Milko Conte, tall, dark and Italian, owns and runs a chic little trattoria near Umhlanga, with a lamb shank that could make grown men weep and pizzas with a perfect crust.

Conte literally emerged from the bush to start Caffe Italia. For 10 years prior he was a field guide, mostly in the Botswana, exposing Italian tourists to the wonders of Africa. Botswana is Conte's idea of paradise. Its parks offer the most expensive camping in Africa (for some campsites, $50 per person per day, excluding park fees is not unusual) but in return visitors get the unique experience of being almost the only humans in this magnificent semi-desert.

Conte, responsible for feeding as well as guiding, educating and protecting his guests, remembers an evening when he served his "chicken cooked in beer" - one of the most popular of his bush repertoire.

He had taken a pair of Italian honeymooners to Botswana's Kgalagadi Park. The campsite, built around a massive flat, white, mineral salt pan, was a seven-hour drive through thick sand from the closest petrol pump. The nearest neighbours were at the pan's only other campsite, 1km away. Water for the wildlife, says Conte, is often pumped into some of the pans, but the animals have figured out that the water from the showers at the campsites, pumped from underground springs, is infinitely fresher and tastier. It's not odd, therefore, to see brown hyenas creeping into camp and drinking from the runoff.

Conte and the couple had spent the afternoon looking for the black-maned Kalahari lion, to no avail. Disappointed and hot, they returned to camp to grab a quick shower before darkness fell and Conte started the fire for his chicken-in-beer dish. He turned around to grab some ingredients and saw a lioness and a couple of youngsters sauntering past, less than 10m behind him. "I realised they were actually on their way out," says Conte. "They had been to the showers, had a drink and were calmly leaving the camp. 'Look, lions!' I told the Italians. They almost crapped themselves."

The next morning, they drove out of the camp and almost into the entire pride. Lions very seldom come into the campsites, says Conte, but if they do it's out of curiosity. "To my knowledge, there has never been a lion attack inside a camp."

It's been exactly a year since Conte was last in Botswana and he is now organising a trip for August. "I'm getting itchy," he says, "I need to get back."

• Contact Conte on 0315725670.

. Send us your best campfire cooking story, with the recipe and a picture and you could win R500. E-mail travelmag@sundaytimes.co.za .

CONTE'S CHICKEN COOKED IN BEER (Serves 3) 

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves fresh garlic
• Dried Italian herbs
• Chicken pieces (3 breasts, 3 thighs)
• Chicken spice
• 3 potatoes, chopped
• 200g button mushrooms, chopped
• 1 can mixed vegetables
• 500ml beer

Method:

Put the olive oil in a potjie, which has been heated over the coals.

Chop up the onion and garlic and add it to the potjie.

Let it simmer gently and add the herbs.

Add the chicken and spice and let it brown for about 10 minutes.

Pour about 350ml of beer into the pot and drink the rest.

Allow to cook for a further 10 minutes.

Add potatoes, mushrooms and canned veggies and cook for around 30 minutes.

You will find that the beer soaks into the potato and chicken and makes the stew hearty and dense. If the flavours are too concentrated, add water.

Serve with rice.