discover with us the magic of horse-riding in the desert...
Horse-riding in the desert is an experience you will never forget. Riding an arabian horse in the Eastern North African Sahara, in Egypt, Fayoum, will make you feel like in a movie, in a dream, in the novel of the 1001 arabian nights…It is not just about riding, or about the company, or both. It is about Sahara.
First of all, we have to precise some important detail. Some people around the world think that the word “sahara” is the name of the North African desert, from Morocco to Egypt and across the whole Sahel region of North Africa. However, the word “sahara” actually means “desert” in arabic. Thus, you can call the North African desert “sahara”, as much as the Middle-Eastern deserts, or any other desert in the world. We thought it important to precise this little vocabulary detail… But now, let us talk about Sahara and the culture of the desert, focusing on the Arabian parts of the world.
Arabian deserts are pure magic, would it be in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Morocco. Each desert has similarities in the landscapes, yes, and similarities in the saharoui communities’ cultures yes, but in the same time… each Sahara has its own particularities, its own magic, its own people, its own soul. For sure, we will here focus on Egypt, and in this very article about our own Sahara: the Fayoum Desert.
When you go to Sahara on horseback, you feel the vibe of the ancient civilisations who crossed these deserts by camel caravan, with their loyal Arabian horses. You feel the power of nature, how much we, as human beings, are so small in this infinity. You can feel the power of Arabian horses in their element, and can imagine how bedouin and touareg tribes were living and surviving in this strange, hostile but beautiful and peaceful environment. This is what we want to express: you don’t just come here, see the desert, and ride horses. You feel the desert, you feel its power, its wilderness. You live the desert vibe.
The Fayoum desert is called like this due to the fact that it starts at the borders of the huge Fayoum oasis, the biggest oasis down of Cairo (2h away drive). This desert will then continue on until the borders of Libya, with close to it the famous Siwa oasis, on the Egyptian side of the border. This desert used to be very wild, very hostile to cross and live in, very savage. During the last years, it has been more and more crossed, and used, for commercial reasons and mostly touristic reasons. This sahara is full of historical sites to visit, and has very different landscapes, but mostly: it is huge.
We are based in Tunis village, at the western end of the Fayoum oasis, thus the entry of the big Fayoum Sahara. Our location gives us the possibility to take our clients to discover several different parts of desert, on both sides of the big Qarun lake of the oasis. People are taken to visit the most famous area in the west-south, with the Wadi El Rayane lake and the Magic Lake, or they can be taken to the other side of the desert, on the opposite shores of the Qarun lake, in the north of the oasis, toward Cairo.
In both directions, there is a lot to see. Visitors’ eyes get lost between magnificent landscapes, historical sites and the mystery of the infinity of Sahara. Being here in our region is goosebumps guaranteed. We won’t focus here on the historical sites… We want to give you our feelings about our horse-riding tours in the desert.
When you sit in your saddle, on your beautiful Arabian horse, and you start your desert trip with us, you will be overwhelmed with many emotions and feelings. Excitement, joy, happiness, and also an interesting feeling of fear of the unknown, because the desert can’t be explain. It can’t be controlled, it can’t be possessed, it doesn’t have and ending at the horizon. It is wild, and even if used for touristic reasons, it is still savage, empty, and this is why it is so magnificent and powerful. For all of these reasons, and even more personal feelings proper to each personality, you will all feel the most important feeling in the whole world: freedom.
And this freedom is actually offered by the combination of sahara and horses. You can’t feel the same freedom in a safari car, on a quad… or any engine. This sensation to be there, on an Arabian horse, thus an animal belonging to the desert, as powerful and magnificent as the desert, will give you this special sensation of freedom. We perfectly know that all of our dear visitors can tell how special their trips with us have been. How they were able to forget all of their life problems, and how they were able to let their biggest dreams become true for a while. We are the most trusted horse-riding desert partner for desert rides across the whole country, and there is a reason why. We developed over the years the knowledge and experience to be able to conduct perfectly such adventures deep into sahara on horse-back. We know by heart our deserts, our itineraries across it, and the perfect timing needed to get the full magic of the environment, mostly at sunset and sunrise. Our horses know their ways, the Fayoum desert is their home. They will know when you need to relax while admiring the sun falling down behind the high sand dunes when getting down the mountains to the magic lake, and they will know when to run and race to give you the full freedom sensation proper to the desert.
Talking about running and racing… Yes, everybody knows it. We, Egyptian desert riders, are well known for our “yallah rides”. We are special for that. Because we can do it. We know when and where, for safety of the horses and the riders. We are trained professionals for these kind of riding practices, both guides and horses. When our team guides say you can go, it means… That you can really go. You can put your brain on a side, think of nothing, trust your horse, close your eyes for a second… and then open them in the middle of the gallop to realize how much you are free in that very unique moment. Yes, we make it possible to live this horserider’s dream, because it is of course the dream of any rider in the whole world. And we make it possible, in a safe and trustful way. Some of our best horserider friends from abroad say: “As responsible riders, we can tell that the Fayoum desert horse-riding experience, with Tunis Stable, is the only place, with the only people, and the only horses with who we let ourselves go, in full trust, without overthinking, without keeping control of anything. Once you are in your galop, going straight, and running in the middle of a big group or alone, until the guides say stop… You can be free.”
In Sahara, while horse-riding… We forget everything. We reconnect with ourselves, and with nature. We feel the power, we feel the magnificence, the magic, and we are free, free from anything in the world.
Welcome to Stable Tunis and our adventures !