Botswana. Vanishing.

I went to the Okavango Delta, where I was surprised that I was going to do a bushwalk amongst wild animals, armed only with my fists, feet and teeth. The following is an extract from the travel story I wrote about this trip.

(...) This was going to be my first bush walk without a gun. As we stopped, Jack laid out a few rules. When we see an elephant in an open space, we are almost doomed. First, we should stand still, and if the elephant charges, run as fast as we can. If we encounter an elephant in the bushes, then, if we need to run, we zig-zag between the bushes and hide so the elephant loses interest. If we manage to startle a buffalo lying in the tall grass, it will most definitely charge at us. There is no other option but run, run, run and climb a tree, hoping there is going to be one nearby. If we are extremely lucky to spot a leopard, it will almost always run away. So no worries there. However, if meet lion cubs then they will usually approach us with wild curiosity. Their mother would often be not far. If she sees that her babies come too close, she would call her husband and attack us. Running away is out of question. We should always stand still. The lioness would come up to our feet, make a few circles and make some noises like cats do. Domesticated cats usually come by people’s feet, encircle them purring a little. This is what a lioness would normally do in such situation. As soon as the cubs achieve safe distance, she leaves, and then we can also move. Hopefully, this happens before the father appears. Otherwise he would bite our necks and have us for breakfast (lunch or dinner – depending on the time of day).

It all sounded extremely serious, and I was not sure whether I ought to go to bush toilet straight away or risk shitting myself when any of the aforementioned close encounters happen to me. I decided to risk it, even as Jack went off for a piss. I knew I just needed to be strong. (...)