Photography: Top, Thornview Ranch; above, Bhangazi Horse Safaris

If you'd like to get in some hunting while you're in South Africa, note that we only offer drag hunts. Everything - dress, formalities, hounds - is traditional but the "fox" is a jackal-scented bag dragged by a hunt member.

Drag hunting is run by the Rand Hunt Club near Johannesburg, and by the Cape Hunt and Polo Club in and around Cape Town.

Polo has been played in South Africa for over a century. Due to the number of highly trained horses needed to play the game, it has traditionally been a sport for the well-heeled, and even now there are only about 320 registered club players in the country.

The image that polo conjures in many minds is one of "a gentle Sunday afternoon sport enjoyed by the gin-and-tonic brigade". In reality, the South African Polo Association argues, polo is one of the toughest and most demanding of sports.

"Polo is rated by insurance companies as the most dangerous contact sport in the world, with ice hockey in second position", the association maintains. "Players have only a helmet for protection and travel at speeds of up to 40kmph on horses weighing up to half a ton. Other players use their ponies to ride each other off the line of the ball and, sadly, accidents are not uncommon.

"The skills required by a top polo player are a combination of the hand-eye co-ordination of a cricketer, the agility of a gymnast, the fitness of a footballer and the strength and courage of a rugby player - and on top of this excellent horseman."

History of polo in South Africa
According to the SA Polo Association, the sport was brought to South Africa by British cavalry regiments garrisoned in the Eastern Cape in the late 19th century, with the country's first recorded polo tournament taking place at King Williamstown in 1885. The idea that polo started with British royalty, the association points out, is off the mark. Its origins lie "somewhere in Persia or China". The abovementioned British troops learnt the game in India not long before they brought it to South Africa. The word "polo" itself comes from the Gujarati word "pulu", meaning "ball", and there are tapestries depicting the sport dating back to the fourth century AD.

"Far from being the exclusive preserve of white westerners, polo is still very popular in India, Pakistan, Brunei and some more remote regions reaching into Nepal (where it is played on elephants)", the assocation says.

Many African countries, particularly Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe, play polo, and the association holds annual social tours with many of them. "The curtain-raisers before each Test include players from the association's junior coaching clinic, where a number of development players learn the game."

Established tournaments in South Africa include the BMW International Polo Series played annually at Shongweni in KwaZulu-Natal and Inanda in Johannesburg, and the Kurland International played in Plettenburg Bay in the Western Cape every December.

The SA Polo Association was formed in 1905, and four polo provinces are affiliated to the controlling body - Highveld, East Griqualand, KwaZulu-Natal, and Free State/Cape. The association is affiliated to the Hurlingham Polo Association, the generally recognised world body of polo. There are 33 clubs in South Africa with about 320 players.