Safari in Botswana

It all began innocently enough with a late afternoon safari. It was of course hot, dusty and as usual, exhilarating. The spottings were endless; aardwolf, wild cat, jackals and many more.
We were returning to camp when we heard on the radio that a pair of cheetahs were spotted. It was rapidly getting dark so we had to move fast. Sefo our guide yelled "hold on" and we began our bouncy ride across the delta. It reminded me of the machines they use to mix paint. Rather jarring.
Just when we thought we had lost the battle with the darkness, Sefo spotted the cats in the distance. He swung the Landrover around just in time to catch a glimpse (and a terrific photo) of these gorgeous creatures.
Our journey back had just resumed when someone yelled "I think I see a fire". Moments later, we came upon a most surreal scene right out of a movie.
A bonfire illuminated a long dining room table, covered with linen, set with finery more likely found at a class hotel than an African field. There were waiters running to and fro, the barbecue pit was going strong and just to the right a few feet behind a parked jeep, our headlights shone on a little toilet set up over a newly dug hole. Good grief. They thought of everything. I was expecting Izzy Sharp to greet us.

No, it wasn't Izzy. Rather it was the entourage of cooks and waiters lining up to welcome us with traditional song and dance. What could possibly happen next? Little did I know.

We're here in rainy season or should I say the insect season. Tonight was a special night in Africa.
This is the one night of the year that millions of termites don wings and leave their nest for an aeriel search of a girlfriend. They're not flying insects by nature so after they land, their wings fall off. Yes, the table cloth was covered with discarded wing material. This is a special night for the villagers also. Apparently, these termites are a delicacy and if dried and fried, I was told they taste a bit like peanut butter.
There were many other varieties of bugs sharing our meal and drink but since it was dark and we were eating by kerosene lamps, they all looked alike to me. That is, they all looked like cockroaches.

And then there were the fist sized, black flying dung beetles that had the annoying habit of dropping from the sky in our soup and scaring the bejesus out of us?

Fortunately, it started to rain and we had to break camp and return to the lodge where we were greeted by swarms of moths.

Ah yes, not a typical Botswana dinner perhaps but a memorable one nonetheless.