Why come to ride horses in Ethiopia?
Because the high plateaus of Ethiopia have to rate as some of the best riding ground in the world; because the Ethiopians who inhabit these plateaus are a people of the horse to this day; because you’ll get to see the country like no one else, and that its inhabitants will receive you like their own when they see you riding like them.
Forget the images of a parched and dried up land: this is the quintessential Ethiopia of babbling brooks, yellow flowers and smiling pastors. Our mounts, a mixture of the famed Abyssinian ponies – renowned to this day for their polo playing abilities – and of the descendants of Emperor Haile Selassie’s stable of Lipizzaner, Arabs and race horses, will whisk you over the plains, from Orthodox monastery to old forest, from rock hewn church to high mountain pass.
Equus Ethiopia offers a mixture of rides, from a three hour weekend trail ride to visit a local horse market (we’re just a 30mn car drive from Addis Ababa) to a two day trip to a rare montane forest founded by a medieval emperor, to one or two week exploratory treks over the high plateaus in which we’ll witness firsthand the life of the peoples of Ethiopia.
Yves Stranger, who runs Equus Ethiopia together with his wife Lydia Fantaye, has lived in the country for six years. He likes to think that he speaks fluent Amharic – the national language – writes regularly about the country on his website Uthiopia.com and has been riding since his childhood in the south of France where he used to shepherd goats on horseback.
Whether you prefer a short trail ride to enjoy Ethiopia at a leisurely pace, the charm of an overnight in a centuries old forest, or the adventure of a week long trek, if you want to mix horses and Ethiopia, Equus is the place for you.