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.

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.