# Riding in Baboon Gorge



## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Wow! That is something else!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Thanks for sharing.Since I ride where there are cougars and grizzly bears, the thought of a leopard does not bother me too much, but I gotta ask, what about SNAKES!
I'm with Indiana Jones on that one!
Seriously, looks like great country, but the heat would most likely bother me


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

What beautiful scenery. From pictures that I've seen, South Africa reminds me of the state of California in the U.S. just different animals. I wonder if it is similar. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to see for myself.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

Smilie said:


> Thanks for sharing.Since I ride where there are cougars and grizzly bears, the thought of a leopard does not bother me too much, but I gotta ask, what about SNAKES!
> I'm with Indiana Jones on that one!
> Seriously, looks like great country, but the heat would most likely bother me


I lived in South Africa for ten years. Snakes are generally not an issue, even though there is a lot of them and there are a lot of very deadly ones around. They really go out of their way to avoid you. I've never heard of anyone dying of a snake bite. It most probably happens but it's not a regular occurrence. 

It doesn't actually get horribly, terribly hot in South Africa, except for Karoo desert. A lot of the territory is on a high plane ("Highveld") so the temperature is very pleasant most of the time. I lived in Joburg and let me tell you, Europe in summer is much hotter than it ever got over there. What's more, winters are very nice, it almost never goes below zero and it's dry season so lovely sunshine abounds. So, if you sit and do nothing for the hottest two months of the year - which aren't that hot to begin with, you still have another 10 months of great weather (except for Cape Town - wind, wind, wind - I don't like wind. Their trees grow at a large angle because of it).

All in all, South Africa is absolutely great and I miss it a lot


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

Lovely photos. I can practically smell the bush. Thank you and keep them coming, if it's not too much trouble.


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## Janet Cherry (Jul 13, 2009)

*Snakes alive*



Smilie said:


> Thanks for sharing.Since I ride where there are cougars and grizzly bears, the thought of a leopard does not bother me too much, but I gotta ask, what about SNAKES!
> I'm with Indiana Jones on that one!
> Seriously, looks like great country, but the heat would most likely bother me


Yesterday I saw TWO snakes - it is nearly midwinter here but we had a hot day so the snakes came out onto the road to get warm. One was a beautiful puff adder - they can give a horse a nasty bite and cause permanent scarring - but luckily this one saw us before we saw her and slithered off into the bush. Then we saw a small bright green snake, very quick and too small to do us any harm! First snakes I have seen for a while.....they are very common around here though.


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## Janet Cherry (Jul 13, 2009)

*More photos of Baviaanskloof*

More photos as requested, note the aloes.....I imagine the environment is quite similar to Southern California, New Mexico etc - semi-desert with succulent plants (euphorbia instead of cactus)....this area (Baviaanskloof) is not where I live, which is on the coast - it is inland from the Southern Coast of Africa and about half way beween Cape Town (where I grew up) and Port Elizabeth (where I live). 

I've also done some riding in the Karroo, but that is for another post!!


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Beautiful and majestic. Thank you so much for sharing. 

What makes HF so wonderful is seeing so many different places and cultures, all while riding on the back of lovely horse.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Beautiful. The landscape is somewhat similar to eastern Alberta, esp when you get close to the badlands, where we do have rattlers and cactus 
Have also hiked the desert around las Vegas and Death Valley. Too far to trailer horses.
Where we usually ride, is the eastern slopes of the Rockies, often climbing above the treeline. Have spent lots of time packed in, when younger, and esp when hubby was a serious trophy hunter, and which also lead to my question concerning snakes, as we slept in a tent, on the ground!
During the hunting season esp, hubby carries a gun, and I have thought of carrying pepper stray, when riding with friends, but so far, any grizzly we met, had lots of time to get out of our way, and was usually as happy to see the last of us, as we of him.
That is changing though, as no grizzly tags, even on draw have been given out for more that 10 years.
Thus, during hunting season esp, gun fire has almost become a dinner bell, with hunters going back to pack out an elk , that a grizzly has claimed
We had a bow hunter, killed by a sow grizzly, just across the highway from us, several years ago.
Anyway, enjoy your ride! I take it that you do day trips from a base location, as I see no pack horses
Our week long rides look more like this






keep pictures coming, as I love to see different riding areas
My one friend went on a horse week long ride, based out of Las Vegas, that I sure would love to go on, but the price tag around $3,500 US has stopped me! 
TThe ride was geared for actual riders, as some days they rode 30 miles. Ride included Bryce Canyon, outlaw trail and I forgot where all else. Horses were trailered to some of the distant locations.
Last day , was ride down into the Grand Canyon, on mules
That is the only way I would ride down that canyon, on mules that have done it many times,. I watched UN Branded, where those young guys rode mustangs that the broke, down into that canyon, on that epic journey


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Thanks so much for sharing the stories and photos!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Janet Cherry said:


> Yesterday I saw TWO snakes - it is nearly midwinter here but we had a hot day so the snakes came out onto the road to get warm. One was a beautiful puff adder - they can give a horse a nasty bite and cause permanent scarring - but luckily this one saw us before we saw her and slithered off into the bush. Then we saw a small bright green snake, very quick and too small to do us any harm! First snakes I have seen for a while.....they are very common around here though.


I'm not such a herpetophobe that I thing the only good snake is a dead one but somehow, BEAUTIFUL & PUFF ADDER in the same sentence makes me shiver.:eek_color:


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

Beautiful pictures!


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

I don't mind poisonous things, as long as they mind their business and I will mind mine.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

waresbear said:


> I don't mind poisonous things, as long as they mind their business and I will mind mine.


A couple a know went on a week-long survivalist course with Khoisan people in Karoo (used to be known as "Bushmen"). They weren't allowed to take any food or water. The couple quickly re-classified snakes into food. They said that first few days they were making a lot of noise to scare them away, but by the fourth day the were sneaking around in hopes of catching them and eating them


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Wow, that is beautiful.  I love all of the nice scenery and it just looks so surreal!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Coastal South Africa has a Mediterranean climate (cool wet winters, warm dry summers) as does much of the west coasts of the US, Chile, Australia, and the Mediterranean itself. It's the smallest climate type on earth, acreage-wise. Here in California many of our basic landscaping plants come from South Africa. Cool trails!


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