Evie hadn’t ever really been a big fan of fruit, and whatever this was didn’t look too great. The skin was dry and tough. But Evie had absolutely no idea what it was meant to look like anyway – perhaps it was delicious inside.

When she had cut enough she climbed back down and gave Bear the knife. She watched as he cut the fruit into chunks. Underneath the skin, the flesh was pale and creamy. It tasted sour, like something between an orange and a lemon, and it made Evie’s mouth twist. But it was surprisingly good and it filled her stomach.

“Eating just fruit will give us the runs,” Bear said. “And that would be really dangerous out here – we’d lose too much fluid. So we need to eat some protein with it.”

Evie assumed it would be more biltong – until Bear started poking around with his knife in the ground beneath the tree. He levered a chunk of earth away to show a bunch of wriggling grubs.

“Result!” Bear picked up a grub between thumb and forefinger. It twisted and wriggled in his grip. It was about as thick as his finger, and its body was made up of white segments, like a cross between a plastic toy and a piece of white chocolate. “Not hairy,” Bear said, studying it. “No dark spots under the skin. So it’s not poisonous. If it’s not poisonous, it’s edible.”

Then, in front of Evie’s amazed eyes, he popped the wriggling grub into his mouth and swallowed it with one gulp.

“The key is to try not to bite them,” he suggested as he held another one out to Evie. “Just get them down whole.”

Evie took the grub reluctantly. Bear really expected her to eat one of these?

Then she remembered the cheetahs.

She was hungry. This was food.

She didn’t have the choice to turn down food that she needed in order to avoid starving.

It wasn’t what Evie would choose for a regular meal. But she wasn’t in a regular place.

She shuddered. She didn’t think she could do it. She watched Bear eat another grub.

“Perfect, huh?” Bear smiled.

Evie always tried to be honest.

“Not really,” she mumbled. “I thought drinking water from elephant poo was weird. But this is something else.”

Bear’s smile grew bigger.

“You’re right,” he agreed, “there’s no such thing as perfect, is there? There’s just stuff you need and stuff you don’t.”

Evie hadn’t thought of it like that.

“I suppose …” Evie was quiet. She pictured all the perfectly good food she had turned her nose up at Camp. “If something’s good for you, why not eat it?” she said slowly. “Like this bug.”

Bear nodded, and tapped his head.

“It’s all up here, sport. If you think about it the right way, every meal can be a feast.”