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Okavango Horse Safaris Celebrates 20 years (1986 - 2006) We take great pleasure in introducing our honorable guests and friends to all OHS travelers in 2006. Each has made their own mark in Africa and wild life and each has contributed to make OHS what it is today'. Nina and Brad Bestelink April 9 - 19 2006 In 2006 Nina will be returning to OHS from Texas USA. Nina would have
spent 2 years in Texas teaching riding English style and earning a hard
riding reputation on the polocrosse field. We all look forward to her input
and cheerfulness in the coming year. Apart from Nina's exceptional guiding
skills on horseback, she specializes in the Little Five, who are so frequently
overlooked but play such an important part in the environment. Brad and Andy and their confident team have taken over Nxamaseri Island
lodge ( the Bestelinks original family home) and are excited about its
potential. In addition to an exceptional fly - fishing and birding venue,
Nxamaseri will be involving the community in developing the area.A special
point of attraction will be focusing on San culture in conjunction with
guided trips to the sacred Tsodilo Hills. Have a look at their web-sight,
nxamaseri.com. Japie and Magda sourced our first horses for OHS in 1985.Being reasonably
adventurous they decided to join us on our proposed 300 km ride Maun to
Guma. It was our first taste of what the next 20 years was going to offer.
What a wake up call!!! This was the start of OHS and a subsequent friendship,
which has endured some unusual working problems like importing and transporting
Arabs, Boerperds, American Saddlebreds, and Thoroughbreds over some incredibly
rough country and putting up our first horse barn in an area totally devoid
of any roads and tracks. We first met Beverly and Peter Pickford at Nxamaseri in the mid 80's where they were working on a book called "Fresh water fishing in southern Africa". Since he could actually hold a fly rod without breaking it a lasting friendship was formed. Bev and Peter really enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the Okavango it was not long before they joined us on the very first horse safaris. In the ensuing years they have built up an exceptional reputation as wild life photographers and photojournalists, in particular The Miracle Rivers and their latest publication, their eights book, "Forever Africa." Their regard for our environment, and the effort put into their publications make us proud to be their friends. It has been with the support of Bev and Peter and other friends which have made the last 20 years a life times experience one would not hesitate to repeat. Garth Thompson. Nov 3 - 13th 2006 Garths first introduction to OHS was through his love for horses. He has been very instrumental in our selection of thoroughbreds from Zimbabwe. Over the last 20 years we have imported 50 thoroughbreds from Zimbabwe, which would have been impossible without his help.Garth is well known for being one of Zimbabwe s top guides. During 2001 he wrote and published a book called "The guides guide to guiding". This book was well received, is used as a training manual for professional guides and can be applied to all walks of life, not only guiding. His knowledge and enthusiasm for Africa and her wildlife is infectious and gives all around him a joy in life. He has passed on this gift to his daughter Dani who will be joining us over his safari. Garth is a skilled photographer and will be giving slide presentations during his stay. This will include "The Pyramid of life" "Life of Elephant" and presentations on various destinations that Garth has traveled and guided, from Timbuctu to Antarctica. Ian Michler Nov 16 - 21st 2006 Ian, a stockbroker by profession, left the world of finance in 1989 to go to live and work in the Okavango Delta. He has 15 years of guiding experience, mostly in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania conducting big game, birding. Mountain trekking, adventure and photographic safaris. When not on safari, he works as a photojournalist, writing on conservation, wildlife and travel issues, predominately for the magazines Africa Geographic and Africa Birds and Birding. He also works as a researcher and field co-coordinator on natural history television documentaries. His work takes him to Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda, where he has traveled extensively. Ian has four coffee table styled books to his credit: This is Mozambique, Mozambique - A visual souvenir, Botswana - An insiders Guide and Zanzibar - A Insiders Guide. He is a past category winner in the Agfa Wildlife Photographic Awards. Presently Ian is a partner in the safari travel company called Invent Africa, and is working on his fifth book, which is due out March 2006. Ian does specialized birding safaris and will be continuing on to Nxamaseri Island Lodge November 22 -24 should anyone be interested in adding this on at the end of their horse safari. OKAVANGO EXPEDITION October 11 - 21 2006 This is a new ride first done in October 2005. It can only be done once a year when conditions are prime, and water levels dropping. Due to a movement on the Kunyere faul in the Okavango Delta, a large amount of the flood waters are flowing down the Xene and Matsebi channels toward lake Ngami. This expedition explores these river system in the 2,500 sq klm we operate in. The expedition will move camp every 2 nights and explore 4 different areas. The ride will start at Kujwana (Base) camp for the first 2 nights. It will continue to Matsebi (south), then Moklowane (north), then east to Kiri , and swinging south to Leopard pan and finally west returning to Kujwana on the last night. All movement between camps will be full day rides, with vehicle support where possible. A large team of horses will be necessary to complete this ride as we will be covering a distance of 250 km though some of the most stunning areas in the Okavango delta. COST FOR THE OKAVANGO EXPEDITION Okavango Horse Safaris Private Bag 23 Maun Botswana. Phone Botswana (267) 686 1671 Fax (267) 686 1672. e-Mail: safaris@okavangohorse.com.
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