Kilimanjaro Horseback Ride with Elephants in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport where one of our drivers will meet you. The drive from the airport to the lodge takes about 40 minutes. Your first night is spent at a lodge situated on a golf, polo, and wildlife estate. Meet up with the rest of the group (unless it is a private safari), followed by sundowner and dinner hosted by one of the guides for the safari. If there is a polo game on, sundowner will be at the polo club.

Wake up calls with tea and coffee, breakfast is served anytime from early hours. After breakfast the drive is about thirty minutes to Arusha National Park gate. Here the horses will be waiting, ready to be mounted and shortly after you ride into one of the most beautiful parks in East Africa. Here the vegetation will change dramatically, from open grassland to rainforest. With good chances of seeing, buffaloes, giraffes, all your plains game, elephants and leopards are present however harder to spot along with rare species such as Suni, Red Duiker, the magnificent Hartlaub's turaco, colobus monkey and the endless bird life.

The feeling is magical as you enter into the big canopy forests. Lunch will be set on route, with time for a small siesta. After lunch the ride continues through leopard country and as we head towards our night stop, we will pass by Margarete Trappe’s old house. The legendary lady known and remembered as the Iron lady from the first world war. “If, as children, we were thrilled by Buffalo Bill we should have been still more spellbound by Mrs. Trappe’s adventures, the adventures of the fearless woman with her two legendary horses, Comet and Diamond, and her two inseparable Alsatians. 

Like a phantom she would suddenly appear, like a phantom she would vanish; as intimate with wild beasts as though they were tame.” These are some of the tales about Margarete who’s old riding paths this horse safari follows through the holy forests of the park. Arrive to camp, based on the foot of Mt Meru in time for showers and sundowners then dinner under the stars.

This morning you will hopefully wake up to the very talkative Colobus monkeys. Breakfast is served and shortly thereafter we mount, and directions are taken towards the area where the film Hatari was filmed, starring John Wayne. Thereafter halfway into the morning ride we start the climb (on horseback), some will be done on horseback and some on foot, aiming to reach a viewpoint, that if clear has one of the best views of Mt Kilimanjaro, here we will dismount our horses and instead mount a car and drive the last, steepest part in vehicles. 

You drive passed the “Fig Tree Arch”, a massive fig tree arch. The drive continues until we reach lunch, beautifully located next to a waterfall. We are now on about 2000 meters above sea level. After lunch we start heading back towards the horses, we then ride back down to camp and after returning to camp, there will be an option to jump into the vehicles (or relax in camp) and go visit the Momella lakes, hoping to see some hippos and beautiful water birds. Sundowners at the lakes before heading back to camp for showers and dinner.

You wake up with the sun and a big breakfast is served. This morning you will hop into the vehicles and drive out of Arusha National Park, the drive will take about 2 ½ hours and is eastbound heading towards Mount Kilimanjaro and leaving Mount Meru behind us like a shadow. Later this morning you will find the horses waiting for you in the bush (they would have been trucked here the evening before). 

The ride is amongst Tanzanian farmland and the Massai steppe, its scenic with many cultural interactions as the rides goes along. We will try to cover as much ground as possible. The lunch is served under a big acacia, sometimes near to a dam where the Massai’s water their cattle and we our horses. You will have a good 3-hour’s stop for lunch, with time for a siesta to regain some strength. The afternoon ride continues across opened plains, making sure to reach our night stop before the sun hits the horizon at a new camp location.

Wake up calls followed by an English breakfast. Everyone mounts their companion, today is another moving day, and directions are taken towards the Kenyan border. After having crossed the seven hills (seven sisters) we continue towards lunch, served somewhere under a shady tree. The terrain varies from opened grassland to beautiful canopy forests. 

The day offers good chance of seeing plains game such as zebras, giraffes, elephants, and wildebeests but most important is the presence of the shy antelope, the Gerenuk that we will keep an eye for as we ride along. The night is spent at a new location, hopefully the night is clear, and you will get the feeling being watched by four powerful mountains, Mt Meru, Namanga, Longido and the most legendary of all, Mt Kilimanjaro.

Early wake up with coffee and tea before breakfast is served. The day might be spent tracking the biggest landliving mammal, the elephants or jump the trees pushed over by them. The terrain differs from scrublands to acacia woodland to open dried out lake pans. Today we will return to camp for lunch and head out for another ride in the afternoon. Before sunset, we return to camp to enjoy another night in this remote and remarkable place on earth.

Wake up with the sun as this is the last full day of riding. We will make the most of it, exploring the area, hopefully have good luck tracking and get the chance to see lions, elephants maybe even the very shy lesser Kudu. The night will be spent in the same camp overlooking the pans with its plains game on constant alert for predators. Hopefully this night is clear, as apart from the view of the mountains within this area, the night sky is a mind-blowing site.

The last morning has arisen, and the safari has come to its end, enjoy a big breakfast before directions are taken towards civilization, depending on road conditions about 3 hours journey back to the airport. If anyone flies out late and wish to book a day room, please let us know in advanced so we can book it for you.

The adventure has come to its end and reality is waiting around the corner. Safari ends...for this time.