Kilimanjaro Elephant Ride

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport where a driver 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, depending on availalbity. Meet up with the rest of the group for sundowners and dinner hosted by one of the guides for the safari.

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. There are good chances of seeing, buffaloes, giraffes – all your plains game, while elephants and leopards are present but 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 you head towards the night stop, you 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 whose old riding paths this horse safari follows through the holy forests of the park. Arrive at camp, based on the foot of Mt Meru in time for showers and sundowners then dinner under the stars.

This morning you may wake up to the very talkative Colobus monkeys. Breakfast is served and shortly thereafter you’ll mount up set off toward the area where“Hatari,” was filmed, starring John Wayne. Thereafter halfway into the morning ride you’ll start the climb to reach the “Fig Tree Arch,” big enough to fit five horses underneath. The ride continues until you reach the lunch spot, beautifully located in the rain forest next to a waterfall. You’ve reached about 2,000 meters above sea level. After lunch you’ll head back toward camp, passing another waterfall en route. Upon arrival back at camp you will have the option to travel by vehicle to the Momella Lakes, to look for hippos, flamingos and many other 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 like a shadow.
Later this morning you will find the horses waiting for you in the bush (having been trucked in the evening before). The ride is amongst Tanzanian farmland and the Masai 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 Masai tribespeople 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 open plains, making sure to reach our night stop at a new camp location before the sun hits the horizon.

Wake up calls followed by an English breakfast. Everyone mounts up as 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 land living mammal- the elephant- or jumping 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, 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. You 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 you have a late departure we can add a day room option for you with advance notice.