Barren because it's been sprayed with insecticides and poison and it's dead and
• 35:45
  sort of you think and it's like hectars like basically all the you know and then you've just
• 35:50
  got these little strips and it's beautiful and in these little strips you can hear the little
• 35:54
  crickets and you can see the butterflies and then the little bees go come and it's like and the
• 35:58
  little bird will come and have a little Berry off something because that's alive so you don't need
• 36:02
  the insecticides like why not roll that I mean I know more more expensive but maybe there's ways to
• 36:08
  work things out you know yeah yeah I remember even learning in like a level geography or whatever it
• 36:14
  was I remember learning how important hros are in the UK that's because like you fly over the UK and
• 36:20
  you can see the whole country side is scattered by Fields with insector size and whatnot and then
• 36:25
  bordering of the HED RS that's where it is and those are the corridors that have your and also
• 36:30
  Gardens and also Gardens so whoever has a garden or even a balcony like if they look after that
• 36:34
  and stop spraying it with rubbish that you don't need and just sort of Let It Be then those are the
• 36:39
  little Havens those are little nature places for these guys so what's next for you um mini David Ur
• 36:48
  yeah I guess um oh man my personality has always been split down the middle like I I love nature
• 36:54
  conservation and the other side I love business a Ideal World I love to combine both and by doing
• 37:03
  something like setting up my own Safari Lodge or or something like that so I can contribute to
• 37:09
  conservation and nature but also run a business you know um but for more the the more immediate
• 37:16
  future I'm loving my job at the moment um at the GDs group uh and then in ter and also my business
• 37:23
  I love doing that on the side um in terms of the nature side of things I might and I can't talk too
• 37:31
  much about this but I've been asked to go on a a show that's more nature orientated really ah so
• 37:40
  you can't tell us more about it but un I was going to ask you love Island there was something saying
• 37:47
  no I know they were asking but there's another shoke maybe yeah potentially okay so basically
• 37:52
  watch the space we'll see we'll see we'll see if it happens but um if does it'll be fantastic well
• 37:59
  sure it's been great it's been pleasure thank so much for having me thanks for coming on Pleasure
• 38:09
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