Matti Chai is an adventurer, who loves life and people, and an educator in several informal education projects. He was born and raised on Hibat-Zion, an agricultural moshav in Israel, where he lives today with his family after residing in 15 different locations around the country. During his school days, rather than sitting in the classroom, Matti’s preferred mode of learning was hiking, mainly solo, to every corner of the Land of Israel. While doing his national military service in the Israel Defense Forces, he fought in the Yom Kippur War in the bunkers along the Suez Canal. It was there that he began to form the ideas expressed in this book. Later, he attained the rank of major in the infantry. Matti’s varied career has included work as an animal carer at the safari park zoo in Ramat Gan, as a youth orienteering guide at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and as director of a field study center in the country’s northern region. For many years, Matti has been involved in informal education and has initiated community projects. He was among the founders of the Pre-Military Leadership Academies (Mechinot), served as director of such an academy (Mechina) in the Jordan Valley, and was founder and director of the Student Village in Haifa. In addition to his master’s degree in Land of Israel Studies from the University of Haifa, he defines himself as an autodidact and amateur researcher of the human soul. This is manifest in his work as a tour guide in Israel and overseas, and as an ecologist and socio-biologist, exploring and analyzing the behavior of the animals he encounters on his African tours. Matti Chai is married to Nitza. He has six children and is awaiting the arrival of his third grandchild.