Learning to Play With a Lion’s Testicles
Melissa Haynes

Learning to Play With a Lion’s Testicles

Unexpected Gifts From the Animals of Africa

By Melissa Haynes

Lion Book Cover

Trade paperback
5 ½ x 8 ½
250 Pages
Non-fiction – Memoir
Release Date: March 2013
$15.95
ISBN: 9781933016825

Playing with a lion’s testicles: An African saying that means to take foolhardy chances.

Melissa, an exhausted executive from the city seeks meaning and purpose from her work, and volunteers for a Big Five conservation project in South Africa.  Her boss, an over-zealous ranger, nicknamed the Drill Sergeant, has no patience for city folk, especially if they’re women, and tries to send her packing on day one. But Melissa stands her ground with grit and determination, however shaky it may be.

Conflict soon sets the pace with a cast filled with predatory cats, violent elephants, and an on-going battle of wits with the Drill Sergeant. Even Mother Nature pounds the reserve with the worst storm in a century. But the most enduring and profound conflict is the internal battle going on within Melissa, as she tries to come to terms with the guilt surrounding her mother’s death. When death grips the game reserve, it is the very animals Melissa has come to save that end up saving her.

For the reader who has ever dreamed of going to Africa or knows the pain of loss and guilt, LEARNING TO PLAY WITH A LION’S TESTICLES will fill your soul. 

About the Author

Melissa Haynes

Melissa Haynes created and orchestrated successful national campaigns for major corporate players, opened and ran a prosperous business in Mexico.

Her project management experience landed her a handful of Olympic contracts for the 2012 Winter Olympics. She ghostwrote a column about entertaining in the Vancouver Courier for years and a chapter in the award-winning chef’s cookbook Inside the Recipe Box. Melissa is a self-admitted chronic adventure junkie and travel addict.

She is passionate about animals, adventure, conservation and scribbling. Her greatest accomplishment and adventure to date was volunteering in Africa and living to write about it.