Enjoying Botswana on a budget

It’s predicted we’ll be gleaning most of our nutrients from creepycrawlies in the future. A sustainable food source, it makes total environmental sense - but I think I’d draw the line at scorpions. Dangling a whip-tailed arachnid teasingly above his tongue, I wonder if San Bushman, Xuma, has a death wish. Yet as he lowers the menacing creature into his mouth - pinching the stinger as a safeguard - it surrenders into a pancake-flat slumber; in Botswana’s agitated November heat, cooling human saliva, it turns out, is a sedative. Belonging to a formerly nomadic tribe from the western part of the country, on the border with Namibia, Xuma and his family are camped temporarily in the grounds of Meno a Kwena camp on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. Set in the sand and surrounded by arid plains and brittle vegetation, it feels a million miles from civilisation. Truth be told, we’re only a 90-minute drive from the international airport in capital city Maun, and this is one of the few safari camps in Botswana connected by tarmac. Even more surprising is the fact Prince Harry chose this location to woo Meghan Markle, when he took a “huge leap” and whisked her away for a romantic birthday break in August 2017. It’s proof Africa’s most expensive safari destination can be explored on a (relative) budget, while still enjoying a holiday fit for royalty. Old scraps of parachutes and sepia-tone photos in the dining area reveal Meno a Kwena’s long history; it was built at a time when there were no roads in this area and Harry, who’s friendly with the owners, has been visiting for 20 years. More recently, it’s been welcomed into the Natural Selection portfolio, a conservation-led company co-owned by Wilderness Safaris founder Colin Bell, with a focus on getting to the heart of Africa.

A CAMP FIT FOR A FUTURE PRINCESS?

Meghan and Harry famously sealed their love with a night spent under the Kalahari’s stars, but during my visit - when the rains are due to break - mobile camps aren’t operational. (Travelling off season is key to keeping prices down.) No matter. Sandy pathways leading to nine canvas walled rooms perched above the wending Boteti River and Makgadikgadi Pans National Park are similarly embraced by nature. It’s a far - and welcome - cry from the numerous hermetically-sealed five-star lodges often found in Botswana. Dry for almost 20 years, the Boteti is now flowing again, although it’s supplemented by a waterhole in the riverbed below Meno. A vital source of water, it attracts thousands of zebras during their dry season migration, along with opportunistic feline predators. Animals are usually drawn to the river as the day heats up, meaning game drives start later at 8am and making Meno arguably the only safari camp in Africa where you can justify a lie-in.

PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK WITH ELEPHANTS

Long journeys aren’t always necessary. A five-minute drive from the camp - via a stop to observe a thriving metropolis of beetles in a dung ball - we spend several hours in an underground hide. Providing the only water source along an 80km migration route between Khwai and the Savute Reserve, it’s a favourite spot for elephants. Pitched at eye-level with these enormous wrinkled, plodding feet, it’s a totally novel perspective. Shrouded in silence, footsteps are betrayed only by vibrations rippling through the earth, although the sound of heaving breath is pounding. Hidden from view, we’re a privileged audience to Attenborough-style scenes of animal behaviour; squabbles over whose trunk hogs the water pump have all the amusement of playground tussles. And there’s not a single other person - or vehicle - for miles. For me, it’s these crowd-free connections with nature that define real luxury. Not even a prince and his glamorous fiancee could put a price on that.