Escape to Namibia | ||
This article has appeared previously with Equestrian Life. To see what's in our latest digital issue, click here. Almost at the end - time for a photo shoot. Photo supplied.
Escape to NamibiaGalloping 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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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© copyright. Equestrian Life. Monday, 6 May 2024 https://www.equestrianlife.com.au/articles/Escape-to-Namibia |
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