Every morning Evie and Lali go for a ride on the horses from Sirikoi, the luxury safari camp where Jophie and Al work. The riding instructor turns up at 9.30 with the horses and a few of his men to lead them. While we've been staying here, Uma and Lila have gone with them. They usually bring 3 horses, so two of the children have to share, and take it in turns to ride one behind the other.
This morning I rode out with them, Jophie following behind with her two dogs, Charlie and Dudu. From the back of a horse you get a great view of the bush, and it feels much safer than walking. We had just come out of a thicket of acacia trees when we saw a whole troop of baboons trailing across the bush, on their way to drink from the stream than runs along the edge of the thicket. There were over 50 of them, large males and females carrying their young, black against the sun bleached ground.
On horseback, I was hoping we'd be able to get quite close up. But Dudu took off, barking wildly and chasing after the large males in the troop. With all the barking, and the shouting at the dogs, the whole troop of baboons scattered. The dogs followed in pursuit, disappearing among the trees. The last we heard of them was a loud grunt followed by a yelp from Dudu, who'd presumably been hit by one of the baboons.
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