This story features pap, one of the de facto national dishes of Botswana. It is made by adding flour to boiling water, and stirring until it is roughly the color and consistency of mashed potatoes. Hope you find it as amusing as I did!
In the early morning chill, we huddle around the campfire, clutching our mugs of tea and coffee in a desperate attempt to warm our hands.
The kitchen staff have just risen and they clang around the kitchen, sorting through last night’s dishes. Obi heaves the leftover pap out the back door of the kitchen, and a flock of squabbling hornbills descends on it. Done with my tea, I put my mug in the growing stack and step out the back of the kitchen to head to my tent. As my foot hits the sand I freeze, realizing that I am not alone and I, too, have been spotted. A young vervet monkey sits on the ground next to the leftover pap, and stop mid-bite to stare at me. Paw to mouth, with a bit of pap smeared across his cheek, the monkey stares at me with naked dread: CAUGHT! Our eyes meet, briefly, before he turns and scrambles up into the safety of a nearby tree.
wildlife, wild life 