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Almost at the end - time for a photo shoot.

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Escape to Namibia

Galloping through a spellbinding landscape alongside herds of zebra and oryx and sleeping under a star-filled sky are sure to put this ride at the very top of your dream holiday list.

BY ROSIE MERRIN

For many horse enthusiasts, the frantic pace of modern life places too many obstacles in the way of our dream of riding off into the sunset. Even when we do squeeze in time with our horse, chances are we’ll be distracted by the mobile phone in our pocket or the realisation that we are running late for an appointment.

Imagine then, what it would be like to spend eight days riding across one of the most remote deserts on earth with no commitments other than the daily rhythm of taking care of your horse and reflecting on the great expanse of nothingness that surrounds you.  Horsewoman Marie-Louise Ageis has just returned from the ride of a lifetime in Namibia’s hauntingly beautiful Namib Desert.

Namibia is probably not the African country people first associate with riding safaris, as the popularity of rides in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and across Kenya has long been established. The Namibia Horse Safari Company were the first to pioneer a route across the Southern Namib Desert and much of the 360km ride towards the Skeleton Coast is still relatively uncharted territory.

The company runs 10 rides a year, one of which is an exploratory ride to pioneer new routes. The rides can be challenging and riders need to feel secure at all paces. Most of the camps are wild and remote, and with long days in the saddle it is not the place for a novice.  However, experienced riders can have confidence in the quality of the horses provided. The mixed herd, derived from many breeds including Arab, Haflinger, Trakehner, Nooidgedacht and Boerperd, are raised on rough desert terrain ensuring that they are surefooted and tough.  Lead guide and expert horseman Andrew Gillies trains all the horses from a young age and takes pride in ensuring that they are all fit, healthy, good-natured and well suited to their riders.

Riders are encouraged to take care of their own horse while on the safari. As Marie-Louise explains, the routine of feeding, watering and grooming your horse is a daily rhythm that is easy to fall into and an enjoyable way to bond with your horse: “something not to be underestimated given the journey you go on together”.

EQ LIFE: YOU HAVE RIDDEN A LOT IN AFRICA. HOW DIFFERENT WAS THIS RIDE FROM OTHER SAFARIS?

MARIE-LOUISE: I was lucky enough to work on riding safaris in Kenya when I was 18. It was there that I developed a deeper understanding of just how special it is to see a country and its wildlife from horseback. I have since ridden more in Kenya and in Botswana. I think my Namibia trip, more than any of the others, was different and extraordinary in its remoteness. There was nobody out there in the desert, just us and our amazing back-up team. There are no other commercial outfits taking people on sightseeing or tourism trips, so you don’t see another living soul and that is extremely unusual. In Kenya or Botswana you don’t feel so isolated or far from civilisation. You will undoubtedly see more game in these countries, but the landscape isn’t as spellbinding. The scale of the desert, the colours, the geology, the sense of nothingness is hard to describe, but truly magic. We were guided by Andrew Gillies, who co-owns the company and has a lifetime of experience. He was charming, patient, knowledgeable and great fun. Despite having worked and lived in Africa and having ridden a lot in the country, I still learnt masses of new things about the environment and the animals that I thought I was familiar with.

EQ LIFE: CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE LANDSCAPE?

MARIE-LOUISE: It is simply extraordinary! Wild, barren, vast, with uninterrupted views as far as the eye can see. The geology is varied and changes from granite, to calcrete, to quartz, sandstone and vast sandy plains as you get closer to the Skeleton Coast. Because it is so inhospitable, there are no signs of any human civilisation, no villages, cattle, herds or tribesmen, just the wilderness of the Namibian desert.  The most surprising element of the trip was that, despite the country suffering an extreme drought, (they haven't had their annual rains for over two years) about a month before we arrived they had 20mm of rain and as a consequence the desert had come alive with a carpet of tiny little flowers. It was simply amazing.  During our crossing of an extreme rocky gorge, the Kuiseb, the overwhelming sense (apart from vertigo!) was the scent of honey from the nectar of all the little flowers.

EQ LIFE: WHAT KIND OF WILDLIFE DID YOU ENCOUNTER?

MARIE-LOUISE: We saw a good number of oryx and mountain zebra, some ostrich, a black-backed jackal, ground squirrels, springbok, and we saw the tracks of giraffe. It is a tough environment for any animal and those that are there have naturally adapted to allow them to survive in such inhospitable conditions.

EQ LIFE: HOW WAS THE FOOD AND ACCOMODATION?

MARIE-LOUISE: Out on safari we slept on camp beds with a bed-roll, no tent, just under the stars. We were looked after by a magnificent cook called Vincent, and by Phoebe, an Australian, who produced a number of her specialties (when she wasn't driving the truck, looking after the horses or generally looking after anything and everything with the rest of her back-up team). They whipped up delicious dinners from a small kitchen cart that had four gas hobs, and by using the fire with some large cast-iron pots and pans for everything from stews to bread. It takes real skill to plan and cater for such a trip and they are clearly professionals, as it was superb.

EQ LIFE: WHAT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT?

MARIE-LOUISE: Where to start, where to stop! I think the whole trip was one long, eight-day memory of sensory experiences. From galloping across the grassy plains with a herd of oryx and zebra beside us, to the extreme descent and ascent of the rocky terrain of the Kuiseb Gorge, where the burning smell of the horses’ hooves on the rocks reminded you how wild the terrain was; the endless carpets of little pink and yellow and purple flowers that danced and caught the light. The flat-out gallops into the setting sun with our dust trails catching the light like we were in a western movie; to the endless, extraordinary, different and varying landscapes of the Namibian desert that changed throughout each day providing awe-inspiring scenery to ride through, and eventually falling asleep at the end of each day under the uninterrupted, star-filled, moonlit night sky.

Marie-Louise booked her riding safari through Sally and Alice Travel Co (www.sallyandalice.com) who specialise in luxury safaris and holidays to Africa and the Indian Ocean.

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