This Kenya walking and horseback safari is for people who would rather be in the landscape than look at it through a window. It combines two regions where community and private land allows the most freedom: the green, volcanic Chyulu Hills, rising between Amboseli and Tsavo with Kilimanjaro on the horizon, and the Laikipia plateau north-west of Mount Kenya. Vehicles are there when you want them, but most days are spent in the saddle or on foot.
The riding is matched to ability and the walking is steady rather than extreme, but this is not a trip for beginners on horseback. To join the longer rides you should be comfortable at walk, trot and canter in open country, with an independent seat, and within each stable’s weight limit. Non-riders in your party can walk, drive or mountain-bike instead. Our pages on horseback safaris in Kenya and walking safaris explain each format in more depth.
Why this route works
The Chyulus come first because their rides and walks make the gentlest introduction: rolling grass, a cool breeze off the hills and a lodge base where each outing can be matched to how you feel. By day five you are riding-fit and walking-fit, ready for Laikipia’s bigger country. Laikipia opens on a ranch, where the stable, rhino tracking and mountain bikes give you variety, and closes with the fly camp, the most committing part of the trip, which deserves settled legs and nerves. Flying between the two regions, via Wilson Airport or on a direct charter, avoids a full day on the road through Nairobi, and the walk-out on the last morning ends at an airstrip rather than a long drive.
