Horse riding school and private conservation area at Kilimanjaro

Being greeted by Princess, the African elephant, is not dissimilar to be checked out by the nozzle of an industrial vacuum cleaner. With her small eyes focussed keenly on mine, she snoozles my chest, my legs, and makes a beeline for my hair. She is a yard from me, with no fence. As she deftly takes out my hair grip, her keeper Dirk says “Just let her go at her pace, let her come to you, and don’t do anything loud or sudden”. The end of the trunk is ridiculously agile, like a pair of human fingers at the end of this strange wavy tube. I know the greeting is coming to an end when she lifts up her trunk and ‘high fives’ me.

”I am fascinated in how elephants and humans interact” says Dirk; “we don’t ever ride the elephants, but just communicating with them is an electric experience.” And it is, he is right. I can not remember the last time I made a tentative friendship with a clever creature weighing seven tons.

Some people and animals are worth travelling great distances to meet. Princess, the horses and the team of the horse ranch and private conservation area at Kilimanjaro are in this group. The ranch comprises of an 11,000 acres large land which has been declared a private game reserve, where the owner is offering nature-based activities and cultural encounters to tourists.

 

The ranch's special attraction are multi day horseriding safaris which depart from Ndarakwai into the Great Rift Valley and other wilderness areas of Northern Tanzania. The participants can canter next to herds of wildebeest, zebras and giraffes through the endless and unspoilt African landscapes such as savannas, bushland and acacia forests. This is a unique and fascinating experience for horse riders. In the wilderness, one will sleep in tents. The horses are being kept at the "Chue cha Farasi" (which means "horse riding farm" in Swahili) from where also short horseriding day trips within the conservation area are being arranged, just as walking safaris, kayaking, "elephant whispering", and night and day game drives. At the moment there are 16 horses at the ranch.

 

Besides the horse breeding and riding school, the owners also operate a safari lodge of upper category. Just as during the horse safaris, they focus on the minimization of negative impact to nature and on cultural encounters with the Massai and other tribes who live in the area. Visiting such tribes is a popular part of the horse riding safaris.

 

The ranch is located in the Siha District of the Kilimanjaro region between Ngare Nairobi and Tingatinga. Generally, the area is referred to as "West Kili". The distance to Arusha is around 100 km (1 to 1.5 hours to drive) and around 90 km to Moshi. The landscape is a combination of high long grass plains, classic Acacia savannah, Commiphora thickets, and riparian habitats. Within the conservation area there is a huge amount of wildlife. Amongst the animals that can be seen easily are elephant, zebra, eland, giraffe, waterbuck, wildebeest, hartebeest, impala, dik dik, warthog,grants gazelle, olive / yellow baboon hybrid, blue monkeys, velvet monkeys, lesser kudu,gerenuk, cape buffalo, oryx, banded mongoose, thompson’s gazelle, black backed jackal,dwarf mongoose, african wildcat, serval cat, klipspringer, stein buck, mountain reedbuck bateared fox, python and more than 350 bild species.

 

For volunteers, long-term stays with a minimum duration of 2 month can be offered. The ranch owners are particularly looking for volunteers with skills in plumbing, website design, agriculture, carpentry, environment, solar power, water management, building, marketing, agriculture and gardening, equestrianism, outdoor instructors, zoology and biology. Postgraduate students are welcome to base themselves at the ranch whilst they write up. Please note electricity and internet access are very limited. If you are unsure about your qualification, please ask us.

 

The horse riding school owners are perfectly able and willing to adapt accommodation to your budget. One option is a fully catered tented camp in the bush, complete with flushing toilet, another one a basic bedroom in an outhouse. For the rugged hardcore, there is cooking over an open fire, no internet and limited electricity, on a bedroll in a basic tent. They are also willing to work out a program for you which allows you to participate in horse riding safaris into the National Parks, game drive safaris and other excursions at very attractive rates.