Kazakhstan horse riding vacation

Planet

It's hard to avoid the fact that you are likely to arrive in Kazakhstan by plane, although we do encourage keen train travelers! Once you are here, however, we minimise further carbon emissions by traveling in the most sustainable way possible, as much as possible - by horse. Happily, riding is also the best way to experience the area.

Clean water is thankfully not a scarce resource where we ride, and we want to keep it that way. This is about maintaining the purity of rivers and streams that we camp near. We ensure that our toilet is dug a suitable distance from the water course each evening. Dishes and clothes are washed away from the waters edge. We do encourage guests to swim and wash in rivers, but soap-free is the way to go.

Pioneering a strict trash and low-impact policy is also an important part of forging the way for responsible travel in this delicate national park.

We work with Katon Karagay National Park rangers, who provide the horses we ride. They are used by the rangers in their daily patrolling of the park, so are fit and sure-footed. They are well cared for and in good condition. They are 'work horses' so are looked after in order to be able to perform well on patrol. The saddles are basic but functional, and fit the horses well. We have a policy in place where we ask the park administration to sign a document stating that the horses are in good condition, with no saddle sores. We then check each horse. Often they arrive in camp fully saddled, so we make a point of removing all saddles to check thoroughly. We usually change horses three times, as we move between different ranger territories, making it especially important to make sure each new set of horses meets our standards.

The park rangers have almost no experience of working with western horse riders, apart from us, so we do feel a sense of responsibility to make sure we show them what is expected. We find they are very willing to learn, and make changes as needed. Some of the younger rangers can be a little rough with the horses (not hitting them, just handling them less calmly than is ideal), but we are clear that our riders do not want to see this sort of behaviour. The way the Kazakhs shoe the horses can seem unusual, but is effective, and we have not had any problems with lame horses. In summary, we find that the welfare of the horses is good, and we believe that by bringing western riders to the National Park, we are helping to improve it even further.

People

Visiting Kazakhstan is new territory not only for most international travelers and locals but for travel companies such as us. In Mongolia, we have built up close relationships with our local staffs and their families over the years and focused on developing the kind of tourism and business that works for them. Our goal in Kazakhstan is to not only continue that philosophy and practice, but to lead the way in community-connected, responsible tourism. We recognise that the best way to really get to know any place is by drawing in close to the camp fire in the evening and getting to know the local people you are riding with.

Furthermore, the unique opportunity of riding in the Katon Karagai National Park affords us the ability to work directly with the park rangers and management. In doing so, we can not only listen to the needs of the local communities, bolster the park staff's connection with travelers and travel route development, but help support the eco-friendly, low-impact guidelines around which we've built our trip style.