We are shown our tents and the showers, and told where to take supper. We are told to carry our flashlights with us whenever we move about the campsite after dark. We are told that two hippos typically come up into the camp to feed at night and not to worry if we hear them snorting at all hours. The dining room is an outdoor space set with several long tables and ringed by a fence made from dead branches stuck in the ground. At one end is a huge baobab tree, and in front of it there's a circular fire pit whose flames illuminate the baobab so that it looks like a giant prop in a Tarzan movie.
Supper is buffet-style, meat, vegetables, salad, and bread.
A bar offers wine, liquor, and soft drinks. During dinner three staff members sing, accompanying themselves on conga drums and a makeshift marimba. Another African dances, shuffling, with small incisive steps to accent every seventh beat, though sometimes the drummers are there with the beat and sometimes it is only understood. They all know what they are doing. I am seated between Nancy and Gary Brown, a second safari guide.