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Horse riding
Gaborone – Looking up from my pillow I can see stars twinkling through the branches of a giant mashatu tree that’s our guardian for the night. There were monkeys up there earlier and I do hope they’ve moved off – I fear for my crisp white linen…
Who says sleeping out in the bush needs to be rough?
Whether it’s at the lodge or camping in the wild, Mashatu Game Reserve, in Botswana’s Tuli area in the south-east, adds a layer of luxury to everything it does. But that’s not what this story is about.
If you absolutely loathe (but also if you love) going to the gym, Mashatu offers an alternative that doesn’t involve treadmills and loud pumping music.
The “circuit” includes game-viewing bush walks, back-to-nature mountain biking and free-spirited horse riding. And instead of a trainer barking orders, the thought of lions provides all the motivation you need to keep moving.
A baby African elephant spotted among the huge herd.
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The walking safari
“Breeding herds of elephants may respond in a… non-positive manner,” said guide Stuart Quinn, whose joy at his job can’t be dimmed by the threat of a lethal pachyderm. “But we have the upper hand, due to the surprise elephant, I mean element!”
Stuart’s safety briefing was reassuring, but I resolved to keep my eye out for the surprise elephant anyway, just in case.
Ahead were two days and nights of walking through Mashatu’s diverse terrain, guided by Stuart and tracker Johannes Moshaba who, at 76, had more energy – and knowledge – than the rest of us combined.
Our first afternoon’s walk broke us in gently. I love a game drive, but actually being on foot, hearing the birds or the thudding hooves of a herd of eland – instead of an engine – delivers a powerful sense of connection. “When we’re out walking, it’s about therapy,” said Stuart. “It’s about smelling it, feeling it.”
Later, as the sun sank behind a ridge, we ambled into a copse of trees to find an angel, offering gins and tonic. A circle of chairs around a large campfire, a table set for dinner, the promise of a hot bucket shower to ease that delicious feeling of well-earned fatigue – those are the ingredients Stuart’s wife, Annelien, brings to the safari.
Paths lit with romantic paraffin lamps led to a loo-with-a-view and our private tents, and we slept to a soundtrack of distant trumpeting elephants.
Our walk over the following days threaded together a string of brilliant experiences. A gentle climb through rocky gullies gave us a brief glimpse of a shaggy brown hyena before we stumbled upon its boneyard. The cave entrance was strewn with skulls, horns and all manner of bones brought to feed the pups inside.
Eventually we emerged on top of a massive buttress overlooking the wide, almost dry bed of the Motloutse River, where single-file dots below became zebras and wildebeest heading for pools of water.
The walk down took in overhangs with rock art and pottery fragments, even grinding stones, but an even more impressive hint at earlier residents was to come later.
At one point Johannes picked up lion spoor. As adrenaline surged through the group, he and Stuart slipped instantly into stealth mode, creeping forward and communicating only with hand gestures and quiet clicks.
We didn’t find the lions, but I suspect only because we ran out of time.
Massive herds
The elephants of surprise had so far also been elusive, but at last we saw them – a massive herd of around 80 gathered in the river bed, jostling for position in the pools.
We watched comfortably from the bank, camouflaged in the shade of a tree as this real-life, big-screen documentary unfolded before us.
Smaller herds still streamed out of the trees on the opposite bank, the youngsters sprinting across the sand to join what looked like an immense family reunion.
Then one group splintered off to our other side. Outflanked, we withdrew quietly, finally surprised.
Walking with purpose from camp to camp – instead of wandering around and then back to your base – gives you a sense of achievement.
Giant mashatu
Annalien’s magic of great food, piping-hot showers and soft white bedding this time was served at the kgotla, a circle of protective leadwood stumps, within which we slept on cots under the stars and a giant mashatu tree.
If that didn’t sufficiently up the wow factor, our final night’s sundowners did.
Racing against the sun, we climbed another rock buttress to reach Mmamagwe Ruins, a 900 CE site linked to South Africa’s Mapungubwe kingdom.
An unlikely baobab clings to the rocks right at the top, presiding over MMBA – “miles and miles of bloody Africa” – as they say at Mashatu.
Here’s where ancient and colonial histories merge: rocky walls built by Stone Age people, and Cecil John Rhodes’s initials carved into the baobab, on his quest for a Cape to Cairo thoroughfare.
While we sat there, imagining the busyness these hills had seen, Africa did what it’s done for all time – presented yet another beautiful sunset silhouetting the magnificent baobab.
Even if it was arguably improved by a human-made glass of chilled chardonnay.
The mountain biking
Those canters with Mercury were my undoing. After not riding for years, two hours aboard Mercury left my rear issuing a decree: no more saddles.
So although I was scheduled for a mountain bike ride in the morning, the plan changed to a game drive (with padded seats, thank goodness).
Mercury was the slightly alarming name of my horse, when I was hoping for a more plodding Pluto perhaps. After gearing up with chaps and a riding hat, and a short getting-to-know-you trot around a paddock, we ambled out into the reserve, the late afternoon sun making long shadows on the veld.
We got very close to giraffe and wildebeest, which were watchful, but not alarmed. Instead of running, as they might have if we’d been in a vehicle or on foot, they were happy to stare as curiously as we stared at them. It was gentle – it felt like we were all sharing their wild space, rather than intruding upon it.
It’s beautiful there – a bushy landscape punctuated with massive mashatu trees, and the occasional marshy area, quite dry at this time of year. In between are open areas that beg for a gallop. With guides West Manoko and David Cheno, we had exhilarating races across the veld, tearing past thorn bushes and trees. Mercury graciously gave me control when I felt he was going too fast, even though we both knew who was actually in control. – Saturday Star
Mashatu Game Reserve, 011 442 2267 or 0861 SAFARI, or e-mail reservations@malamala.com
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Article source: http://www.iol.co.za/travel/world/africa/safari-therapy-does-the-trick-1.1590414