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Ants lodges, Horse riding holidays, Cross the Wild, Wild Waterberg Trail

Saddling Up for the Wild Waterberg Trail

By Horses, The Ant's Experience
[:en]The Wild Waterberg Trail is not called wild for no reason. A custom riding holiday designed by Cross the Wild journeys through The Ant Collection, taking you across the Waterberg bushveld, riding alongside its wildest residents and Ants’ rhinos in the day and bedding down under the stars at night.

This year guides Ant and Amanda joined friends Em and Tea from Cross the Wild, along with four of their guests who were ready for an adventure in the great South African outdoors. The group saddled up and headed out from Ants, returning four days later with a bunch of special memories.

Ants lodges, Horse riding holidays, Cross the Wild, Wild Waterberg Trail

© Cross the Wild

Day 1: Racing against rhinos

While making friends with the Ants’ horses on a relaxed afternoon ride, the guests met buffalo, zebra and wildebeest. The rhinos were clearly up for a race and beat the riders to the sundowner spot. In fact, four of the younger and particularly energetic rhinos turned up before the riders got there and had a sundowner without them!

Ants lodges, Horse riding holidays, Cross the Wild, Wild Waterberg Trail

© Cross the Wild

Day 2: Swimming with horses

The first full day of riding clocked over 30km and ended up being a somewhat watery affair. The midday dip in the dam was well-deserved for both the riders and their horses. While the riders relaxed and tucked into a much-needed bush lunch, their four-legged companions enjoyed the time to rest and graze. They were even treated to a visit by Congo, the dominant male rhino.

Ants lodges, Horse riding holidays, Cross the Wild, Wild Waterberg Trail

© Cross the Wild

Later that afternoon, the heavens opened, sending the riders and horses galloping towards the warmth and dry of the day’s final destination, The Shack. To the delight of all, there waiting for them were a fire, freshly baked lasagna and ready-made bed rolls.

Ants lodges, Horse riding holidays, Cross the Wild, Wild Waterberg Trail

© Cross the Wild

Day 3: Sleeping beneath the stars

After a very grey and misty start to the morning, the group got up to a steady gallop towards the local restaurant, Lekhalo, in the first game reserve of the day. After the day’s riding and a late lunch, the group had clocked around 35km over three different reserves that had shown off the Waterberg’s beautifully diverse topography.

Waterberg bush camping

© Cross the Wild

Camp that night was set up along the river in Nyati Wilderness Reserve, where the riders enjoyed a hearty braai and bedded down in bedrolls laid out under the stars. Falling asleep beneath the milky way to the sounds of the river and surrounding bush at night, and without any rain in sight, set the scene for a good night’s sleep.

Waterberg bush camping

© Cross the Wild

Day 4: Toasting to an unforgettable ride

After packing up camp in the morning, the riders readied their horses for the last leg of their journey. Another 30km of riding and a stop at Lekhalo for delicious burgers (the best in Waterberg!) had all riders and horses arrive at the final sundowner spot, the Ants’ airstrip for champagne and snacks to nibble on.

Ants lodges, Horse riding holidays, Cross the Wild, Wild Waterberg Trail

© Cross the Wild

Day 5: Saying goodbyes – until next time!

An early morning ride took the group up the mountain for breakfast with a view and a special time for the riders to say goodbye to their horses. It was the perfect way to end the trail, reflecting on the highlights of the over 120kms they all travelled together across the wild and wonderful Waterberg.

Ants lodges, Horse riding holidays, Cross the Wild, Wild Waterberg Trail

© Cross the Wild

Contact us to be kept in the loop about our horse riding holidays and other safari experiences at Ants.[:de]The Wild Waterberg Trail is not called wild for no reason. One of our favourite customized horse-riding holidays, it takes you across the Waterberg bushveld, riding alongside its wildest residents and Ants’ rhinos in the day and bedding down under the stars at night.
This year, Ant and Amanda guided a group of four guests and two of friends from Cross the Wild, who were all ready for an adventure in the great South African outdoors. The group saddled up and headed out from Ants, returning four days later with a bunch of special memories.[:]

New Kids on the Block at Ants

By Horses, Rhinos
[:en]

As the lockdown continues in South Africa, we find ourselves missing our guests more and more with each day.

Luckily, life in the bush is never boring and there’s always something going on to distract us.  We are still eagerly awaiting the moment when we can reopen our doors and welcome guests back, but while we wait for that day to arrive, we’ll continue to share with you what has been happening in the reserve.

We have had two new and exciting additions join the Ants family recently!

Firstly, Sophie the Rhino gave birth to a healthy bull calf, Dinka, about 3 weeks ago. This is great news for our rhino herd, and the team, especially after having lost two of our eldest rhino’s (Erwin and Skewhorn) during this lockdown period. It has been great welcoming this new little chap into the world. Sophie is still keeping him well protected from the other rhinos and us, so it can be tricky to get a sneak peek, but both are doing very well.

Secondly, a new project we are quite excited about, is breeding some of the best safari horses in South Africa. Our first arrival was on 12 July, a little filly foal born from Lydia, who was born and bred at Ants, and Pemba, the sire, also born here and only turns 3 years old in August. The little foal is a Warmblood x Friesian x Boerperd. With those good genes, we’re certain she’s going to make the perfect safari horse!

We now suspect Pemba managed to cover a few more mares while he was running with the herd, before he was separated and put in a separate area, so watch this space. We now have two lovely thoroughbred mares in with him who we are hoping will produce some beautiful foals next year. This is a very exciting project for us and in a few years from now, we hope to have our own string of well-bred and adapted safari horses.

Buffalo Abound

With over 70 buffalo in our main herd on the reserve and our breeding project doing so well in producing new genetics, it has come a time where we need to sell a number of cows and bulls to continue to diversify the gene pool. We are selling 16 buffalo to a neighbouring reserve who are looking to expand their genetics.

The capture and relocation of these incredible animals is no small task and will take place over a weeklong period in July. All hands will be on deck/on horseback and vehicles to safely dart, load, and move the buffalo into a boma where they will be tested for the 4 diseases (foot and mouth, brucelliosis, Corridor disease and TB) to ensure they are disease-free before moving them to their new home.

They will stay in the boma for a quarantine period before having to dart them again and relocate them. It will be like a mini game census, which seeing as Game Census 2020 had to be cancelled due to COVID 19, the staff are quite excited to take part in it and it will be good practice so we are ready for Game Census 2021!

Find out more about our annual Game Census that guests can partake in here: https://waterberg.net/safari-experiences/#census[:]