Choosing to Live by Davey du Plessis | Book Review

"Two months into a planned solo source-to-sea navigation of the Amazon River, adventurer, Davey du Plessis, was ambushed and shot within the isolated jungles of Peru. The adventure turned into an intense moment-to-moment struggle to survive as he made his way, wounded, through the dense jungle, seeking rescue and safety.

Choosing To Live is Davey’s personal account of his Amazon experience. He retells the remarkable story with an endearing openness, while sharing unique insights into the power of compassion and his ability to maintain motivation in his balance between life and death."

What environmental activist Davey du Plessis had planned to be a five month stint of kayaking, hiking and cycling his way through the Amazon jungle, soon turned into his worst nightmare when he was ambushed on the river. He had already ventured deep into the jungle over a period of two months when he was shot and left for dead.

His story is an inspiring one, something you would find on Discovery Channel’s Alone in the Wild. The raw vegan recalls that day on the river as being one of his best with the amount of wildlife he came across from dolphins to giant raptors keeping him company along his paddle.

Only hours before his shocking accident, Davey had helped a wild Egret bird that had a fishing line wound around its beak. Although the bird’s beak and neck were noticeably broken, Davey was amazed at the fight the bird put up to save its own life. However, what Davey didn’t know was that he would be in that exact situation in only a few hours time.

“I only realised that I had been shot not once but several times about three hours after it had happened,” Davey du Plessis, ambush survivor, tells me as he sips happily on a glass of still water with two strawberries bobbing up at the surface.

“The bullet is still lodged in my heart,” Davey mentions, caressing his chest protectively as we speak. His theory stands that the men who opened fire on him were drug lords. He is quick to add that this is just one theory as to why the men decided to ambush him, leaving him with a number of wounds and bullets embedded in his body.

With surprisingly good humour, Davey recalls how the first village he stumbled across after escaping his ambush would not help him until he provided them with some sort of payment. However, after his attack he had left everything he possessed in the kayak. His only aim at that point had been to get to safety. It was only hours later, when he started throwing up what looked like litres of blood, that they realised this was an emergency.

Davey was transported to a total of five different villages before he finally received any form of medical treatment. In between that time, Davey fondly remembers the soothing touch from the old woman in the tribes as they sponged his legs clean and gently tapped his back while he coughed up blood, almost as though they were burping a baby.

Luckily, Davey was able to contact his mother, Robyn Wolff, who had recently watched a show with his girlfriend about people dying from altitude sickness. The two ladies had already been in a state of panic, making assumptions that Davey was suffering from Altitude Sickness in the jungle - little did they know that reality was a whole lot worse. 
As soon as Robyn heard that her son had been shot, she went on a networking frenzy to find any possible help and assistance. 

Devouring the book in the couch.

Once he finally reached a real hospital in Lima, over a day later, the doctors then refused to work on him without payment. 

Davey is proud to admit that he is completely against the consumption of alcohol, which is why he finds total irony in his two saviors in Lima. It was only when two South African Brewery (SAB) workers came along, did the doctors very quickly change their minds about treating him. Suddenly, Davey was moved up to top priority on the hospitals list.

“As grateful as I will always be, I still find it hilarious how people from a company promoting the one thing that I always try to steer people away from were now not only helping me, but also were undeniably my only form of hope!” Davey laughs as lightly as he can on the matter. 

Many people ask Davey what drove him to go into the Amazon alone and to that he tends to answer, “Stupidity!” with a knowing chuckle. 

Having said that, Davey is already planning his next adventure – he plans on rowing across the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean in nothing but a wooden rowboat that is currently being hand crafted in Knysna, The Western Cape.

When asked whether he feels that this experience is what led him to have such strong views and opinions and want to raise awareness to the world, Davey all but chortles in response. “I’ve always been this way!” The survivor insists humbly.
“The only problem was that before, no one would listen to me! Now I can raise environmental awareness and suggest great healthy lifestyle changes and people will actually take it into consideration. I think I always knew that I needed a ‘story’ to be able to get people’s attention and I finally did.” Davey admits with a bittersweet grin.

Davey is a huge inspiration who was able to turn a negative occurrence in his life into something positive, not only for himself, but for the lives of many others too. 

On promoting his new book that he self-published earlier this year, he jokes, “I hate it when people say things like, ‘you’ve just got to read this book!’ But seriously guys, you’ve just got to read this book!” He manages to get the laughter and applause from all of those who attended his book signing as they started to queue up at his table to get a signed copy of his incredible true story entitled, ‘Choosing to Live’.

Praise for this amazing novel by Jade Wright:

I recently had the pleasure of meeting the author of this exceptional true story and attending his book-signing in Plettenberg Bay. 

Listening to his speech at the signing obviously brought around so many more insights than that available in the book – he is one of those inspiring souls that you could listen to for hours without boredom creeping in. Every word he utters is wise and enlightening and this novel is definitely one I will cherish forever more.

As a passionate traveller myself, hearing about his book and incredible story absolutely thrilled me and I couldn’t wait to crack open the spine and devour every last word. It didn’t fail to impress. In fact, it exceeded my expectations.

If you want to order a copy of this phenomenal book, click the link below:

http://www.daveyduplessis.com/book.html

Happy reading fellow bloggers!