‘What about Botswana?’ My boyfriend couldn’t think of any objections so a few days before we overstayed our visas we hit the road in our trusty Defender and sped north from Cape Town. The Kalahari welcomed us with vast empty spaces and gorgeous wildlife. We spent weeks camping in a true wilderness barely touched by man. The character of the landscape changed in the waterlogged north but our encounters with wild animals didn’t stop. We eventually returned to civilization after many weeks on the sandy road, having narrowly managed to escape being eaten by lions, killed by a puff adder and marooned on the Chobe River. No Footprints in the Night chronicles this journey of exploration through Botswana in times of coronavirus.