We GUARANTEE you won't find the same horse riding holiday at a lower price through any other source... and if you do, we promise to refund the difference!
from £3,815 or €4,330
Suitable for non-riders. Riders must be intermediate and experienced.
Rates are quoted per person sharing.
Macatoo is a flexible holiday, and you can book by the night. Minimum stay is 3 nights, but we recommend 7 nights to make the most of your trip. We have priced trips on 7 nights but please ask for quotes if want to stay for less or more nights.
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There is no single supplement for stays between 1 December and 31 March. Between 1 April and 30 November there is one tent which can be allocated to a single person without payment of a supplement - this tent will be strictly allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Once this tent has been allocated a 50% supplement is payable to guarantee a single tent. There is no single supplement if you are willing to share.
Non-Riding Partner
10% discount will be offered on the daily rate for any non-riding partner joining a safari. Non-riding activities include Game Drives, Boat Trips, Mokoro, Fishing, Bird Watching and Game Walks (all activities are subject to water levels).
Open all year round.
Note: Rates are subject to daily exchange rate fluctuations, please refer to our ‘Terms & Conditions’ for full details.
Includes – All the riding, accommodation, drinks including alcohol, activities at camp including bush walks, night game drives, fishing, bird watching & boat rides along the Delta waterways.
Excludes – Flights, transfers & tips.
How To Get There
International flight to Johannesburg or Cape Town, followed by a connecting flight to Maun in Botswana. We can also organise transfers from Victoria Falls and Kasane, so just ask us for ideas.
Transfer
The flight costs to Macatoo camp as indicated below include your meet and greet in Maun/Kasane and road/boat transfer from the airstrip to Macatoo Camp. It is a 30-minute scenic flight from Maun or 1 ½ hours from Kasane (which is located on the Botswana side of Victoria Falls), followed by a game drive/boat trip, depending on water levels. Costs are per person:
** For stays of 7 nights there is a 50% discount on your flights between Maun and Macatoo. For stays of 10 nights or more, your air charter flights are free **
Remember our Horse Riding Holidays GUARANTEE. You won’t find these Horse Riding Holidays (or any of our Horse Riding Holidays) at a lower price through any other source… and if you do we will refund the difference.
The Okavango Delta in Botswana is one of the top places on earth for game viewing. Macatoo is a firm favourite amongst equestrian safari goers from the eventing and hunting world who are looking for exciting riding and a party atmosphere. This safari is the last word in African luxury and coupled with excellent horses and guides, makes it very hard to beat. These guys over some good fast riding and are part of our Horse Riding Holidays Botswana.
The Okavango Delta is an intriguing phenomenon, with ever-changing landscapes due to the seasonal flood waters coming through from Angola. The movement of the game, the dramatic seasonal changes in the flora and the varying interests of our guests ensures that no two riding safaris are the same; each one is unique.
The African Horseback Safari in Botswana is based at Macatoo Camp, situated on the western side of the Okavango Delta. Covering 17,000 km sq, the Okavango is the largest inland delta in the world, a mix of labyrinth channels, palm fringed islands and fertile floodplains. Trapped in the parched sands of the Kalahari Desert, it is a magnet for the wildlife who depend on the delta’s life-giving waters. More than 400 species of resident and migrant birds, lions, elephant, hyenas, wild dog, buffalo, hippo and crocodiles congregate with a variety of antelope and smaller animals – warthog, mongoose, genets, monkeys and bushbabies to name a few.
The main attraction of the African Horseback Safari at Macatoo Camp is the joy of riding good horses over superb country, with just about every landscape dotted with game. The riding is varied, sometimes quietly walking, stalking big game and admiring the bird life, sometimes cantering through the water-meadows alongside galloping giraffe and lechwe.
In addition to the horse riding, there’s also interesting bush walks, stunning night game drives and wonderful boat rides in traditional dug out ‘mokoros’ along the waterways of the Delta – for this reason, this safari also welcomes non riding partners.
In 2011 African Horseback Safari’s hosted an exclusive safari with the eventing legend ‘Mark Todd’ and other guest event riders including Lucinda Green, Mary King and Tina Cook have visited this wonderful camp over the years.
Horses – A good mix of Thoroughbreds, Boerperd Crosses, Kalahari-Arabs & Namibian Hanoverians.
Level of Riding & Pace – Intermediate to Advanced – A good level of fitness is an advantage as morning rides are 4-5 hours in the saddle.
Tack – English style with English & Western style saddles.
Weight Restriction – 15 Stones / 95 kg / 210 lbs.
Group Size – Maximum 12.
African Horseback Safaris, Macatoo operates from the Macatoo tented camp which was especially built as the African Horseback Safari base in 1999 and has recently been refurbished and upgraded with several new tents, teak platforms and decking.
African Horseback Safaris is a small and intimate camp, sleeping a maximum of 14 guests (numbers are normally limited to a maximum of 12 guests in camp at any one time, but there are 7 twin / double tents so those wanting single tents can be accommodated) and is wonderfully situated on a palm island with magnificent views overlooking a large floodplain.
African Horseback Safari accommodation is very comfortable in spacious, walk-in twin- or double-bedded safari tents, each with attached shower room with hot shower and flush loo. The tents are well situated for privacy, are raised on teak decking and each has its own lovely view to enjoy from chairs or a hammock set outside on a large private veranda. Tents are furnished with proper beds with comfortable mattresses, cotton sheets and duvets, wardrobes with hanging space for clothes and bedside tables. They have generator powered electric lights. Some even have bathtubs!
The camp also has a spacious central dining tent with bar and sofas to relax on and service is always excellent. You will be woken each morning with tea or coffee brought to your tent, laundry and so on will be done for you and the whole ethos is one where nothing is too much trouble, and everything is a pleasure.
Honeymoon Suite
For honeymoon clients we highly recommend the new, tented honeymoon suite complete with a bath on a raised platform and a larger private deck on which newlyweds and celebrating couples can enjoy a very special private dining experience. This option is available at a surcharge cost of only £150 per couple per night.
There is also a plunge pool in camp, a wonderful spot to cool off and have drinks after riding. On a safari of 7 nights or more (except between November and February when the weather and logistics mean staying away from the base camp is generally not an option), one or two nights will also usually be spent at a second camp set up in a different area of the Delta, with accommodation in ‘tree houses’ on stretcher beds draped with mosquito nets and set up under the stars. When at this temporary camp, hot bucket showers are prepared for you at night or after your ride and there are shared long drop loos.
The food is outstanding in camp, you will be truly amazed by the variety and quality of the meals you will enjoy on safari. Any special requests must be given to us well ahead of time as everything must be imported from South Africa and then flown into camp.
Drinks are available at all times, and guests can help themselves to the fridge in the bar, or the cool box when out on rides.
Horse Riding Holidays at African Horseback Safaris are part of the Zara’s Planet Horse Riding Holidays Botswana collection.
Please Ask About
On arrival in Maun, you are met and transferred by plane and will enjoy a game drive to our camp which overlooks a seasonal flood plain lagoon. After lunch under the trees, there is usually time for a rest before the evening ride when you can get to know your horse. We return to a candle-lit dinner.
Awoken by a cup of tea or coffee in bed, followed by a light breakfast, we then ride westwards following elephant trails from one palm island to another, through seas of grass, into the backcountry. After lunch and a siesta, we ride out into the plains, later enjoying a refreshing drink while the sun goes down.
We leave camp early to investigate fresh game tracks, maybe joining the rare, semi-aquatic antelope and the red lechwe, as they thunder through the water meadows. A champagne breakfast is waiting for us under a large baobab tree. The evening ride is spent exploring the lower flood plains where elephant often gather at a pool. As dusk closes in, we have drinks around the fire.
We ride through different country, making our way through clouds of bushman hair grass to plains dotted with fig trees. We might encounter giraffe or shyer antelope while passing through mopane woodlands. Our pace increases as we break through to the flood plains, often disturbing troops of baboons.We return to the camp for an afternoon spent at leisure, and later a night drive by spotlight.
While staff pack up, we leave for our fly-camp riding deeper into the heart of the delta. On reaching another river system, we find our fly-camp already set up, looking out over a favourite elephant watering hole. We stay here for a one night bush experience. The afternoon may be spent swimming or walking. Fires are lit at night, creating a strong human presence to keep marauding animals away from the horses. Night watches are fun and guests usually join in.
Having kept watch under the stars, the next morning we splash through water on the vast, open plains, home to wildebeeste and zebra. The riding may be fast as we approach deep, reedy areas full of bird life. After our break, we ride back to Macatoo along the myriad of waterways lined with large trees.
Our last full day's riding in this magical place takes us cantering through the shallow flood plains, admiring the deeper pools of lilies. Here, the buffalo gather in numbers, and we have to creep up to them using islands for cover. The evening offers a last quiet ride with memorable smells of sage as the sun goes down and final sundowners in a surprising location.
For the final ride, we will go along some of the high palm islands which offer great vistas. We'll maybe take a last exhilarating gallop and run with the game before returning to camp to prepare for the onward journey.
Zara’s Planet Horse Riding Holidays Guarantee:
All our horse riding holidays hold a price guarantee. We believe in your piece of mind on price when you book one of our horse riding holidays and will refund the difference should you find the same horse riding holiday elsewhere at a lower price.
We have travelled the world testing a huge variety of horse riding holidays to make sure we offer you, our client, the best horse riding holiday experience possible.
Our horse riding holidays are thoroughly researched – we consider all the elements that go towards making our horse riding holidays collection the best in the world. We check the quality of the horses, if they are fit for the job, well produced and looked after. We make sure the riding terrain is good going, the countryside is interesting and, for example, on Classic Dressage horse riding holidays, the arenas are in good condition. We make sure the accommodation, whether it’s a five star hotel, a farmhouse or camping, is clean and comfortable, and offers a great night’s sleep. The food is all important too – we take the time to make sure we tell you if it’s cordon bleu, home cooked, or regional and locally sourced – above all it has to be delicious, plentiful and nourishing. Last but not least, we choose the horse riding holidays that have the best hosts, who are friendly, warm and welcoming.
It’s only when all these elements come together that we add a horse riding holiday into our hand-picked collection of horse riding holidays.
If you are having trouble finding exactly the right horse riding holiday for you from our horse riding holidays collection, please contact us directly using the form below and tell us in your own words what you would like to do and we will use our extensive knowledge to make sure we find that perfect horse riding holiday.
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