Latest News - MID-YEAR 2011
Hi Everyone!
Winter
seems to be coming to an end here in Botswana-nights are still chilly
but days are warm and sunny with stunning sunsets over the dusty
Savannah. The weather could not be more perfect for horse riding and
there is nothing better than sitting around the campfire after a
glorious day spent in the saddle.
Sightings
have been varied and some of the highlights include an aardwolf, very
rare to see. Also a lovely sighting of a dark chanting goshawk
catching a dove right above the riders and some lovely leopard
sightings from horseback, one crossing the dry Pitsani riverbed it
then let the riders get within 30 yards of it to get a good look,
another excellent sighting from horseback of a leopard on a kill in a
big Mashatu tree. On one of our game drives we encountered a small
herd of elephants with a new born calf – kindly the mother,
siblings and aunties let us have a good look before bustling the
little one-still very unsure on his feet- back into their middle
again. Two young male lions have moved into the Mashatu area and have
kept guests, staff and horses alike awake at night a couple of times
with announcing their presence roaring loudly trough out the night.
Thanks to
Cor, West and David being such responsible guides determined not to
disturbed the wildlife, we are having increasingly good sightings of
most species in the reserve- In the past it used to be fairly
difficult to get close to Zebras and Giraffe and recently we have had
some very relaxed sightings this year. Zebras- notoriously for
turning their stripy bottoms on tourists-seem to get more and more
interested in their domesticated relatives. At Kgotla camp we have
even seen three of the elusive bush pigs on the two last Tuli
Safaris!
We
have had two new additions to our barn early this year- Don Pedro a 7
year old, 17 hands TB/ Boerperd cross has already proved to be a
superb safari horse and is very popular both with staff and guests.
Tall, dark and handsome he takes it all in his-rather long-stride and
is not phased by much. (Pictured above behind Cor on Harvey)
Our other
newcomer is the 5 year old, 16 hand Namibian Warmblood Angelo whom
especially Louise and Saskia are thrilled to have-he unfortunately
had a severe case of African horse sickness in June, this had a knock
on effect of also resulting in chock and thus he had a really hard
month but miraculously pulled through it and is now on the road to
recovery.
We sold
Courtney, one of the LVHS veterans to the manager of a neighboring
Pitsani game reserve along with our little boerperd Max. Courtney
also known as “Mmushi’s red Machine” was starting
to find the Safari work a little bit tiring and we are very happy he
has found such a lovely home close to us where he still goes out on
little hacks and has got three other horses to boss around and teach
them the bush horse ropes.
Very
sadly we had to put down the lovely Maru a Pula due to a fractured
front leg, which he did overnight in the stable nobody knows how….He
will be sorely missed by both staff and guests.
Jamie
and Adam are true bush babies and are both equally adored by their
parents and staff! Jamie-now 3 years old- already knows about half of
the horses in the barn by name and does enjoy the odd little ride in
the saddle with Cor, Louise or Saskia .. Adorable Adam is almost a
year old now and seems to be growing by the day and is almost
walking! Very friendly and laid back he shows great determination
achieving his goals- be it food or places he wants to go. He even has
been on a horse once or twice and rewarded us with a big smile on his
face. (Pictured here whilst on holiday in July)
Louise had
planned to attend the Nissan Easter show representing Botswana on the
team Dressage over the Easter holiday but was sorely disappointed by
the Limpopo River Flooding! Although we toyed with the idea of
swimming the horses across to the South African side we had to
abandon the plan after all, as the river was just too full of water
–and crocodiles!
Louise
with one of the guides is hoping to attend the FEI World dressage
challenge in Gaborone /Botswana in mid September. Just for fun we
have printed out various dressage tests and will hold a couple of
competitions for staff here at LVHS.
For those
of you who know the American TV program Equitrekking you can watch
Darley joining Cor on safari! Darley and her crew spent a few days
with us here in Mashatu in July and she rode our fabulous horse
Frank, who as per usual behaved like a perfect gentleman. All members
of the film crew –used to work with trail horses all over the
world- were impressed by how professional all of our horses behaved
on set! We are all looking forward to seeing the episode when it s on
show. Check out http://www.equitrekking.com/video/preview/ for further information on the Equitrekking program.
Cor
rode as a guide for the Children in the Wilderness, Tour de
Tuli cycle race,
which is charity raising money to take underprivileged kids into
wilderness areas to educate them on conservation issues etc..- Mpho,
Saskia and our current volunteer Katharina were helping out as
mounted elephant patrol on Tugela, Maz and Frank to ensure none of
the Tour de Tuli participants would run into trouble with the
sometimes not so gentle Jumbos! Many a bike was offered in exchange
for a horse that day!
We
are trying something new this year….as we have had much
success with our Limpopo Lodge ride we have two dates for Christmas
and New Year for 2011, with most of the lodges having pools guests
will be able to cool of during the midday and still be able to enjoy
the lush vegetation and all the young babies on rides..
Cor will
be attending both Burghley and Blenheim this September and looks
forward to seeing both new and old faces..
We hope
all of you are having an excellent year so far and hope to see at
least some of you again with us here at LVHS…
All the
best,
Cor, Louise and THE LVHS TEAM!
