A Unique Horse & Local Community Experience in Zimbabwe

My stay at Wild Bhiza. I had spent hours researching how to volunteer with horses in Africa, until I came across Wild Bhiza. I was drawn to their ethos around the care for their animals, but also their commitment to serve and protect the natural environment and the people within the community of Victoria Falls. Africa had already begun to captivate are imaginations, the sunset that evening glowed colours of pink, gold and red as it descended over the African Bush. It was an early start the next morning as we were up at 5 am to help Vianyi with the horses. Zimbabwe has large temperature fluctuations and in the morning it can be incredibly cold, but as we set about on the morning tasks of poo picking, brushing and feeding the horses the temperatures soon started to rise. The Sun came back out and once again illuminated the bush and everything living in it. It hit me as soon as I arrived out there, the incredible peace that is found in the natural African environment. At around 6:30 am we started to tack the horses up for the first ride of the day. The tack is different to what we ride out in the UK, however, despite being a bit less, the amount of respect the horses have is incredible. We rode around the property that morning, taking in the spectacular and vast views that the landscape has to offer. The forest seems to always be alive with something, whether that is the sound of the birds up in the branches above or the sight of the impala watching you from a watering hole, evaluating you with care so as to decide their next move. After we got back from the morning ride, we washed down the horses, gave them plenty of treats and had some lunch. That afternoon Lisa showed us some of the basic skills needed for natural horsemanship on a young horse called Nero. The horses were very gentle and responsive to this type of work and learning how to build a relationship based on mutual respect with them through this practice was very rewarding. Some of the skills that Lisa taught us included doing a join-up and teaching the horses to move their quarters into different places, such as next to the mountain blocks. The principles of Natural horsemanship are based on a mutual respect between horse and rider, and seemed to have a profound effect on how the horses at Wild Bhiza behaved and how at ease they were. Lisa was very knowledgeable in this area, and she provided me and Matilda with many lessons on natural horsemanship It is something that I now try and incorporate with my horse at home. In the evenings, we would have dinner and sit around the campfire telling stories from our antics that day, maybe with a Zambezi in hand (a local beer brewed in Victoria Falls). Over the course of our three-week stay, we rode out almost every day, exploring the beautiful natural environment of the surrounding forest but also into the local communities. Riding into the communities around Vic Falls is something which I felt very privileged to be able to do, it was amazing to explore a different culture, especially one which was based on strong community values. Riding out in these communities really gave me an opportunity to understand and learn more about the different cultural values and helped me understand my immense privilege having grown up not having to worry about illness or access to clean water. Me and Matilda were also lucky enough to have three days of safari in the Zambezi national park (located just outside Vic falls) and two days and one night camping in Chobe National Park. The experience we had exploring the parks was spectacular. An absolute highlight was sighting a leopard in a tree in the Zambezi. It had been rather a quiet day of sightings when someone in the back of the vehicle thought they had seen a tail hanging down from a tree. The ranger (in quite disbelief much like the rest of us) put the four by four into reverse and drove back towards the tree. Once we had stopped, we looked up and saw above us resting on the branches, was a female leopard. She had obviously been observing us driving right past her and then reversing back again (they always say a leopard will see you before you see them). We sat there for around 15 minutes and carefully observed each other (the people in the vehicle and the leopard), in till of course, something more interesting came along and caught her attention, so she carefully jumped down from her perch and retreated back into the bush. Over the course of the three weeks, I created amazing bonds with Lisa's horses and learnt so much about Natural horsemanship. I came away feeling so lucky to have explored the African forests and communities on horseback and have learnt so much about the natural environment. Victoria Falls itself was a wonderful place to be near as well, with plenty of great places to eat and fun activities (white water rafting was my personal favourite). The trip was amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone. The only downside is that you will keep wanting to go back!