Travelling friends find man sleeping on horse next to road

The Kalahari region in the Northern Cape province of South Africa is a special place, characterized by its vast semi-arid wilderness and farmland areas. It also hosts the lowest density of people in the country. Life in the Kalahari runs at its own pace and many will say it is a place still stuck in its own time. It is not strange to see many people still using horses or donkey carts as a mode of transport. Today this is still the only safe and reliable mode of transport available to many people in the rural areas.

My friend Rudi and I were driving a long stretch of dirt road from their farm in the Kalahari to town which was an hour’s drive away. It was late Saturday afternoon and we were on our way to a social function in town. In the distance we noticed something rather odd. There was a lone horse standing next to the road in the middle of nowhere. As we came closer we quickly realized what was going on. On the back of this horse was a man lying, passed out and not moving. We decided to check it out and stopped next to the horse. At first we called, whistled and hit the hooter of the vehicle a few times to see if we might get any reaction. The obviously very loyal and obedient horse briefly looked at us but no movement came from the man.

My friend Rudi decided to get out and investigate. I warned him not to go too close to the back of the horse as it might kick him. Rudi walked up to the horse and shook the man a few times while asking if he was OK. Suddenly the guy woke up, looking much disorientated and confused. His response was that he was on his way home. At the end of the video Rudi said to the guy in Afrikaans, “OK, the traffic light is green, you can go now” and off he went in a gallop on the back of his very trusty horse. It sure looked like the guy had a little too much to drink and passed out on the back of his horse while on the way home. Maybe he was just tired after a long journey and decided to take a power nap next to the road. None the less, it was one of the strangest and funniest things we have seen in a long time.