Peter Allison > Quotes

“She asked another question: "What does it matter if the rhinos die out? Is it really important that they are saved?"

This would normally have riled me... but I had come to think of her as Dr. Spock from Star Trek - an emotionless, purely logical creature, at least with regards to her feelings for animals. Like Spock, though, I knew there were one or two things that stirred her, so I gave an honest reply.

"... to be honest, it doesn't matter. No economy will suffer, nobody will go hungry, no diseases will be spawned. Yet there will never be a way to place a value on what we have lost. Future children will see rhinos only in books and wonder how we let them go so easily. It would be like lighting a fire in the Louvre and watching the Mona Lisa burn. Most people would think 'What a pity' and leave it at that while only a few wept”
― Peter Allison, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide

“Like every other guide or wildlife lover who is eventually eaten or trampled, I felt that I had a bond with this herd that would make me safe with them. I wanted to try my luck again.”
― Peter Allison, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide

“Bleary-eyed one morning, with caffeine still missing from my system, I fumbled my way along the dusty path to the guest tents, calling out ‘Good morning!’ in as cheery a voice as the hour would allow (it was barely after five o’clock, and the sun had only just cracked the horizon). I heard a rhythmic thumping, getting rapidly louder, and I turned to find 1,600 pounds of pissed-off cow bearing down on me. Clearly it disagreed with my assessment of the morning.”
― Peter Allison, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide

“But after dealing with Roy for a while I just wanted to get through the time I’d signed on for, to prove to myself that I couldn’t be beaten by a girly-faced, chicken-boned, racist cat.”
― Peter Allison, How to Walk a Puma: And Other Things I Learned While Stumbling Through South America

“The purpose of your vote is't to elect someone, but rather to express your opinion.”
― Peter Allison

“I answered that I was sure, and he asked me again, and this time I understood his concern. ‘I’m not embarrassed!’ I said, or at least tried to say, before recalling that embarazada means something entirely different to ‘embarrassed’ and that I’d just wailed at the doctor that I wasn’t pregnant, something his medical training had presumably made evident to him.”
― Peter Allison, How to Walk a Puma: And Other Things I Learned While Stumbling Through South America

“It was the most ludicrous sound I had ever heard. The strangled gargling sounded like a goat that was having an unpleasant sexual encounter.”
― Peter Allison, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide

“Just so you know,’ I explained, remembering my own earlier arrogance, ‘if you’ve ever owned a cat and therefore think you know how to handle a puma, you don’t. It would be like playing with sharks because you once owned a goldfish.”
― Peter Allison, How to Walk a Puma: And Other Things I Learned While Stumbling Through South America

“But since most safari drives are conducted at a pace that would bore a tortoise, outside of the bush we tend to think that twenty miles an hour is really rocketing. We are easily distracted by the things we may not usually see in our work life. Attractive women, for example. Out of habit we tend to swerve across, or even off the road for a better look, just as we would do in the bush.”
― Peter Allison, Don't Look Behind You!: A Safari Guide's Encounters with Ravenous Lions, Stampeding Elephants, and Lovesick Rhinos

“Who the hell is afraid of a fridge but ties himself to a puma?”
― Peter Allison, How to Walk a Puma: And Other Things I Learned While Stumbling Through South America

“She asked another question: "What does it matter if the rhinos die out? Is it really important that they are saved?"

This would normally have riled me... but I had comes to think of her as Dr. Spock form Star Trek - an emotionless, purely logical creature, at least with regards to her feels for animals. Like Spock, though, I knew there were one or two things that stirred her, so I gave an honest reply.

"... to be honest, it doesn't matter. No economy will suffer, nobody will go hungry, no diseases will be spawned. Yet there will never be a way to place a value on what we have lost. Future children will see rhinos only in books and wonder how we let them go so easily. It would be like lighting a fire in the Louvre and watching the Mona Lisa burn. Most people would think 'What a pity' and leave it at that while only a few wept.”
― Peter Allison

“Hunting, works for conservation like slavery works for economic growth. A guaranteed but morally awful way to achieve a goal.”
― Peter Allison

“Peter Allison is a safari guide who has spent much of the last twelve years leading wildlife-viewing and ecotourism trips in Africa, mostly Botswana. His love of animals led him to train as a safari guide in the early 1990s and soon thereafter he was hired by southern Africa’s largest operator to train all of their safari experts. Safaris he has led have been featured in magazines such as Vogue and Condé Nast Traveler. He has assisted National Geographic photographers and appeared on television shows such as Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures. Peter is also active with the Athena Foundation, a nonprofit conservation group. He is on the board of the Athena Foundation’s youth program, whose mission is to inspire young people to develop their interest in conservation. Originally born and raised in Sydney, Australia, he currently divides his time between Australia, California, and Botswana.”
― Peter Allison, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide