Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide

Based on the Botswana proverb "Only food runs," this book is a funny, very original collection of essays. The author, Peter Allison, provides the guide's-eye view of life in the bush, dealing with wild animals and herds of tourists. He works as a top safari guide in the Okavango Delta and has to put up with the demands of his wealthy clients. The book includes outrageous but true tales of tourists behaving badly, such as wearing hot pink instead of safari-friendly khaki, getting lost, and being drunk and naked. Allison's humor is matched by his love and respect for animals, and he strives to minimize any negative impact on humans.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 01 October 2023
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

A hilarious, highly original collection of essays based on the Botswana truism: only food runs! In the tradition of Bill Bryson, a new writer brings us the lively adventures and biting wit of an African safari guide. Peter Allison gives us the guide's-eye view of living in the bush, confronting the world's fiercest terrain of wild animals, and, most challenging of all, managing herds of gaping tourists. Passionate for the animals of the Kalahari, Allison works as a top safari guide in the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta. As he serves the whims of his wealthy clients, he often has to stop the impulse to run as far away from them as he can, as these tourists are sometimes more dangerous than a pride of lions. No one could make up these outrageous-but-true tales: the young woman who rejected the recommended safari-friendly khaki to wear a more fashionable hot pink ensemble; the lost tourist who happened to be drunk, half-naked, and a member of the British royal family; establishing a real friendship with the continent's most vicious animal; the Japanese tourist who requested a repeat performance of Allison's being charged by a lion so he could videotape it; and spending a crazy night in the wild after blowing a tire on a tour bus, revealing that Allison has as much good-natured scorn for himself. The author's humor is exceeded only by his love and respect for the animals, and his goal is to limit any negative exposure to humans by planning trips that are minimally invasive—unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way!

Weight: 352g
Dimension: 209 x 140 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781493035380
Edition number: Third Edition