adventure
Close encounters Nothing compares with riding out at dawn in pursuit of elephants, leopards and lions – and confronting an angry male rhino is part of the thrill. But it’s not something for the amateur. Only expert riders should apply, warns Midge Todhunter
here he stood. Two massive tonnes of white bull rhino straddled across the track in front of us. King of all he surveyed. The bull flashed his steely glare across our group then with shuffling body language began demanding to know why we seven horse riders were wandering about on his patch? ‘Whatever you do – don’t turn and run,’ said Philip, our mounted field guide. ‘You’ll not get further than 20 yards before he has you crushed to the ground. We gotta do some negotiating here.’ Two years earlier, I’d had a close encounter with a bull rhino on the African bushveldt. That beast had come charging at me through some side bushes – circa 40kph. My horse’s natural flight instinct saved me on the day, but could I be as lucky again? I don’t play polo, but you will certainly need to be a confident rider to survive these potential
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