Safaris and Wilderness Travel
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Wall-to-wall skies, and open plains to gallop across, a guide with acres of experience, and comfortable tented simplicity at the end of the day.
The silence, space and essential-quality of the Magkadikgadi Pan are probably best appreciated either on foot or from the saddle. The sense of wild freedom, warm sun on your back and the crunch of hooves on the salty crust are the things you’re likely to remember when flicking through the pictures later on.
In the capable hands of David Foot, and with reliable steeds, an exploration of the Pan and its palm fringed edges is unique in Africa. Combining permanent tented camps with simple fly-camping, days are spent riding, but also on foot and with the odd game-drive. The wildlife here sparse but special: desert adapted species such as meerkats, brown hyena, giraffe and ostrich are regularly seen. However, the real reason to come here is for big skies, no people, unusual scenery and the most stars you’re ever likely to see in your life.
There can be few more exhilarating feelings than moving with the slow rhythm of a horse’s gait, feeling the sun on your back, surrounded by the sights and smells of the African bush. It’s quite difficult not to get all dreamy-eyed and start waxing all poetic about it; the fact is that exploring Africa’s wild places on horseback is really very romantic, not to mention great fun. Read more?
The Makgadikgadi is a remote and elemental place and one that shows two very distinct and unique faces. For much of the year this is a harsh, dry environment covering some 16,000 sq km and not somewhere you come to see large quantities of animals, rather to experience the intense silence and space on the salt pans and the desert adapted species that manage to make a living in this most marginal of habitats. But in the rains, the pans turn a vibrant green and host one of the continents largest mammal migrations. Read more?
Catherine's long experience of, and enthusiasm for Africa, makes her a mine of travel information. Add to the mix her vivacious character and inscrutable attention to detail and there are few people you'd rather have plan your holiday.
