‘‘The Ultimate Safari’’ begins with the narrator’s enigmatic and haunting declaration: ‘‘That night our mother went to the shop and she didn’t come back. Ever.’’ The story is told by a young black Mozambican girl who never learns what happened to her mother or her father, who also vanished one day and never returned. The assumption is that both parents are dead by the time the story takes place; her community is embroiled in war, and their village has been ravaged by ‘‘bandits.’’ These so-called ‘‘bandits’’ are believed to be responsible for her parents’ disappearances, leaving the villagers impoverished and terrified.

The narrative the girl shares is deceptively straightforward: After being stripped of everything by the bandits who repeatedly attacked their village, the girl’s family—her grandmother, grandfather, and older and younger brothers—embarks on a long and grueling journey through Kruger Park. This popular national reserve in northeast South Africa, bordering Mozambique, has long been a tourist hotspot for wealthy foreigners seeking the ultimate African safari experience.

During their trek, the grandfather, reduced to making ‘‘little noises’’ while rocking ‘‘from side to side,’’ wanders off into high grasses and is lost, forcing the family to leave him behind. The young girl describes how little food her family had in the park, despite the tantalizing aromas of campfire grills from the tourists. She even observes that the buzzards have more to eat than the refugees. Eventually, the remaining family members, who remain unnamed throughout the story, are led by the grandmother to a refugee camp where they are allotted space in a tent to live. Here, the grandmother scrapes by carrying bricks while the girl attends school.

At the story’s end, some basic facts about the girl and her family are revealed for the first time when ‘‘some white people’’ visit the camp to film and a reporter interviews the grandmother. We learn that the girl and her family are black, originally from Mozambique, and that their ordeal has spanned nearly three years.

‘‘The Ultimate Safari’’ takes place along the Mozambique–South African border during the 1980s. At this time, Mozambique was governed by a black Marxist regime, while South Africa remained the only African country under the control of its minority white population. The ‘‘bandits’’ mentioned by the narrator are members of Renamo, a rebel group supported by the white South African government. Their objective was to destabilize Mozambique by looting rural villages and inciting civil unrest.

One outcome of these incursions, referred to as ‘‘raids’’ by the narrator, was a mass exodus of poor villagers from Mozambique to refugee camps situated along the border. Many of these refugees spent years in the camps while South Africa maintained its military and economic dominance in the region. Estimates indicate that the civil war, exacerbated by Renamo, resulted in a million deaths in Mozambique alone.

In 1992, with the official end of apartheid and the rise of black political power in South Africa, the destabilizing efforts ceased. However, the region continues to grapple with the aftermath of the prolonged instability.