NO STING IN THIS TALE
After two weeks travelling in the beautiful Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, we got home to Cape Town suburbia and put our feet up. My daughter, who had stayed home to look after the house and dogs, began to unpack our travel crates.
Sitting in the lounge, drinking a cup of coffee, I heard a squeal from the kitchen. “You brought a scorpion home!”
I jumped up and there, in a plastic crate with our leftover food supplies, was a small scorpion.
While in Kgalagadi, we’d searched for scorpions. I’d even bought my husband a scorpion torch to help find them. We hadn’t found a single one. This one had found us. We tipped our little stowaway into a plastic container and added a bit of red Kalahari sand, which I’d also happened to bring back with us. But now what?
I had no idea if this little guy was dangerous or not, or compatible with the local environment, so I didn’t want to release him.
Knowing absolutely nothing about scorpions, I decided to post a picture of him on the Kgalagadi Sightings Facebook page and ask for advice.
Suggestions ranged from “step on him” and “deep fry until crispy” to “freeze and flush” and “encase in resin and make a paperweight”.
Then someone said, “He needs to go home. Find him a ride.” I thought they were joking but I liked the idea.
Brett Ellis, administrator for the page, also liked the idea and put up a new post asking if anyone who was going to Kgalagadi in the near future would consider giving Sting, as he’d by then been named, a lift home.
I thought people would laugh at the idea. Much to my surprise, I had several offers from people who were about to travel from Cape
Town to Kgalagadi.
One person, Dawid Combrinck, was particularly keen to take Sting home. He lived nearby and would be travelling in the next two weeks. Perfect!
A few days later, I delivered Sting — who had now been identified as a Slender Lesser Thick-tail (Uroplectes gracilior) — still in his red sand habitat, to his lift home.
Dawid, a pastor at a local church, continued posting updates of Sting’s adventures, even taking him to church to introduce him to the congregation.
By then, many people were following the story. Brett had another idea. He asked people to consider sponsoring Sting’s 1,100km journey home at 10c per kilometre. The money raised would go to the Meerkat Sanctuary just outside the Twee Rivieren entrance to Kgalagadi. The meerkats might not enjoy this scorpion meal, but they’d benefit from his adventures.
People loved the idea and pledges started coming in. Sting’s story had captured the imagination of the group and Dawid promised to post photos of his release. He also invited anyone who would be in the area on the release day to attend a small release ceremony at Twee Rivieren.
Anne Rasa from Kalahari Trails Nature Reserve and Meerkat Sanctuary accepted the invitation.
On Tuesday August 20, Sting was released back home in the Kalahari! A suitable spot was chosen and a small hole was dug in the sand at the base of a bush. Sting happily scuttled back into his home environment at Twee Rivieren. Mission accomplished!
Postcript: At the time of writing, more than R3,000 has been donated to The Meerkat Sanctuary. The container Sting travelled in was signed by everyone who was at his release and is now being used as a collection box for donations at the sanctuary.
Do you have a funny or quirky story about your travels? Send 600 words to travelmag@sundaytimes.co.za and include a recent photo of yourself.