While traversing Sweet Briar’s 3,250-acres, it’s not uncommon for horse and rider to encounter whitetail deer, groundhogs or any number of campus dogs. In less than a week, however, a small group from the College’s equestrian program will be riding with — and possibly galloping away from — much larger mammals.
“The riders will be in a game-rich corner of Botswana, where I would expect them to see elephant, lion, a variety of different antelope species, possibly leopard and cheetah [and] certainly zebra and giraffe,” said Kerry Scott, SBC campus safety officer and owner of Narrow Gate Trekking, the company that organized the trip.
Those going on the trip — which will include riding in Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana and sightseeing in South Africa — are Scott, SBC riding instructor Jon Conyers, Jenny Walkiewicz ’09, Lauren Stephens ’09, Erin Peabody ’10, Emily Wiley ’07, Chrissy Serio ’07 and Serio’s mother, Louise.
The group will spend May 20 through 27 exploring the African bush on horseback, followed by a few days of sightseeing in Cape Town, South Africa. They will return to the States on June 2.
In South Africa, visits to the Apartheid Museum, Table Mountain, Boulder Penguin Colony, Cape Point and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens are planned. They also will try to catch up with Sweet Briar alumna Michelle Whitaker Linde ’05, who works at a race track there.
Although it is Conyers’ first trip to Africa, Scott has been there more than 10 times with his trekking business and previous jobs in the Army. He said as long as the riders use common sense and “follow the advice of our hosts,” there should be nothing to fear danger-wise.
“We design our trips to be adventurous but not dangerous,” Scott said. “Having said that, the participants had to prove a certain level of riding ability … as they may need to take precautionary gallops out of the way of the wildlife.”
Due to the rugged terrain and the potential for speedy getaways, riders had to qualify as “junior jumpers” or “junior hunters,” which means they have to be able to handle jumps of 2 feet, 6 inches or higher, among other things.
“Just to make sure they were secure enough to be able to handle the terrain and that sort of thing,” Conyers explained. “It’s not so much that they have to jump, but they are going to have to deal with some terrain issues, cross rivers, and, if need be, ride fast if something’s chasing us that the guides know we can outrun. Then we need to be able to go and not be afraid to go fast.”
Scott added that the group also will be “on the edge of malaria country,” so participants have been advised to take preventative measures.
For Conyers, the biggest challenge thus far has been packing. With temperatures expected to be 54 to 88 degrees, layering will be in order. The riders also will bring “half chaps,” paddock boots and helmets, which present their own challenges.
Although vital in case of a fall, brimless riding helmets don’t offer much in the way of sun protection. “The ideal situation for the sun is that we would be in cowboy hats or safari hats because we would need the protection,” Conyers said. “The helmet’s not going to be much use for the sun protection.”
Conyers suspects the group will probably come up with something to combat the sun’s searing rays, and joked about recent “Project Runway”-type discussions on the subject. “We were actually chatting about that the other day,” he said.
“We said, ‘We’ll take the helmet, and we’ll take some super glue with us, and buy a cheap hat over there and cut the top out, and put the brim down around it and super glue it on, and … there we go.’ If we all do it, who cares if we’re silly or not.”
For more information on the trip, or to chart the group’s progress, visit their Facebook profile, “Vixens in Africa.”
— By Suzanne Ramsey, SBC staff writer
