Botswana is truly big game country and offers magical horseback safaris. The riding is fast and exciting and mostly aimed at experienced riders with many options for non-riders to enjoy their own overlapping itineraries.
We offer riding in three remarkable areas of Botswana - the famous Okavango Delta in the north, the vast Makgadikgadi Pans further south and the Tuli Block beside the great Limpopo River on the eastern border with South Africa. Most are easily combined with a visit to the Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe/Zambia border.
The mighty Okavango River empties into the Kalahari desert and sinks into the ground at the bottom end of the Rift Valley, creating the largest inland delta in the world, the Okavango Delta. This watery paradise in the desert is home to a huge diversity of game and bird species and was never occupied by humans in any significant way. The scenery is as it was 500 years ago. This vast network of water channels and open floodplains form one of the premier wild-life conservation areas in the world. To protect this unique environment the Botswanan government has adopted a policy of minimal infrastructure and limited numbers of visitors. With no roads and lots of water, horses are the ideal way of getting around. Safaris here are expensive, reflecting the very exclusive and luxurious experience.
The Mkgadikgadi Pans change dramatically depending on the season: from November to March the Pans are one of Africa’s largest ephemeral wetlands, drawing huge numbers of game and birds, in particular flamingos and zebra. In November about 55% of all zebra in SE Okavango Delta migrate to the Pans where huge herds remain until March. Then the water all disappears and, from May to September, the Pans turn into a blindingly white desert with the permanent varied game retreating the to the grass islands and easily spotted. This is the time for incredible gallops, including into the night towards a distant campfire with a campout and unrivalled star gazing. An extraordinary experience ideal to combine with a visit to the Okavango Delta particularly in April to September, but a unique habitat well worth a visit in its own right particularly from November to March.
The Tuli Block is totally different, a much drier area with cliffs along the banks of the great Limpopo River and untouched by man. Large herds of elephant roam this area and the "great, green, grey, greasy Limpopo" (in the words of Rudyard Kipling) meanders, where the mighty baobab stands tall and lions and hyena serenade you under the starry African night sky. The riding here is a fast and exciting, a mobile tented safari in the "Land of the Giants".
These rides present some of the best game viewing that Africa has to offer and horseback safaris second to none. Botswana will deliver a horse-riding holiday of a lifetime.
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