My Therian Territory: Familiarizing

I have to admit, when bringing a heavy camera and tripod, it keeps a therian grounded to their human selves due to the sense of responsibility to not break the expensive thing. But I was surprised to find a lot of fun looking for nice activities to film. The activities weren't staged, so to speak. I wanted to do them for fun, to see what the possibilities were. And I found myself having a really great time. It was the first time after a long winter that the sun was out, I enjoyed letting the vitamin D soak in.

Along the way I was familiarizing myself with the different places. The day of filming the video, I came across places that I later decided to call:

- The First Path (Het Eerste Pad). A long path going uphill and actively separating you from the human world upon entering. I only truly feel like I am in my territory when being past The First Path.
- The Climbing Tree (De Klimboom). One of the few trees in the middle area of the territory that would be easily climbable.

- The Rye Fields (De Rogge Velden). A giant piece of field, about as big as a football field, filled with moss and rye. This field is right in the middle of the woods and gives a good overview of potential people hiking.

- The Howling Pine (De Huil Den). A fallen pine tree that is a perfect closed space for me to howl comfortably. The place feels like a look-out post to me.

A few days after I decided to focus more on the process of actually claiming the place. The first hike was a good confirmation that the territory would actually be mine, but now I had to take action to strengthen this personal feeling of the possession. Before I wanted to actually mark my scent, I of course had to know the borders.

I walked along the furthers paths I could find. Encountering new places, but most importantly, coming to find out that the territory was very neatly surrounded by highways. The borders of the woods are still at a great distance from these highways, but I still feel a very strong limit taking place. I do not dare going too close to these highways, almost as if my wolf self is scared off by them.

The outer paths and borders of the area led me to find new significant places that I decided to name.

- The Gravel of Color (Het Grind der Kleuren). A very narrow path closely surrounded by many different types of trees with many different types of colors. Surely one of my favorite paths.
- The Fallen Pines (De Gevallen Dennen). A open place with little trees that lays directly next to The Gravel of Color, which I have yet to explore. The heavy storm from a couple of months ago must have taken a toll on these pines.
- The Hills (De Heuvels). A large area of uneven grounds where a lot of mountain bikers tend to spend their time. I tend to avoid this area because it's the most invaded space. of the territory.

- The Magical Lawn (Het Magisch Grasveld). A significant open field filled with nothing but grass and surrounded by the trees of the forest, but most importantly, a single tree fallen in the middle. This is the place where I love to listen to the birds and sunbathe a bit.

At the end of my journey I was surprised to find a fallen tree against another, younger tree, in such a way that the arching branches formed the shape of a broken umbrella. I've stood there for minutes, contemplating whether I should really make my childhood dream come true by building a large den, with the risks of people breaking it down. I decided to make it my official den from then on

To be continued...