Horseback Safaris

This itinerary combines three of the best camps and locations in Kenya, period. Add to that the fact that you’ll experience one of the best wild and remote mobile riding operations in northern Kenya followed by some of the most iconic scenery and beautiful horses with Mt Kilimanjaro in the background.

Your trip begins with an overnight stay in Nairobi at a conveniently located city hotel. 

In the morning, fly to the Masai Mara and settle into your tiny four room tented camp set gently into the trees lining a riverbank. Enjoy the Mara away from the big crowds while getting incredible photographs and wildlife sightings. This is a great place to find large quantities of wildlife, enjoy game drives and settle into the bush before continuing on to a week’s worth of horseback riding. 

Then fly up to north central Kenya’s Samburuland where you’ll be met at the airstrip by a helicopter to take you to your remote mobile camp setup especially for you in the wilderness. Enjoy three nights and days riding from one temporary mobile camp to the next, all setup, catered and managed by your local Samburu guides so you can focus on the riding. Complete your ride by riding to the main lodge where you’ll relax and refresh for two nights, drinking in the comforts and the incredible views looking out over the Mathews Range.

Finally, fly south by light aircraft to your luxuriously elegant lodge situated in a critical wildlife corridor between three national parks (Amboseli, Chyulu & Tsavo West). The lodge has a waterhole out in front of it that is frequented by all kinds of wild animals but especially large ‘tusker’ elephant bulls that are known to live in the area. There is a fantastic riding stable and guests do as much riding during their stay as they please. Soak up the views of the majestic Kilimanjaro while toasting the sunset over the African plains, it doesn’t get better than this!

14 days/13 nights

An 8-night safari on horseback and vehicle in the Masai Mara Wilderness, away from the crowds, is what you can expect on this trip. This itinerary offers an incredible experience of Kenya’s legendary Masai Mara. 

Spend 2-nights exploring the Lemek Conservancy, 4-nights exploring Mara North Conservancy, and 2 nights in the Mara Triangle in the heart of the Masai Mara. 

Cross over the Mara River and ride under the edge of the iconic Great Rift Valley Escarpment. The concentration of wildlife is breathtaking, with plenty of opportunities to jump over fallen trees created by the resident elephant herds. 

You’ll spot many animals – anything from waterbuck, eland, jackal, hyena, lion, and many other animal species. You’ll ride south and across the Mara River into the Mara Triangle through patches of forest inhabited by elephants and giraffes with picnic lunches along the way. 

You’ll ride up into the Escarpment with views over the Serengeti Plains to the South and visit a traditional Maasai homestead to learn about our local hosts and their pastoral way of life. You’ll also take a hot air balloon ride over the Mara river and plains at sunrise. 

This itinerary rides 7-15 miles per day, staying in ‘under canvas’ mobile camps set up exclusively for the horse safari. The trip can be organized as a private trip, or you can join as one of the group departures (dates and availability on request). 

A 7-night mobile horseback safari in the Okavango Delta, away from the crowds, combined with a 3-night Kalahari Desert safari, is what you can expect on this trip. 

The Okavango Delta is a horse rider’s paradise. The floodwaters spread down into the Kalahari sands, ensuring that the herds and birdlife follow, and horseback is the perfect place from which to observe it all.

This Delta Ride is unlike any other. Rather than a permanent riding camp, a lightweight mobile camp is transported by a flotilla of mokoros (traditional dugout canoes). These camps are exceptionally comfortable with standing room, fully made-up stretcher beds, and bucket showers.

There is no set itinerary regarding the camp’s location – it all depends on water levels, wildlife movements, and the safari length. However, every location promises to be exquisite; the area offers many shady tree-lined islands. The wildlife is astonishing, and the food (cooked over a log fire) is simply fabulous.

A typical day starts with an early wake-up call and a light breakfast around the campfire as dawn breaks. The morning is spent on horseback, following ancient elephant trails, searching for various wildlife, enjoying the prolific birdlife, and cantering through the recently flooded plains.

Herds of buffalo may be in the vicinity, giraffes often stroll by, and red lechwe splash through the water alongside you while kudu peer out from the thickets.

From the waterways of the Okavango Delta to the dry salt pans of the Makgadikgadi, Botswana is a land where the Kalahari desert meets an oasis. It is a land where vast herds of wildlife still roam freely over vast differences, and the Milky Way glitters in all its glory above at night, and it’s still home to San Bushmen, the original inhabitants of this great continent. 

This Botswana safari offers a horse riding experience in three different areas of the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari Desert, and along the Thamalakane River connecting the Delta with the Desert oasis. The Okavango Delta is known as the ‘Jewel of the Kalahari.’ It is one of the most extraordinary wetlands on earth, with incredible wildlife.  The Kalahari’s grassland and salt-encrusted pans provide the perfect surface for riding with the freedom to keep on going and going.  The beautiful tree-lined Thamalakane River meanders along an ancient fault line attracting wildlife and connecting the Delta and Desert habitats, an ancient wildlife migration corridor and home to the second-largest migration of Zebra in Africa.