We GUARANTEE you won't find the same horse riding holiday at a lower price through any other source... and if you do, we promise to refund the difference!
from £5,800 or €6,720
Zara & Jill crossed the Namib Desert in September 2022…here’s what they said about this awesome adventure https://www.zarasplanet.com/crossing-the-namib-desert/
The Namib Desert Safari’s: Prices & Dates 2024
These rides are only suited for good intermediate and experienced riders who are comfortable at fast speeds on all terrains. You must be VERY fit, have stamina and be able to cope long hours with canters/gallops of several minutes at a time. Speak to us about how to train for this ride.
Rates are quote per person sharing. These are all set departure rides.
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Please enquire about shorter stay and private trips on other dates.
Note: Rates are subject to daily exchange rate fluctuations, please refer to our ‘Terms & Conditions’ for full details.
Includes – All riding, twin accommodation, all meals and drinks while camping, guides, back up team, equipment and road transfers.
Getting There
On all programmes, transfers are included from specified airports and often at specific set times. Flights should be scheduled as follows.
Namib Desert Ride, Damara Elephant Ride & Skeleton Damara Safari
Arrival: Windhoek Airport (arrival before dinner)
Depart: Windhoek Airport (scheduled flight departing after 15:00pm)
Desert Canyons Trail
Arrival: Cape Town International (arrival strictly by 9:30 am)
Departure: Cape Town International Airport (scheduled flights departing after 20:00pm)
Wolwedans to Wild Horses
Arrival: Windhoek Airport (arrival strictly before 12:00pm)
Departure: Windhoek Airport (scheduled flights after 15:00pm, following charter flight from Luderitz arriving at 12:45pm**)
** Please note that this route often experiences delays.
All our horse riding holidays hold a price guarantee. We believe in your piece of mind on price when you book one of our horse riding holidays and will refund the difference should you find the same horse riding holiday elsewhere at a lower price.
Some 20 years ago ReitSafari pioneered horse safaris across the Namibian desert. Now as the Namibia Horse Safari Company, headed up by Andrew Gillies who owns and personally guides each safari. Andrew is a real life cowboy and incredible horseman, host and manager. The team of Andrew, his back up guide Larissa, his horse/camp managers Colin and Nelson plus chefs Willem and Lya are nothing short of incredible and make sure everything happens smoothly. This ride is one of the best we offer so please take the opportunity to do it if your riding and fitness is up to it. The operation offers riders a truly unforgettable adventure in one of the World’s most spectacular wild places – The Desert Ride.
Crossing the oldest desert in the world on horseback is a journey of a lifetime! The Desert Ride is also one of the toughest rides in the world and not for the faint hearted. Tremendously rewarding, it challenges you the rider and builds mutual respect between yourself and your horse.
The Desert Ride in Central Namibia offers spectacular and fascinating contrasts which guests breathtakingly enjoy – from Khomas Hochland mountains and escarpment to the Kuiseb Canyon; the Tinkas, Tumas and Welwitschia plains, Moon Valley, the seasonal Swakop River and the coastal dunes of the Atlantic Ocean. This is the ultimate ride and if you haven’t ridden in Namibia then this is the one to do. You will ride where no man goes and really explore the Namib desert in a way that no other adventure company even gets near.
Besides The Desert Ride holiday, there are also other exciting treks to choose from in Namibia and include:
Damaraland Elephant Ride/ 10 nights
Damaraland is a very spectacular part of the country, almost inaccessible, with amazing colours and vast open spaces that will blow your mind, ancient craters and remnants from prehistoric times, not to mention the forbidding Skeleton Coast. We may encounter elephant, rhino, cheetah and plains game or be caught by rivers in flood, all of which combines into a tremendous adventure.
Desert Canyons Ride / 10 nights
A combination of dramatic canyon landscapes, open desert plains and the mighty Orange River, this ride offers the opportunity to experience both inaccessible Namibia and real wilderness areas, while riding without limitations. The Fish River Canyon area is world renowned as one of Africa’s most magnificent sites; it is also the second largest canyon in the world. Riding begins in the upper Fish River Canyon, before Nama Karoo plains invite you for endless canters, only to be stopped by the Orange/Gariep River, which forms the southern border of Namibia. Distances covered daily will vary between 20 and 50 kilometres.
This ride crosses two private parks – Gondwana Park and Aussenkehr Park, which cover an area of about 237,000 hectares dedicated to conservation and tourism. These Parks fall within the Nama Karoo Desert biome and are on the fringe of the transitional area between Nama Karoo and Succulent Karoo, the Orange River basin at Aussenkehr being the most arid part of the Nama Karoo biome. Aussenkehr Park is also home to a small population of Namib Feral Horses, descended from seventeen horses of the original wild horse population at Garub in the Namib Desert, relocated during the 1992 drought.
Wolwedans to Wild Horses / 10 nights
This is a very exciting desert ride with many unique attractions to be experienced; see the magical red dunes of Sossusvlei which are the highest in the world, discover contrasting landscapes, challenge yourself with some technical riding and have the chance to see the wild horses of the Namib Desert.
Skeleton Damara Safari/ 10 nights
With breezes from the Atlantic keeping temperatures down, this route is ideal for the southern hemisphere spring months of October and November. Starting in Swakopmund, the ride explores the river valleys of Damaraland where you may spot desert elephant, keeping close to the coast to end with a night in a beach house. 10 days, 9 nights with 7 days riding covering 20 to 50 kms a day. 8 nights camping, 1 in Windhoek, 1 on the Skeleton Coast.
For fit, experienced riders. Meeting / end point Windhoek.
Horses – In the most part they are crossbreeds from a variety that arrived in Namibia in the past century, including Thrakener, Hanovarian, Shagya Arabs, Boerperde & Cape Horses, with more recent additions of Arabians and even the odd Haflinger.
Recently there has also been some Nooitgedacht horses added which are known for their hardiness and kind temperaments. Overall, the horses are generally smaller in body size to help survive the harsh dry and mountainous environments.
The horses are your hero’s on this adventure. They are fit machines trained for endurance and looked after impeccably. Each horse is fed 4 hard feeds a day, lots of lucerne and Andrew will carefully check every horse twice daily for rubs, sores or tiredness. It’s truly incredible how fit these horses are.
Level of Riding & Pace – This an extreme challenge, therefore riders must be Intermediate plus and be very fit. Don’t underestimate your fitness levels.
Tack – Comfortable skirted Endurance saddles. Each saddle is fitted with 2 specially made water bottle holders with water bottles supplied. We really recommend to bring your own seat saver for extra comfort, sheepskin or avacallo is best or some people even combine both! You are also responsible for grooming, checking over and tacking up your own horse but there is always help at hand to make sure it is done correctly.
Weight Restriction – There is a strict weight limit of 85kg dressed in full riding gear – fit riders heavier than this can be catered for easily. A 2nd horse will be provided at an extra supplement, price on application.
Group Size – Maximum 12.
There is a mix of accommodation – a couple of nights in comfortable lodges at the beginning and end of the ride and in between the majority of clients sleep out under the stars on camp beds. A tent is available if you want it. Camps are set up and moved ahead of you by the back-up team / vehicle. You will pick up your own camp bed and very cosy bedroll when you arrive in the evening and select your spot in the desert to place it for the night! This is true advanture! Obviously, there is limited water in the desert, but showers are usually possible every night with a bucket shower heated by the crew.
You can also expect surprisingly good food while on The Desert Ride adventurer trek from porridge and eggs for breakfast, salads and sandwiches for lunch normally but some days you’ll have the full monty (fish and chips in the desert anyone?) and 2 course evening meals, cooked right on the campfire. Evening meals could be a lasagne with garlic bread followed by hot chocolate pudding or steaks with veggies and then cheesecake. You definetely won’t go hungry.
The kitchen trailer doubles up as the bar and there is always cool drinks, beer, wine and spirits with mixers to help yourself to.
We have travelled the world testing a huge variety of horse riding holidays to make sure we offer you, our client, the best horse riding holiday experience possible.
Our horse riding holidays are thoroughly researched – we consider all the elements that go towards making our horse riding holidays collection the best in the world. We check the quality of the horses, if they are fit for the job, well produced and looked after. We make sure the riding terrain is good going, the countryside is interesting and, for example, on Classic Dressage horse riding holidays, the arenas are in good condition. We make sure the accommodation, whether it’s a five star hotel, a farmhouse or camping, is clean and comfortable, and offers a great night’s sleep. The food is all important too – we take the time to make sure we tell you if it’s cordon bleu, home cooked, or regional and locally sourced – above all it has to be delicious, plentiful and nourishing. Last but not least, we choose the horse riding holidays that have the best hosts, who are friendly, warm and welcoming.
It’s only when all these elements come together that we add a horse riding holiday into our hand-picked collection of horse riding holidays.
Horse Riding Holidays on The Desert Ride is part of the Zara’s Planet Horse Riding Holidays Namibia collection.
You will be met on arrival at Windhoek International Airport and transferred to River Crossing Lodge with its impressive view over Windhoek. Here you will meet the rest of your riding group for dinner and a Namibia Horse Safari Company representative will brief the group about what to expect on your adventure on The Desert Ride.
After breakfast you depart for Sesriem (a journey of about 4 hours) via the Spreetshoogte Pass which affords the first enticing glimpse of the seemingly endless Namib Desert below. At Sesriem you will meet the horses and crew at the campsite under some ancient Camelthorn trees. This afternoon’s excursion is to Sesriem Canyon, and the terminal pan of Sossusvlei itself. You are welcome to attempt to climb the towering dunes for a spectacularly panoramic view. Enjoy sundowners in an idyllic desert setting with a sinuously curving dune crest forming a dramatic backdrop in the fading light.
The start of The Desert Ride adventure takes you up a wide grassy valley flanked on one side by the edge of the Namib Sand Sea. Both lunch, at Tsamsvlei, and your evening camp at Namib Water are near water points which are magnets for desert-adapted game such as Oryx, Springbok, Ostrich and Wildebeest (Gnu). This evening’s camp, at the foot of a long-vegetated dune, offers the first opportunity to sleep out under the magical Milky Way.
This morning sees you traversing the edge of the Namib Sand Sea, crossing dunes so old that vegetation has established a hold, supporting a surprising variety of wildlife in this seemingly inhospitable environment. Riding between long linear dunes which actually amount to mountains of sand, this unspoiled wilderness offers some striking scenery. In the afternoon the pace quickens as you ride across the wide plains of a riverbed before a gentle climb up to your campsite on a hill. Dinner is served in an old farm dam that has been converted into a wonderful dining room!
This morning cross red dunes before a rugged decent into the craggy Gaub canyon where you stop for lunch. This afternoon sees you climb back out of the canyon before continuing across the wide plains to a cave with far reaching and spectacular views of the Badlands of the ephemeral Kuiseb River.
Today you will negotiate the bizarrely rugged Kuiseb Canyon to reach your camp on the northern bank at Aruvlei. It is the Kuiseb which forms a dramatic end to the Namib Sand Sea, flowing just often enough to prevent the dunes from crossing the river. The tracks of Mountain Zebra criss-cross the steep sides of the canyon all leading to a year-round supply of precious water which is preserved by the high, narrow walls of the canyon.
Good terrain affords some faster-paced riding towards the water-point at Ganab where Mountain Zebra, Oryx, Ostrich, Springbok and if you are lucky some desert-adapted warthogs come to drink. Here the wide grassy plains are scarred by several watercourses, some only distinguishable by the long lines of trees which mark their course, sometimes giving shelter some desert-adapted Giraffe.
Another day which affords some faster-paced riding to Hotsas across the Tinkas and Tumas plains, which become ever less vegetated as you approach the coast. On approaching the Marble Mountain, you will often see Ostriches and Mountain Zebra running alongside you, curious about the unusual centaurs inhabiting their desert. From now on life-giving evening fog can be expected, producing 5 times as much precipitation than rainfall in this hyper arid area.
Today’s ride takes you through the hyper aridity of true desert-scapes where you encounter the dinosaur-like of plants, the gnarled Welwitschia Mirablis. Strange shapes form and disappear in mirages and fascinating survival devices of desert adapted creatures astound; this is a land of great antiquity and also tremendous solitude. Pass through the spectacular Moon Valley on your decent to a wonderfully sheltered campsite in the Swakop River.
Set off on your final ride down the Swakop River to the coastal dunes, before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. See your first glimpse of a town in ten days! The last stretch of riding is along the soft white beach sand of Swakopmund. Tonight’s accommodation is a comfortable guesthouse while the horses enjoy their well-deserved rest in a large sandy paddock with a wonderful view of the sea. After sundowners, enjoy your last memorable meal together, reminiscing over an adventure unlikely to be forgotten.
Say a fond farewell at breakfast as the transfer to Windhoek (a journey of c. 5 hours) leaves in time for the late afternoon departure flights from Windhoek International Airport.
Please note: Itinerary routes and accommodation are subject to change, due to circumstances unforeseen and beyond our control.
Additional Attractions
Many guests extend their Namibia experience from this point with an add-on itinerary. Local attractions include the highest dunes in the world – the spectacular Sossusvlei. Go dune sand boarding, desert sky diving, dolphin cruising or surf fishing.
If it‘s big game viewing you’re after, take a short charter flight to world famous Etosha Pan and experience African luxury in a unique treetop camp or a desert fort. We can easily make these onward arrangements for you.
Zara’s Planet Horse Riding Holidays Guarantee:
All our horse riding holidays hold a price guarantee. We believe in your piece of mind on price when you book one of our horse riding holidays and will refund the difference should you find the same horse riding holiday elsewhere at a lower price.
If you are having trouble finding exactly the right horse riding holiday for you from our horse riding holidays collection, please contact us directly using the form below and tell us in your own words what you would like to do and we will use our extensive knowledge to make sure we find that perfect horse riding holiday.
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