Chameleon Holidays & Travel for Safaris & Vacations in Africa | Southern Africa | Namibia | Great Fish River Canyon Horse Riding Safari (11 days)

Chameleon Holidays & Travel (Explore Southern and East Africa)

Great Fish River Canyon - Horse Riding Safari - 11 Days

With a combination of dramatic canyon landscapes, spacious 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 over two private parks; Gondwana Park and Aussenkehr Park and together covering an area of about 237,000 ha, 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 Namib Ferral Horse population, descended from seventeen horses of the original wild horse population at Garub in the Namib Desert, relocated during the 1992 drought.

Day 1
You will be met at Windhoek International Airport and transferred to a guest house/lodge in Windhoek for dinner bed and breakfast. Meet a Namibia Horse Safari representative and be briefed on the ride.

Day 2
After breakfast the group transfer leaves early, for the transfer to the Mule station our overnight stop. Meet your guides, crew, and horses and if time permits go on a short trial ride to familiarize horses with riders. That evening at Mule Station, pack bare necessities for the next 2 nights into a small bag. Roads are inaccessible for the larger safari vehicles that meet up with us again on Day 5.

Day 3:
The morning ride follows the 4x4 track to a place called Koelkrans (cool cliff) next to the Fish River where we take the welcome opportunity for a swim. In the afternoon we ride back out of the canyon to one of the most spectacular camp sites, called Horse Shoe Camp

Day 4: From the edge of the canyon, down zebra paths, along rocky tributaries down to the Fish River. Ride along the river to a lunch spot at Sandy Beach, the last opportunity to swim in the Fish River. We make our way up and over the mountain on a steep track, to the unexpected oasis of Canyon Outpost in the Gaap River.

Day 5: A long, fast exhilarating day’s ride across the black limestone plateau during the morning and then through endless savannah into an area strewn with granite boulders and dotted with charismatic Quiver trees, to arrive at Mountain Camp. Enjoy the luxury of en-suite bathrooms, beds with linen and a very special evening at Mountain Camp.

Day 6: We visit the Main Viewpoint overlooking the Fish River Canyon before lunch, back at Mountain Camp. Winding through milk bushes across the plains to Kanebis, you will most probably spot some game along the way and enjoy the evening stories around the open campfire.

Day 7: Ever changing scenery awaits us, a ‘Smarties box’ of geological formations and depending on rainfall, this day could deliver good game viewing. Camping against a rock wall at Fourie se Gat (a hole dug by Mr. Fourie) and enjoy an unforgettable sunset

Day 8:

Enthusiastic riders can ride along a dirt road through granite outcrops. Alternately, travel by motor vehicle to Ais-Ais hot springs along this same road, to spend the morning relaxing in warm water while your horse runs loose to the lunch spot at Mnt. Elena. The topography unfolds into wide-open plains and the afternoon ride will cross some of the best riding plains in the world, to our camp in the dry Gamkab River.

Day 9:

Riding over endless plains we can roam freely in a vast environment, to isolated sand dunes in Aussenkehr Nature Park, then on again to a camp surrounded by stacked boulders, which could only have been the work of giants.

Day 10:

The last ride. Stunning contrasts again; ride from the wide-open plains, where we could encounter the Wild Horses, into the very narrow Kings Throne canyon and on to a viewpoint, surprisingly revealing the Orange/Gariep River flanked by vineyards in an otherwise barren landscape. Another canter as well as some strolling through the vineyards where we finally untack at Norotshama River Resort, situated on the banks of the Orange River.

Day 11:

Depart on a 7/8-hour road transfer for Cape Town.

2012 Departures
14-24 April; 30Aug-9Sep

2012 Rates
[valid until 31 October 2012]
£3600 & US$210 single supplement

Price includes: All riding, accommodation and meals, all drinks (excluding those in lodges or restaurants), road transfers to & from Windhoek International Airport as per itinerary;

Price excludes: Personal travel insurance - this is compulsory; drinks and refreshments at all lodges and restaurants; rider’s weight limit strictly 85kg in riding gear. Fit riders over 85kg please enquire about surcharges for additional horse/s; accommodation not listed on the itinerary. Please enquire; additional activities and packages. Please see itinerary recommendations; tips/gratuities; items of a personal nature; flights; visas

Option: for groups to fly in and out of Cape Town if preferred but this means a longer road transfer to the start point of the ride, and the above price does not include the first night accommodation etc in Cape Town but starts with the pick up from a guest house in Cape Town on the first morning of the itinerary with the road transfer to the overnight stop on the Orange river enroute to the start point of the ride.

PLEASE NOTE!

Riding pace:
• 20 – 50 km riding per day
• Terrain allows for all paces
• Suitable for fit intermediate riders

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