Last night I dropped the group at Nairobi airport and so brought our inaugural Kenya Horse Safari to an end. The first yes, but not the last… it’s been an amazing African adventure.
The day after the storm, we woke to clear skies and continued our ride out across Laikipia, this enthralling wilderness with Mount Kenya to our backs and the eastern rim of the Great Rift Valley in front. We spotted a multitude of game – getting very close to huge herds of elephants – and arrived at the gorgeous Suiyan Eco Lodge later that day. Here we fell into an easy routine of a good long ride in the morning – on one occasion seeing hippos in the river, on another checking out another ancient rock shelter, this time containing the buried remains of six Neolithic men – and in the late afternoon having a walk with the lodge owner, Ann Poyis. Ann is an accomplished botanist and a walk with her through this stunning country is a revelation in flora and fauna, herbal medical technics and geology. In the evenings, we sat around a fire and enjoyed the stories of the bush.
On this eight-day adventure we’ve ridden fantastic horses across epic landscapes on a true ‘old style’ African safari. We’ve stayed at two wonderful lodges, for three nights in stylish camps out in the bush and we’ve eaten like kings. We’ve travelled with the charming, entertaining and hugely knowledgeable combo of Michael and Nicky Dyer who, everyone in the group agreed, went a huge way towards making the trip such a success. We’ve met some interesting characters that have been invited to dinner in camp. And of course we’ve seen a multitude of Africa’s great game: besides a hundred other species we saw four of the ‘Big Five’ – elephant, buffalo, lion and rhino – and heard the fifth; a rogue leopard prowling round camp!
But the game is not what has really impressed me on this trip; what I’ve loved more than anything has been the sense of journey and adventure – albeit in some style – that we’ve experienced. This safari has not been about riding in circles with the sole raison d’etre to spot game; that has been a byproduct of a very African journey that we’ve made across the Laikipia Plateau.
So if you like your horse riding holidays to come with the added sense of purpose that comes from making a journey; if you like to see and experience Africa at her grandest – with endless planes and giant skies – if you like to travel to hidden places where few if any have been before, and if you like to do all that in some style, then here in Laikipia you will find one of the best horse adventures anywhere in the world.
I’ll be planning another as soon as I’m back – so watch this space! But for now it’s off to the coast and a quick trip to Lamu.
