Horseback adventure in the Okavango Delta of Botswana
“Uuhaa, uuhaa, uuhaa” that was the low guttural sound that awakened us early in the morning as we lay in our camp beds on a cool night in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. I turned to Girdy and said, “did you hear that?” We lay still and heard it again. It started with the low uuhaa, uuhaa, uuhaa, then the low guttural sound went up a few octaves and then into an all-out roar. The King had awakened, and he was letting everyone know he was there. The African lion roaring in the bush leaves a lasting impression on one, especially in the stillness of a dark early morning, sleeping behind a thin layer of olive drab canvas.
We were resting comfortably in our green canvas wall tent in the Macatoo horse camp. It was a luxurious tent that blended seamlessly into the natural surrounds providing an authentic bush haven. As I lay in the coolness of the night listening to the lions, looking through the zippered screen door at the front of the tent, I watched as the sun started to come up over the horizon, casting a yellow/orange hue over the vast swamplands of the Delta that stretched out before us. There was a herd of buffalo feeding out into the grass of the swamp to the left and a hippo making a fuss in the pool to the right front of our deck. As the daylight was breaking I heard the footsteps coming up the path and an African lady showed up on our deck, balancing a tray on her head carrying a pot of French pressed coffee, a pot of tea and English biscuits. She came on the deck and announced herself as she gave us our wake-up call then entered the tent and Girdy and I had tea in bed.
After our morning tea and getting dressed we made our way to the communal area of the camp for breakfast. They had a nice fire going and we had a breakfast prepared of hard-boiled eggs, cereal, oatmeal, with bread that was toasted over an open fire. We sat in the comfortable camp chairs arranged around the fire and had light conversation with the other quests. We had quite an assortment of different nationalities. There were guests from England, Wales, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and Austin Texas. After breakfasting our guide, Chief, took us down to the stables to meet the horses. The horses were mostly Nambian warmbloods of varying color variations and sizes. Gretchen was riding Mokoka, a 14.3 hand dark bay with black mane and I rode Danny, a 16-hand grey horse. We had ridden these same horses the previous afternoon after we first arrived in camp on a Cessna Caravan landing on dirt strip outside the camp. After a short ride to camp in a Toyota Land Cruiser and being greeted by a singing staff we went out for a short afternoon ride soon after arrival and observed a good sampling of wildlife. This morning we went out on a much brisker and longer ride and an English couple Phil and Donna accompanied us with our guide Chief taking the lead and we were followed by another guide, Peck, in our rear. We did a lot of cantering and running on this ride. We observed a wide variety of wildlife. We saw, kudu, red hartebeest, red lechwe, bushbuck, wildebeest, tsessebe, impala, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, reedbuck, baboons, cape buffalo, hippo, crocodile, and elephants on this ride. We ran alongside herds of zebra and wildebeest at full speed. It was exhilarating riding at a gallop across the open planes and swampy grasslands chasing herds of game. We came upon several herds of elephants. We had to approach them carefully. Chief would quietly explain their behavior and how to read the signs of when they were relaxed or alarmed. We had to be careful around the elephants as we did not want to provoke a charge from an alarmed elephant herd. We were also able to ride up close to a group of giraffes and observe them feeding in the bush. It was surreal riding through the vast swathes of Delta that was inaccessible by vehicle and observe large herds of undisturbed animals in their natural habitat.
After riding for a couple of hours we came upon a small hill with a tree and an ancient termite mound next to the tree. Chief had us stop as he rode around the hill and looked around the hill and the termite mound to make sure there were not any lions or a leopard lying in the shade. Once he was satisfied the area was safe we rode into the shade on the side of the hill and tied the horses to some dead fall. Chief pulled the 458 Winchester Magnum bolt action rifle out of his well-oiled scabbard and propped it against a tree that had fallen over and pulled out some apples from his saddle bag so that we could have a snack and rest for a while. After a twenty-minute rest we continued our ride, riding through a lot of water and observing quite a few elephants before heading back to camp around noon. Once back at camp we had lunch and took a siesta during the heat of the day until about 4 pm. We had afternoon tea around the fire from 4 to 4:30 then headed to the stables to be introduced to a fresh pair of horses for the afternoon ride. On the evening ride Gretchen rode a dark bay horse named Zorba and I rode a large bay horse with floppy ears named Hurane. We headed out and soon came across a flooded area where we had to cross and a section of it was deep up to the smaller horses’ bellies. As we started to cross Gretchen’s horse started to paw at the water then proceeded to lay down. I looked over and I saw Gretchen standing in her stirrups, water up to her thighs and only the head of her horse above the water, she was able to get the horse stood back up and moving through the water and managed to stay in the saddle. We continued to ride observing the wildlife and stopping to observe herds of elephants. At one point we came upon a young bull elephant that was standing under a tree by a termite mound. We stopped for a moment to see what he was going to do, and he skipped through all of the warning signs Chief had briefed us on and went straight to the charge. Everyone behind Chief did a 180 on their horses and we followed Peck out and Chief stood the ground with the young bull and was able to back him off his charge then we continued our ride. We managed the rest of the ride with no elephant charges or swimming with the horses and headed back to camp just as the sun was setting. The African sunset are spectacular as the sun turns a blood orange color and is breathtaking.
Once back in camp we freshened up then went out to the fire behind the communal area and had cocktails and conversation with the other guests before being served dinner under the stars on a table with white tablecloth. We had pumpkin soup, Kudu fillet, and an assortment of vegetables served with wine. After dinner we sat by the fire for more cocktails and conversation, and I had a nice smoke with my pipe under the clear African sky. That night we slept very soundly because we were worn out and sore from the riding.
The next morning Gretchen and I decided to take a break from the horseback riding as we were still a little sore from the previous days’ rides. We opted to go out in the Land Cruiser with Tsabo as our guide and do wildlife viewing from the vehicle. We had a very nice morning getting to view a large amount of wildlife. We found a waterhole with a pod of hippos in it and watched it for a while. I brought my binoculars and big camera along. It was nice being able to go out in the vehicle and take some pictures. Horse back riding is great for wildlife viewing; however, it is not conducive to carrying a lot of camera gear and binoculars, so I was anxious to be able to photograph some of the beautiful wildlife. We rode over a wooden bridge made of logs and I was able to get some excellent photos of cape buffalo feeding out in the Delta. At one point we took a break in the shade of a huge ancient Baobab tree. Tsabo said the tree was over a thousand years old. There was an old bleached out buffalo skull under the tree and it was interesting observing it and I took a picture of Gretchen holding it up. It was very heavy with the horns, and she had a hard time holding it up. Tsabo said he knew where there were the remains of an old bull elephant that died in the last drought, and he took us up to the site. There were bones scattered about and a set of large tusks that were bleached from the sun. We looked at the remains and made pictures with the tusks. Tsabo showed us the skull and pointed out the spongy looking bone mass in the skull and he told is that only the elephant skull was like this and the reason is the skull would be too heavy otherwise for him to hold his head up. We found that interesting.
After about noon we headed back to camp to have the afternoon siesta. We spent part of this time out on the deck by the plunge pool in the shade overlooking the Delta and watched elephants and hippos.
At four we had our afternoon tea then we went out for another afternoon ride. In the afternoon ride we rode the same horses as from the previous afternoon. This time we had more riders. A family from England were riding with us and a young French girl. We had a nice easy paced ride, and we were able to ride right up on some Hyenas that were lying in the tall grass. They did not seem to be too bothered by us. They eventually got up from there resting place and slumbered across the grassy delta. We rode by and observed the herds of zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and elephants and on the way back to camp we saw one of the best sunsets I saw on our whole trip and I was able to get some excellent photos.
This was the last ride for this part of the trip. We had another relaxing evening at camp with lots of laughter and fellowship with our fellow guests and I enjoyed being around the campfire. I have never known the kind of contentment as I do when sitting around the campfire after a long day of adventure with a nice bourbon or scotch in hand, the earthy, nutty fragrance of a good cigar wafering in the air and participating in the laughter and good conversation of company I have had the shared experience with. These are the times I most cherish in my life.
