About

Nadine, our Equestrian Manager, has been with Ride Mara from the very first day. Designing the stables, overseeing the constructions, picking the horses, establishing the herd, building & training the equestrian team, buying & fitting the tack and scouting riding routes. She knows every horse intimately. She handpicked each horse, oversaw their journey to Olerai Conservancy, helped them acclimatise to the tropical climate in Kenya and got them used to their new career path in the bush.

Nadine’s passion has always been horses, nature and wildlife. However just after school she gave Germany’s corporate world her best shot from Monday to Friday after studying business meanwhile weekends were spent performing in a horse musical show touring through Europe with 40 horses and 100 actors or competing in local show jumping and dressage events. While she loved the experience, her passion is safari riding. ‘I developed such a joy in living with horses in the bush,’ she says. ‘To be with a horse in its natural environment brings out all their inner beauty is most inspiring for everyone around.’ Ready to escape from a job behind the desk then moved to Africa to combine the passion for horse riding and training and the great outdoors. After several years in the horse industry in Southern Africa, she returned to Germany where she got a diploma in Equine Management and Classical Training from a State Stud.

Having competed in dressage and jumping, and also trained young horses for their first competitions, taught kids and adults up to medium levels equestrian skills, Nadine has a huge amount of experience, mostly in the classical disciplines, in the world of horse riding. While travelling with circus people from all over the world and working in sundry yards in various countries, she saw lots of different ways of keeping, handling and managing horses, leading her to become widely versed in theories of keeping horses. ‘It’s important to me that we keep them as comfortable as possible,’ she says, ‘and accommodate all their natural instincts but don’t forget about individual needs of each and every horse.’

Nadine personally designed the Ride Mara stables according to recent research and beliefs she’s accrued over many years working with horses. She used her knowledge in building up horses physical fitness and wellbeing, creating fun sessions for the horses mental sweetness, fitting tack, doing supportive training and coping with physical issues to ensure our horses are perfectly attuned to safari riding.

Meet Stanley, our smart and passionate Maasai horsemen. Stanley is originally from Mau Forest, but some of his family live within the Olerai Conservancy as Landlords. When Stanley was a student, he represented Narok county in the long-distance running competition, and competed at a national level.

He completed secondary education in 2018, and came to Lerai Camp eager to guide visitors in his ancestral lands. At Olerai Camp, Stanley worked as a gardener at first and built a friendship with Nadine when she came to the mara building the horsestables. Stanley was so interested when he saw the barn going up and the paddock for the horses being established! When the horses arrived at our camp in 2020, Stanley was the obvious choice to become part of the equestrian team. Having grown up being responsible for lifestock the daily care and handling of the horses just came natural for him. Our horses are the luckiest to have somebody like Stanley!

Stanley soon started riding and began taking lessons with Nadine in the arena and John in the bush, and they got him hooked on horses completely! He became very dedicated and learned the nature of horses and riding techniques quite fast. Stanley was also able to complete his bronze guiding certification with the Kenya Professional Safari Guiding Association, and is now our back-up horse guide. Stanley is one of our most trusted caretakers, and his love for the horses and the sport is truly inspiring.

John Ekalale is our witty, reliable, and compassionate barn manager and our lead horse safari guide. He is part of the Turkana tribe of Northern Kenya and grew up in the western part of Lakipia. At the age of 19, John was hired at a horse safari camp in Lakipia as a vegetable gardener, but that only lasted for 3 days! When he saw the horses he wrote an application to his manager and requested to work with the horses.

Expressing his love for these majestic animals–although he had no experience. John was hired and started immediately working with the horses as a groom and general caretaker. One month later he was riding, and he had natural skills and was able to understand the horses instincts immediately. John spent 10 years working in Lakipia with the horses, and completed his KPSGA bronze level guide certification as a safari driver, walking guide, and horseback guide. He is extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife and knows how to approach the animals safely. John can read the bush and it’s inhabitants like no other person, and loves sharing these interactions with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

When the first safari horses were brought to Nairobi in 2019, John joined Nadine and together they began their training. Eventually, in August 2020 they moved the entire set up to Maasai Mara and John has been overseeing the horse operations with Nadine ever since. Not only is John an excellent rider and guide, but he is also a well-rounded horseman who works as a talented farrier. He has completed many learning sessions with a barefoot specialist from South Africa, and his expertise has allowed all of our horses at Ride Maasai Mara to run barefoot. We are thrilled to have such a passionate leader guiding our safaris on horseback in the Mara.