A Boutique Safari

Wisconsin eye surgeon Paul Hudson has it all: loving wife, two kids (Arnie and Thuy), successful career, and a house full of heads-mounted trophies taken over a lifetime of hunting. On the eve of his annual African safari, Paul dismisses signs that all is not well in the Hudson household. Outside, a historic blizzard is gathering.On this hunting trip, Paul wants to be close to the animals-"inside the zoo." He arranges a "boutique" safari with an entourage of one-hunting guide Nigel...
More Description

Wisconsin eye surgeon Paul Hudson has it all: loving wife, two kids (Arnie and Thuy), successful career, and a house full of heads-mounted trophies taken over a lifetime of hunting. On the eve of his annual African safari, Paul dismisses signs that all is not well in the Hudson household. Outside, a historic blizzard is gathering.On this hunting trip, Paul wants to be close to the animals-"inside the zoo." He arranges a "boutique" safari with an entourage of one-hunting guide Nigel Drum, an alcoholic ex-cop who plays by his own rules. After a near-disastrous encounter with poachers, Drum takes Paul to a remote waterhole where he spotted a trophy lion. Drum leaves Paul alone for a moment and the lion appears. Paul shoots the lion with his crossbow but the lion doesn't fall. He races to the presumed safety of Drum's safari vehicle, wounded lion in hot pursuit, but the vehicle has been ransacked and Drum is nowhere in sight. Now Paul is all the way inside the zoo-and animals aren't the only predators with bad intentions.Paul takes refuge in the Land Rover. He visits the waterhole to collect what he hopes is edible grass and sees the old lion lying still on the beach. Paul thinks the lion is dead, but when its pride arrives the lion sits up and yowls. A young rival attacks the old lion and claims the pride, which makes Paul think about fissures within his own family. He feels strange, unfamiliar stirrings-sympathy, compassion¿ empathy. Back in Beau Lac, Arnie steals Thuy's phone, kills the power in the Hudson house, and absconds with Thuy's cat. Paul returns home and sorts out the family tensions. He makes plans to take his family to Zimbabwe for a year to provide vision care to people who can't afford it. An interwoven secondary story follows two young Paleo-Indian siblings-the same ages as Paul's children-who chase a mastodon across the Wisconsin tundra during the last Ice Age. If they do not return with fresh meat their tribe will perish.