Ranching in the Great Karoo
When I feel overwhelmed, my flight instinct takes over and I often search for meaning and turn to adventure. Daily chores, work and life sometimes catch up with us and we realise we need a reset. I remember scrolling through Instagram on such a day, seeing a bunch of people in what looks like a Westen Movie, on horses in the wild. Surprisingly, it was in the Karoo about 800km from where we stayed. I remember the excitement. And a new name appeared on my bucket list: Karoo Ranching.
I convinced my husband to do it with me, and after 6 lessons at our local equestrian school, he was able, lol! We set off on a great adventure into the Great Karoo.
Our first stop over was at Kuilfontein Stable Cottages in Colesberg, I booked it via their website and thought it was quite suited to our Horse riding adventure, staying over in a stable cottage.We where welcomed by the owner Penny, and we where quite astonished by the history of this piece of land. A lioness moved into the property once and lived in the house after attacking the owner. Luckily he survived and the lioness had to move out. More stories are of the Anglo war and how part of the battle happened right from the house. Penny’s family moved out during the war, but eventually returned. She and her hubby now run a cattle farm and the guesthouse from this historic piece of land.
Our comfy cottage was warm, stylish and had the perfect stoep, for morning coffee and daydreaming. We where blessed with some morning rain, that apparently does not happen often in this part of the world. My favourite part of our whole stay was the food, a traditional Karoo Lamb dish for dinner with South African red wine.
Kuilfontein Stables - Colesberg
Karoo Road-trip
The next day we where off to Graaf Reinet about 200km further. We arrived at the Elandskloof farm. A family owned farm since 1898, run by 6th generation rancher, Julie Hobson. Their values, similar to ours; being kind to the environment, looking after the land and it will look after you, well-being of their animals and kindness to people. These new generation farmers, spoke our language and we felt right at home.
The accommodation was clean, comfortable and non pretentious, in true Karoo style. We really enjoyed the generous food and chats around the large dining table. We loved the freshly brewed coffee in the morning with traditional rusks whilst watching the sun rise and hearing the horses run to the paddocks.
We met our beautiful horses, and got familiar with the tack and the rest was history. We went on amazing safari’s between the majestic mountains with the most incredible views. My horse: “Karoo” & Etienne’s horse: “Chester” where the perfect fit for us, and to be honest I cried when we let them free on the last day.
I was able to enjoy the off time and explore with my camera, but whilst on safari I decided to leave my camera behind (A first for me, but I challenged myself to go on a fast canter every time they asked, very brave I know!). I was able to truly take in the scenes and have the best experience because they had a professional photographer on board that captured us during our safari’s. Below is a collection of images of us on Safari taken by the beautiful Gerda Hayward Photography
