Why Botswana should be your next safari destination

Original Story Published by: James Draven, www.loveexploring.com
Photo Source: Vadim Petrakov/Shutterstock

If you’ve got Africa’s wildlife and wonders set in your sights, then Botswana is the best place to spot the Big Five and so much more, says James Draven

Xhanse has to take a live scorpion out of his mouth to answer me. By doing so, he somewhat negates my question, which was:

“Why have you got a live scorpion in your mouth?”

“I’m cleaning its eyes,” he tells me, and – delicately holding the scorpion’s stinger between his thumb and forefinger – he pops the creature back into his gob, like a lolly. Its legs wiggle against his lips in protest.

The bushman is giving us a short walking tour of the desert landscapes around Makgadikgadi Salt Pan in Botswana, showing us the traditional practices of his people: a glimpse into an ancient culture beyond my ken.

I understand the benefits of the medicinal berries he has shown us, and of those that can be quickly fermented into an inebriant. I’m interested in the nomads’ methods of fire-lighting, their hand-crafted smoking pipes and the games they play to pass the night around the fire. Moments ago, however, Xhanse dug a scorpion out of the dusty earth and he’s since had me baffled.

Improbably, he removes the saliva-cleaned scorpion from his mouth and delicately perches the creature on top of his four-year-old son’s head. Tail taut, the scorpion stands stock-still, as dramatic-yet-static as a plastic toy from a cereal box.

“Because it is on a flat surface,” says Xhanse, as his motionless son rolls just his eyes upwards to look at the tourists snapping pictures of him, “It won’t sting him.”