9 Days Lake Natron Horse Ride
Lake Natron Day 1
Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport ready for your 9-day Lake Natron Horse Ride. Here, you will be picked up by one of the team from Kiwoito Africa Safaris and driven for thirty-five minutes to the lodge where the first night is spent. Settle into the new surroundings and meet the other participants on the safari. Sundowners and dinner will be at either the lodge or, if there’s a polo game on, at the polo club for sundowners, followed by dinner back at the lodge.
Lake Natron Day 2
The following morning, after a big English breakfast, Drive to the North of N’garuka Village. Upon arrival, the crew are waiting with welcome drinks and opened arms for everyone to join the safari team at Kiwoito Africa Safaris. After the introduction to the tents, which are bell tents, lunch is served, and a safari briefing takes place. After lunch, each guest gets given his or her horse, and an afternoon ride takes place so everyone can get comfortable in the saddle. The day ends around the bonfire.
Lake Natron Day 3
Everyone is woken up to tea or coffee; breakfast is served. The day’s ride is scenic and cultural. We ride through Maasai bomas and encounter herdsmen out grazing their cattle. Around midday, we stop for a lunch break, where we all have some refreshments under a nice shaded tree. The lunch is either vehicle-supported or carried in our saddlebags. We continue and try to cover the ground to reach our night stop before the sun hits the horizon.
Lake Natron Day 4
An English breakfast follows an early wake-up call before joining your mount. Directions are northbound for the day, with Gelai Mountain overlooking us from the East. The day’s ride leaves the Massai villages behind and enters the Natron region’s beautiful, almost dreamlike scenery. If lucky the day’s ride will encounter big herds of zebras and wildebeest roaming the opened landscape. Lunch break occurs in the bush before heading for the night’s camp.
Lake Natron Day 5
Wake up with coffee and tea before a bush breakfast.is served. Thereafter, everyone mounts his or her horses, and the safari continues. Today we will explore the areas around the only active volcano in Africa, Oldonyo L’Engai (Mountain of God). Late lunch back in camp with time for a siesta. The afternoon is for everyone to relax allowing riders and horses muscles to rest.
Lake Natron Day 6
After an early full English breakfast, we have the longest and toughest ride ahead. We are covering about 60 km in close to 40 degrees Celsius temperature. With the volcano behind us, we enter a riverbed that offers shade and cross the open landscape before arriving for the lunch break. We stop in the shades of some big acacias, near a riverbed to gain more energy for the last stretch of the day’s ride. The night is spent close to the hot springs, overlooking the lake.
Lake Natron Day 7
After breakfast, a 45-minute walk takes place towards the springs that enter the soda lake on the eastern shores. After the exhausting heat and dust, a rewarding dip adds to the enjoyment of the day’s adventures. Enjoy lunch in the springs and walk or drive back to camp. A late evening ride takes place, enjoying the cooler hours before darkness with good chances of seeing hyenas and jackals searching for food on the mud flats of the lake.
Lake Natron Day 8
We depart early in the morning, leaving the dry, desolate, and hauntingly beautiful lake behind us. We follow the well-known riverbed back to the lush, green grassland on the foot of Oldonyo L’Engai. The night is spent in a place now familiar to everyone.
Lake Natron Day 9
Everyone wakes up after a good night’s rest. A sad farewell is due, and everyone has to say goodbye to the camp crew. It is time to pack your bags and for the last time on this journey, with your mount ride to the airstrip, where a chartered plane is waiting to fly us back to Arusha. Lunch will be served upon arrival to the lodge, and showers will be available; however, if someone would like to book a day room before flying out, let us know in advance.
This day Marks an End to Your 9 Days Lake Natron Horse Ride