Back from the Waterberg

In February 1992 I flew to the Waterberg, three hours north of Johannesburg and started writing the letters home that later became the essence of my memoir 'Ride the Wings of Morning'. 

The dream of riding through the game reserves of South Africa has not ended. This March it became a reality for twelve British riders when they took up the challenge of joining me in raising £1,000 each for Save The Waterberg Rhino and local community projects. 

The team was made up of experienced riders and was led by Ant Baber, who appears in the book.

Endless sandy tracks ensured the going was good and the pace was both fast and exhilarating.

The idea was to traverse 175kms  of remote country

while taking the opportunity to learn about rhino conservation and discover more about the Waterberg in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.

If you would like to get involved or find out more The Waterberg Trust have a Facebook page here. Riders are raising sponsorship on Justgiving.com here

Author Sophie Neville riding with rhino, March 2016

Riding at Ant's Nest, a private game reserve in the Waterberg, South Africa

 Riding at Ant's Nest in the Waterberg

Please see the previous post to read more.

Riding at Ant's Nest in the Waterberg, South Africa

What is it about Ant'sNest?  Why would you want to go there? Well...

If you are a rider they have horses. Lovely horses. 

Those that don't ride can have a lot of fun game viewing,

indeed, a very exciting time going out with the game vet.

Whilst they the game scouts are mounted,

the vet flies over the game reserve using a dart gun,

to anesthetize, later tending any injured or sick animals.

Led by knowledgeable game rangers,

the riding can be enjoyed by 

both experienced riders and novices.

We loved the lodge,

ate well, enjoyed the pool

and gathering for afternoon tea.

But what enchanted me most of all were the mongooses.

They have tame ones.

To read more please click here

Riding a horse across Uruguay

'What is there to see in Uruguay?'

Unusual things, unusual animals

with the sweetest ears.

A clutch of eggs laid by the southern rhea, a flightless bird like a small ostrich

and perculiar plants,

all best seen from the back of a horse.

I travelled through Uruguay in December with Ride Worldwide. Click here for details.

Elephant-back Safaris in the Okavango Delta

In 1994 I flew to Maun in Botswana to set up a documentary for the BBC Natural History Unit on the Elephant-back Safaris, which Randall J Moore had recently started to run in the Okavango Delta.

Randall introduced me to his lead elephant, a mature male called Abu, who was highly trained and responsive. An Africa elephant, Abu had been born the Kruger National Park. After the adults in his herd were culled, he had captured as a calf and shipped to a safari park in America. Randall found him in a bad way, living in a barn in an area too cold for his well-being.

Abu was brought back to Africa with two other trained elephants called Cathy and Benny. After looking for a  home first in Kenya and then Knysna in the Cape, Randall brought them to Botswana in 1990. They were joined by Bibi, a trained African elephant from a zoo in Ceylon, and a number of juveniles who helped to make up a small, captive herd.

The documentary, Dawn to Dusk on Safari, presented by the naturalist and wildlife artist Jonathan Scott, was first shown on BBC 1. We'd often see it repeated on television in South Africa.

Abu has sadly died but Cathy and the herd still thrive. You can read more about them on the website for Abu's Camp.

What Ant and Tessa Baber are doing now - two of the characters from 'Ride the Wings of Morning'

Anthony and Tessa Baber, who appear in 'Ride the Wings of Morning' are still running horse safaris in the Waterberg. They have had great success breeding rare species such as Sable Antelope and Livingstone Eland. I was able to take Tamzin out to ride with them for a much needed break from her own livestock. She was thrilled to meet the rhino and was amazed how close Anthony got to them - on foot.

More about the horseback safaris described in 'Ride the Wings of Morning'

~ Horizon Horseback Safaris ~

Let me know if you would like to go on one!

We are hoping to put together a sponsored ride acrtoss the Waterberg in South Africa for a week in 2013 to raise funds for the Waterberg Welfare Society Trust.

for details

e-mail: sophie@sophieneville.co.uk

Pages from a wildlife sketchbook

Watching badgers one evening in the Cotswold hills

while sheep graze

and geese rise from the water meadows in the valley below.

All sketches on the blog are featured in 'Ride the Wings of Morning' and are (c) Sophie Neville. Please contact me if you need to use them on sophie@sophieneville.co.uk

The Otter Sketchbook

Bee the otter testing the water ~ a sketch investigated by Jims

Drawing otters is tricky, firstly because they don't stay still for a moment and secondly because our tame otters are so affectionate and inquisitive that they continually want to see what you are doing. The paw prints on the sketch above are not made with paint but with mud from a wet creature who would have made the paper all soggy, given half a chance.

Our otter Jims was these easiest to draw since he was less energetic than the others. After numerous attempts with a pencil I found it best to sketch in a broad pen when I was with the otters. I'd then go inside and draw with thick ink using a glass tube onto cartridge paper to capture a likeness of character.

This sketch shows thier small partially webbed hands and their tiny ears and thick, rudder-like tail. I forgot the whiskers, which are very important to otters. Like other mammals they need them to estimate their body width so that they do not get stuck going down holes in the river bank.

Mum kept telling me to make the eyes larger and more appealing but it didn't work. They have small eyes. I always know when someone has drawn or sculpted an otter they have not observed well as they get the confirmation wrong. They are often given the legs of a dog - but the are mustelids and have an altogether more primitive structure.

One trick of composition is to make sure that one eye is in the centre of the page. This applies to any portrait. But rules are to be broken. I just keep drawing, keep sketching and painting,

keep observing the animals

despite being interrupted or sidetracked until I have one picture that works - then I print it and sign it, mount it and hang it on the wall.

You can read more about living with otters on ~ http://funnily-enough.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/living-with-otters.html

 All sketches on the blog are featured in 'Ride the Wings of Morning' and are (c) Sophie Neville. Please contact me if you need to use them on sophie@sophieneville.co.uk