Do It Yourself

Six to 10-day Namibian trails can be booked through Ride the Wild, which specialises in custom horse safari holidays for a range of budgets. The next Skeleton Coast trail date is 11–21 March 2022, SADC rates from R65 000 per rider, ridethewild.co ride@ridethewild.co

Need to Know

Multi-day desert trails are not for the fainthearted and require a strong level of fitness. Poor riding ability will result in you being unceremoniously booted off your horse's back, either by the horse itself or the riding operator. Riders need to be experienced, able to control their horse at all paces, keep a light seat and soft hands. That being said, for novice riders who want to do this trail: it's worth training up for.

The Horses

Living out on a 3 300ha farm for most of the year, the 91-strong herd of safari horses have ample time to just “be horses” before being brought in at the start of each season for refresher schooling and fitness training. No horse does more than three safaris per year. The fun, varied trail conditions and long periods of field rest result in interested, engaged natures and a willingness to give riders their all.

The Messum Crater

Dating back to about 130-million years ago, this quartz-rich basalt formation is part of an igneous ring complex formed by the collapse of a once-active volcano, with a basin spanning up to 25km across. One can best see the two concentric rings of intrusive rock and extrusive rock from satellite but the views are pretty good from between a horse’s ears, too. For self-drivers, limited camping sites are available on a first come, first served basis, or booked through bespoke 4x4 adventure company, Travel Uncharted.

+264 81 224 8377, travel-uncharted.com