“Having mortgaged my Old Mutual Life Insurance policy to pay for the establishment of my new safari company for the measly sum of £500, I now had to set about acquiring some assets. As my first task, I decided to buy some horses. With a young family in the making and no capital at all, this challenge was formidable. However, I owned a very nice set of quality golf clubs which I sold for about £60 and with the cash I succeeded in buying three old horses inclusive of some rather ancient tack from a gentleman by the name of Ian Raitt.
“I was now ready to start what was to become one of the most unique and exciting safari adventures on offer. To the best of my knowledge, no other safari outfitter was organising long distance rides across the African savannah, teeming with game including the Big Five! The risks were considerable, but I was determined to make this experiment work. I thought to myself “there must be people out there who would travel to Kenya and enjoy the challenge”. The joy of exploring on horseback well away from modern civilization must have its appeal.
“Our home was on a small rented farm in Langata on the outskirts of Nairobi. Here I was able to stable my three horses. From the front lawn we could see the fabled Ngong Hills out to the west. These hills rise to over 8,000ft above sea level and form part of the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley. The rolling slopes of the lower grassland rising towards the forested upper regions were home to a variety of game, making an ideal location to explore before launching into commercial day rides. These romantic hills are portrayed so vividly in Karen Blixen’s ‘Out Of Africa’, in which she describes the beauty of this wooded mountain so often shrouded in mist.
“I wanted to do a reconnaissance and asked my brother Colin to join me. We needed to find trails suitable for horse and rider. Early one morning my syce led our three horses to the base of the Ngong Hills. Colin and I drove to the pre-arranged rendezvous taking picnic lunches, binoculars and ponchos. We were soon mounted and heading up to the crest of the hills, so easily recognised by the four evenly rounded peaks, described by the Masai as the knuckles of a man’s hand. Legend has it that when God finished moulding the earth he needed to clean his hand. He spread his fingers wide, and drew his hand across the surface of the Earth thereby creating the four knuckles, such a recognisable skyline to the west of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi.
“Our ponies lumbered up to the northern end of the hills where we were met by the most breathtaking views into the Great Rift Valley some 2000ft below. Our gaze took us across the Olorgesaille mountain to the distant Loita Hills rising to 9000ft, and forming the western wall of the Rift. This almost waterless, dusty valley, home of the Masai was later to become a 5 day riding expedition ending on the shores of Lake Naivasha.
“Colin and I, with our syce, continued southwards on a path taking us to the southern end of the range. On the way we explored some of the grassy ridges on the eastern side. Each ridge was separated by a richly forested valley, home to bushbuck, waterbuck, buffalo and troops of beautiful black and white colobus monkey. At the end of the path, known as Corner Baridi, we encountered a herd of eland and a few kongoni which loped away into dead ground. From a scenic and wildlife experience this could not be bettered. We tied up our horses and lay in the long grass drinking in the view whilst enjoying our sandwich lunch. The sense of space over this majestic landscape aroused feelings of wonder and excitement. My imagination was easily awakened. One day I must explore these endless horizons on horseback.
“After lunch we mounted our ponies and decided to explore an unmarked route back along the lower slopes. This proved to be a more formidable exercise than anticipated. In places we had to push through bush expecting to rumble a buffalo at any time. Our willing steeds never hesitated. About half way back we had to negotiate a field of vicious African stinging nettles. Suddenly my horse began to quiver and stumble forwards. I was mystified. He then went down on one knee and I dismounted. I tried to get him to stand up, thinking it could be an attack of colic. But this proved impossible. Instead he lay down on his side breathing heavily. I removed the saddle. I thought he was dying.
“After discussing this emergency with Colin and the syce, we decided that Colin and I should ride the two remaining horses back to Ngong town, leaving the syce to guard my struggling horse in case of hyenas. I decided to drive home and collect a small tent, with blanket and a thermos of hot soup, before returning to keep vigil with the syce. Leaving our two ponies in Jack Barrah’s garden (Jack was the Chief Game Warden, Rift Valley) Colin and I drove back to Langata, where I hurriedly collected the necessary items, and returned along the earth road out of Ngong town which followed the boundary of the Ngong Hills conservation area towards Kiserian. By now it was 8pm. It was a dark night. I slowed the car trying to guess the place where my afflicted horse would be lying, guarded by my faithful syce, near the ridge of stinging nettles. As I rounded a corner I saw two Masai tribesmen standing in the road with flash lights. They waved me down. I leant out of my Land Cruiser and greeted them. They asked me if I was the owner of a horse, left for dead on the lower slopes of the Hills. I confirmed I was coming to rescue him. I was expecting some sad news. But No! The two warriors assured me that my horse had recovered and was safely corralled in their manyatta. I entered the manyatta and sure enough, there was my horse, fully recovered, standing up in the company of my syce and a herd of cattle. What a relief! To have lost a horse at that early stage of my infant enterprise would have been so depressing.
“Having thought about the symptoms of this epilepsy in my precious horse, I came to the conclusion that he was susceptible to the effects of the stinging nettles. The nettles had severely irritated the tender skin around his genitals and the pain had brought on hypothermia, resulting in his collapse. Later my theory was reinforced by my local vet who confirmed some horses are susceptible to the touch of poisonous plants.
“I left the horse there in the safety of the Masai boma and returned home, having left a tip for the Masai who had so kindly helped with the rescue. The syce rode the horse back to the farm in Langata the following day. So ended my first reconnaissance on horseback.”
Tony Church, Founder of Safaris Unlimited