The 4th Waterberg Trust Challenge Ride, which set off on 21st January 2018, proved fast, fun and fulfilling. Thanks go to all those who sponsored me on Justgiving.com and helped me to raise funds in other ways.
Crossing the game reserves of South Africa was a joy, especially since we encountered a number of newborn animals.
50% of funds raised go to Save The Waterberg Rhino to support the war against wildlife poaching.
50% of funds go to community projects that uplift the people of the region. You can see more photos of the projects supported here
Riders paid their own travel costs. We had a great team who’d worked hard on both their fitness and fundraising.
Some days were long but we were blessed with good weather. When the going got tough, we dismounted and walked.
Seven different game reserves were traversed in six days, with 187kms being clocked up on the GPS.
I felt hugely encouraged by everyone who supported me on social media and returned with dreams of exploring further afield. You can see more photos of the ride on The Waterberg Trust website.
What you can do to help
- Share posts found on The Waterberg Trust’s Facebook page: please click here
- For Save The Waterberg Rhino’s Facebook page: please click here
- For the Lapalala Wilderness School’s page: please click here
- Find out more by clicking here: Save The Waterberg Rhino
- Have fun fundraising for us: ideas and details here
- Send a donation to The Waterberg Trust: please click here for address
- Donate online. For Sophie’s 2018 Justgiving page – please click here
Sophie Neville 
This looks like a fabulous trip for a very worthy cause. Congratulations to you and the other riders. And thank you, Sophie, for sharing it with us.
We hope to organise another challenge ride as soon as the restrictions lift, riding with elephant, rather than rhino, through a game reserve in Southern Botswana.
Sounds brilliant! Is 73 too old to learn to ride a horse, I wonder?!
I’m sure you could begin, but this will be challenging for advanced riders! Do think of staying in the Waterberg though. Safari companies such as Jembisa and Ant’s Nest offer wonderful game viewing for non-riders.
I would love to, and I will seriously think about staying in the Waterberg and taking advantage of non-horse-riding safaris. Nineteen years ago I spent 3 days of a two week tour of South Africa in Kruger Park and have never forgotten how brilliant it was.
The Waterberg is at a much higher altitude than the Kruger, so the climate is more comfortable, there is no malaria and the views are wonderful.
It looks fabulous from your photos. I really hope I can pay it a visit.
It is a direct but quite long flight to Johannesburg. I driver meets you and take you three hours north into the African bush. I always advise people to go when there is nothing happening in the UK – so maybe think of going in January or Feb 2022 when restrictions will hopefully relax.
Thank you for the tip. I will certainly give this some serious thought as I would love to see the place. In 2002 we flew out to Cape Town and back from Johannesburg; I remember them being long flights.