Horseback safaris in southern and East Africa are becoming ever more popular, but none have earned higher praise than those conducted by Tristan Voorspuy. The former British Army officer, 51, who has been leading them in Kenya for 22 years, has established a reputation, particularly among the equine fraternity in Europe and the United States, for lengthy rides in Maasailand, Laikipia and the Chyulu Hills that are not just supremely well organized but also a lot of fun. A week or so in the saddle with Voorspuy, a raconteur, would-be poet, outstanding horseman and wildlife expert, is one of life’s richer experiences.

Voorspuy does not particularly care for the daredevil reputation he has created in some quarters, fuelled perhaps by the actress Joanna Lumley’s comment that she considered him “the bravest man in Africa”. For him, the safety of his clients is of paramount importance. Naturally, there have been fallers, some of whom have suffered some serious injuries, not least himself, but incidents with lions, for example, have been very rare on his riding safaris. Indeed, on an eight-day ride through more than a dozen private ranches in Laikipia, in which we covered close to 150 miles, we were much more concerned about falling into aardvark-created holes in the savannah than predators.

“Lions have taken an interest in us while riding past and we’ve occasionally been charged,” Voorspuy says. “However, each time the feline has quickly realised that there’s more to the combination of horse and rider than they’d first assumed, and have promptly aborted their charge. In some areas, prides have become habituated to horses, which means we can get almost as close as any vehicle without disturbing them.”
One of the joys of being on horseback is that you can generally get much closer to most animals than in a vehicle. You really feel more at one with them. A highlight of our ride was galloping alongside a herd of Jackson’s hartebeest, a rare species found only in Laikipia (only 2000 remain). On a horse, your very silence means you can surprise animals that might long have been persuaded to move on by the sound of a vehicle. Poachers, too, have been exposed after being chanced upon by Voorspuy, an honorary warden of the Masai Mara.

Our adventure, featuring twelve proficient riders from America as well as Tristan, two back-up staff and a spare horse, began at Sosian Ranch, a five-hour drive north of Nairobi. Despite being a massive 24,000 acres, it was still not the largest ranch we would stay at or ride through. Its plentiful game set the tone for the whole journey, for while Laikipia cannot match the Mara for sheer abundance of numbers, we saw everything I’d hoped for bar lion, though we often felt their presence. Highlights included a pair of cheetahs, a leopard jumping out of a tree, a herd of 50 eland, an oryx without a tail, a pair of gerenuk and striped hyena. We also encountered oodles of elephants and buffaloes, as well as black rhino at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Some species we saw were truly rare, such as Grevy’s zebra with their thin stripes and huge ears.

Spending two nights at each of the four camps meant that our day’s rides alternated from challenging 6-7 hour stints between properties to relaxed ones in or around camp. The latter involved an early morning ride before breakfast, when we would leave with the dawn chorus reverberating in our ears, and a second ride in the soft golden light of a late African afternoon. During the day, we might go out for a game-drive and picnic or swim in the rivers (our height above sea-level ensured there were no crocodiles). Tristan seemed to know every contour, every viable river crossing and every tree that was best for shade. Lunch was always two-hours long, in a carefully chosen spot.

Our second camp, a divine spot by the Ewaso Ngiro River, was on the El Karama Ranch owned by the Grant family. Although it was dry season, unseasonable rains a month earlier had transformed it into a veritable Garden of Eden, with masses of grass for cattle and wildlife alike. Guy Grant said he had never seen it in such condition since buying the property in 1963.

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