HORSEBACK SAFARIS IN NAMIBIA
| Namibia’s inhospitable coastal deserts are hauntingly beautiful – wild, desolate and uninhabitable except by those supremely adapted. This is perhaps what makes deserts so exceptional – experiencing the very real implications of what it takes to survive in these forbidding yet beguiling places. Surprisingly to most, horses are well adapted for such harsh conditions. With good planning and the best possible guides, experiencing Namibia on a horse back is a unique experience. Travel through beautiful scenery of rocky hills, sandy riverbeds, wide-open gravel plains, deserted beaches and undulating sand dunes. |
Caution: Riding in a desert demands a degree of physical fitness – these rides are not recommended for inexperience or unfit riders – on some of the days one should be prepared for riding distances of 20 – 60 km, often at a fast pace.
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Choose from short safaris to 10 day trips. Days generally begin at sunrise, with departure by 8am. Ride 4 – 5 hours before breaking for lunch. Lunch breaks vary from an hour to 2 ½ hours followed by another 2 – 3 hours riding in the afternoon. We average anything from 20 – 60 km riding per day, at different paces, sometimes over rough terrain. |
Due to the extreme conditions of Namibia, horses require special care. The horses live out in huge herds grazing within several 100 hectare ‘paddocks’. Some are still coming on, some doing their first safaris and some have been crossing the Namib Desert several times a year for over a decade. Most horses do two or sometimes three safaris a year between April and September and rest for the other 6 months of the year.
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