Evie thought about that as they walked.

If Evie didn’t like the look of her food when she was at home, she could just say ‘no thanks’. She might feel a little bit hungry but she knew she was never going to starve. But out here it was different. The cheetah and her three kids might all starve if she couldn’t catch their next meal.

Evie’s stomach rumbled again. She almost regretted saying no to that biltong.

Evie thought hard about the cheetahs. She knew she couldn’t do anything to help, not unless she ended up as their next meal herself. But maybe she wouldn’t be quite so fussy the next time she didn’t really fancy eating something that was offered.

Half an hour later, Bear said the iodine had done its job. Evie’s mouth was so dry that she just wanted to glug half the bottle down. But Bear told her they must both just take a mouthful. Evie held the water in her mouth. Ugh. Bear hadn’t been wrong about the rubbery taste.

The day was getting hotter. Even hotter. The sun had risen bit by bit all the time that Evie had begun her safari, and now it was almost overhead. The heat seemed to turn the air thicker, like something they had to wade through.

At last, something solid emerged ahead out of the shimmering air.

Evie blinked and focused her eyes on it. It was a pile of boulders about ten metres high, one on top of the other, with bushes and small trees all around the base.

“Shade!”

“It certainly looks like it,” Bear said with a smile. “We’ll camp down for a few hours, and then we’ll press on in the late afternoon.”

As they got closer, Evie could see the dark opening to a cave. Perfect!

What they could see of it looked empty, but Evie realised she couldn’t see all the way to the back. It was too dark inside. But anything that was in there would be able to see them perfectly.

“Okay so far,” Bear murmured as he checked the entrance. “But just in case …” He bent down and picked up a stone.

“Are you ready to move away quickly? If there’s a family of lions in there they won’t be happy about being disturbed.” Then he threw the stone at the side of the cave as hard as he could, and shouted, “Ha!”

Nothing happened.

Bear threw a couple more stones. Still nothing.

“If there was anything with teeth and claws in there, it would be out by now,” Bear said. He knelt and prodded the ground. More animal tracks.

“Lions, rhinos … these are all the kinds of visitors we don’t want wandering in while we’re here. We need to build a barrier out of something.”