Boma Time – African Feast to Remember

Music and dancing around a roaring firepit and dining on African staples served from cast-iron pots define the boma experience at Vumbura Plains Camp in Botswana.

The boma is the enclosure where the open-air, African-style barbecue takes place. What happens inside it is magical.

Before dinner, we watched a story unfold in song and dance. While I'm not sure I caught all of the details, at one point a man dressed in feathers rolls around on the ground and then resurrects himself in jubilant triumph. His performance would make any bird proud – and maybe a little confused.

Enter the firewalkers. Several of the performers showed off their fearlessness, or what I call near insanity, by walking through the fire. Not just once. Some of them took repeat trips through the embers. That’s crazy walk in my book.

After the performance, we dined on oxtail that had been braised all day and finished off the meal with an assortment of desserts.

We're told the boma is scheduled only once a week, so plan your stay accordingly. It's a meal and experience that will stick with you long after the trip.