Emerald Coast, Uruguay
Horses
Type of horses:
English, quarter horses and other breeds crossed with the local Uruguayan criollo.
Nature of horses:
Perfectly suited to the terrain, experienced and trustworthy.
Height of horses:
14hh - 16hh
Weight limit:
90kg (heavier riders will be requested to pay a supplement for a second horse).
Tack type:
Local, South American type saddle with thick sheepskin seats. Saddlebags provided.
Weather
Current Conditions:
Fair, 12 C
Forecast:
Wed - Mostly Cloudy. High: 13 Low: 6
Thu - Sunny. High: 16 Low: 10
Full Forecast at Yahoo! Weather
(provided by The Weather Channel)
Pricing
The price for this tour, based on 4 or more riders, is £1538 per person. This is for double room occupancy. The price includes riding on 8 days, transfers from Montevideo, horses, guides and grooms, accommodation and meals (from breakfast on day 2 to lunch on day 9).
Single supplement is £224
There is a supplement for riders over 90kg as they will require an extra horse.
Price does not include flights or travel insurance.
Availability/Booking Form
Ride Description
This exceptional riding opportunity takes you through a variety of wonderfully diverse landscapes and allows riders to experience a multitude of terrains and views. This little-known country has a perfect riding climate and is a great choice for experiencing some traditional South American life from the comfort of a part-bred Uruguayan Criollo horse. You will travel alongside skilled gauchos, seeing a variety of wildlife (including some amazing birds), and will pass through this outstanding mix of landscapes. Enjoy a delicious gourmet lunch at some idyllic settings before working your way towards traditional estancias and working farms where you will spend your nights. The people here are friendly, welcoming and full of knowledge regarding the history and wildlife of this magnificent area. The gauchos will fascinate you with their traditional methods and the horses are all full of character, ensuring your absolute satisfaction and delight with your well organised Uruguayan trip.
This ride is organised by a British lady, Sally, who began running rides in Ecuador in 1996 (also available). Sally has a great amount of riding experience and was astonished by the beauty of the landscapes in these parts of South America. She heads a wonderful team who will ensure you have the greatest of trips and can experience the authentic ways and cultural heritage of the region.
See Programmes.
Food & Accommodation
Accommodation is in comfortable hotels and working estancias. These often have pools and lovely gardens for your enjoyment and are a great way to soak up the culture and to enjoy some delicious food.
The food on this ride is delicious and authentic Uruguayan cuisine. You will sometimes enjoy fresh fish on a beachside barbecue along with a glass of refreshing Uruguayan wine or perhaps have a tasty lunchtime picnic.
Further Details
Languages: English and Spanish
Health requirements: Fit, healthy and riding fit.
Age limit: 18+
Tuition: No
Included: Riding, accommodation and meals as detailed by the programmes.
Not included: Flights, taxes, personal expenditure (souvenirs, laundry, bar bills, telephone calls etc.), gratuities.
Travel Information
You will be collected from Montevideo airport and will spend the night there. This transfer is included.
Airport: Montevideo
Programme
9 Day Tour
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As you will find out if you take this trip, this destination was made for riding! It has the ideal climate and such a wonderful variety of terrains, perfect for a true South American experience. By staying at traditional estancias and working farms you will learn of authentic Uruguayan life; tasting their flavourful foods, enjoying the company of your hosts (a chance to absorb some of their knowledge) and perhaps relaxing in the garden. If you're a lover of nature and take pleasure in bird watching or looking out for wildlife then this is a great choice for you. Some of the animals spotted on this trip include Franca whales, dolphins, turtles, sea lions, capybaras (largest rodent in the world and very cute), armadillos, rheas (South America's ostrich), black-necked swans, roseate spoonbills, Maguari stork and many species of heron and ibis. Itinerary: Day 1 - Montevideo and the famous 'Rambla': Guests are collected from the airport and have a chance to relax in the very easy-going capital of Uruguay, Montevideo, before being taken to lunch and on a private city tour. Guests might also like to wander along the unique ‘Rambla’ (a very pleasant, wide boulevard with beaches, along the river estuary) whilst soaking up the sun. There is also the gaucho museum, galleries and shops with local crafts and tack and also the chance to get acquainted with one of Uruguay’s best kept secrets: the excellent wines. The city is very safe and guests can explore at their own pace before the city tour that is arranged for them during the afternoon. Overnight at a comfortable hotel in Montevideo’s centre. Day 2 - National Park, 18th century fortress and San Miguel Reserve along the Brazilian border: After an early breakfast, you will be driven north-east to Rocha, the most beautiful province in Uruguay with its pristine beaches, emerald shores and network of lagoons. You will be right on the Brazilian border and, just before your arrival at the country hotel, you will pass through Chuy where the official boundary between Uruguay and Brazil runs down the middle of the main street. The locals speak a strange mix of Spanish and Portuguese, on one side of the street the shops have signs in Spanish and on the other in Portuguese! You arrive at the country hotel, built in the same stone as the nearby Portuguese fortress, in time for lunch (4-5hrs). From the hotel, you can admire the views out across a huge stretch of water - one of the largest fresh water reserves of South America, the "Merin Lagoon". Once inside the imposing walls of the hotel, guests will appreciate the comfortable rooms and enjoy the delicious food, a far cry from the austere life in the nearby fortress! In the afternoon, you will meet your horses and ride around the rocky hills of San Miguel Reserve (3hrs) enjoying a wonderful panoramic view of the area from the top of the boulder-covered ‘Cerro Picudo’. This area is home to a wide variety of birds including several species of vultures that, rather unnervingly, soar overhead in large numbers. The park is a very important flora and fauna reserve now protected from the effects of modern agriculture and is also home to pure Cimarron cattle and Uruguayan criollo horses, giving you a chance to see this wonderful native breed of horse and its gorgeous colourings. You will also ride to the granite fortress built in 1734 by the Spaniards and rebuilt after its destruction by the Portuguese in 1737. You will stay at "Fortín de San Miguel" where guests can enjoy the pool, the gardens and visit the ‘pulperia’ - the traditional meeting point for the gauchos from miles around. Day 3 - Chuy beach into Brazil: In the morning you ride out of the hotel, through the customs post and along the Uruguay-Brazil border, riding for several kilometers in Brazil! Then you turn south along a track and cross the wide, flat expanse of the arid pasturelands. There are opportunities for long canters across the flatlands and you will often pass a horse and cart heading into town for weekly supplies. You then pass fields covered with bizarre conical shaped mounds, the result of very industrious termites. Rheas graze in the fields and you can occasionally spot their enormous eggs; birds of prey hover overhead as they hunt. The burrowing owls sit watching your group on their earth mounds, field flickers and woodpeckers are busy drumming holes in the trees while oven birds build mud nests atop the fence posts. Lunch is a delicious picnic under the shady trees at a large estancia then, after a siesta, you ride on to the beach for an incredible ride along the wonderful, isolated shores of the Atlantic Ocean (7hrs riding). Visitors seldom reach this beach so the group can enjoy a long, exhilarating canter with no signs of habitation as you ride along the pure, firm sands at the waters edge. Guests can ride into the sea. You will arrive 12km (8 miles) further south at "La Coronilla", normally riding right to the ocean front hotel. Overnight at Parque Oceanico, situated next to the beach with indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Day 4 - Santa Teresa National Park, dolphins and shipwrecks: Today you ride your horses along another beautiful part of the coastline to Santa Teresa Fort. Crossing the forested Santa Teresa National Park, you arrive at the imposing restored fort which is the centre piece of the park - started in 1762 by the Portuguese to defend the edge of their territories then completed by the Spaniards who took it by assault just a year later. This was just the start of a succession of conquering, losing and re-conquering the fort; it was not until 1825 that the newly formed ‘Uruguayan nation’ finally captured and held the fort. The fort is surrounded by 3000 hectares of forest containing over 2 million trees, the majority introduced from other parts of the world and, after lunch in the open air, you will enjoy riding along the forest trails down to the beach. Your group will pass a shipwreck buried in the sand – one of many along this treacherous coast. Indeed, Polonio, where you will ride to later in the week, is named after a Spanish galleon that went down just off the point. Luckily ‘Beagle’ with Charles Darwin aboard did not succumb to this fate and Darwin spent quite some time in Uruguay collecting species and most likely starting to formulate his theories of evolution. Most days there is the wonderful sight of dolphins feeding in the bay (5-6 hrs riding). Now you will leave the horses and are driven (10 minutes) back to your hotel located next to the beach for barbequed fresh fish, Uruguayan wine and a second pleasant overnight by the ocean, drifting to sleep with the sound of waves. Day 5 - Don Bosco with tropical palm groves, strangler figs and a trip into Laguna Negra: After an early breakfast, you will be driven a short way towards the famous "Laguna Negra" and later in the day, before enjoying a wonderful barbeque at the lakeside, riders can go into the lake, bareback if they wish. You will meet the horses and set off through an area of palm tree forests and to the lakeshore, passing bird-filled wetlands on the way - the group will surely see black-necked swans, spoonbills, ibis, herons, egrets, storks and a legion of other birds (migratory birds arrive here from as far as Alaska and the Falkland Islands) (4hr ride). Despite a number of stories, no one knows how the palm trees got here - some 300 years old; they are not native but the band of palms gives the landscape a very unique look. During the trip you will pass roadside stalls selling the palm fruit and the less innocent ‘hooch’ brewed from the palm nuts. The cloudy, sticky liquid is so potent that if you leave the cap off the old bottles it is sold in, the liquor evaporates in a flash! After a typical lunch on the lagoon shores, you ride on into a dense forest of strangler figs, as sinister looking as their name suggests, through a protected area of native vegetation and into the Don Bosco hills from where you will be able to enjoy an incredible view of the unique expanse of palm groves and Laguna Negra (2hrs). You will meet the vehicle and head to a wonderful working estancia a little further inland (40 minute drive). Overnight at Estancia El Sauce. Day 6 - Authentic estancia with cattle and rice farming, 'mate' tea and the gaucho life: El Sauce is a working estancia run by its owners who are also your very hospitable hosts. Today your group will be enjoying a full day’s riding (6-7hrs), with plenty of chances of fast paced riding for those who wish, around the farm seeing the rice fields and other crops on the property. Once again in very distinct scenery, you cross creeks and flatlands and ride past the various crops and to the herds of cattle. The owner often joins you as he checks the land and his animals in the company of the gauchos that work with him. The estancia, built in 1920, is very comfortable – it is not a hotel but the family house in which you have been invited to stay as guests of the owners, offering you an incredible experience and a very special insight into the life in the country. Here guests can sample the ‘mate’ sipped hot out of a dry gourd. The gauchos and their ‘mate’ are inseparable and a very sociable ceremony has developed around drinking ‘mate’. In addition to the cattle grasslands this estancia has a large area of marshlands which, along with the rice crops, creates habitats teeming with bird life (nearly 500 species in this area). This gives you another chance to see the graceful black-necked swan (largest population in the world found here), the rare white goose and many ducks and other birds such as the largest bird in South America - the ‘ostrich-like’ nañdu (Rhea), otters, coypus and capybaras inhabit the marshlands and streams. At several points on the trip you should see the roseate spoonbill with very bright pink pigment which, although rare in the world, is quite common in Uruguay. Overnight at this authentic working estancia. This estancia has a swimming pool. Day 7 - Cabo Polonio with beaches, sand dunes and a picturesque fishing village: Today you will ride along the beach and into the desert (5hrs riding). Having visited an excellent local store selling wonderful leatherwork (including tack and riding boots), gauchos' clothing and crafts, you and your companions meet your horses and ride to the coast through the grass covered dunes and across rocks close to the roaring sea. Enjoy a canter along the firmer beaches and ride along in the water to Cabo Polonio, an enchanting fishing village which can only be reached by horse or four wheeled drive vehicles. Guests can walk round to the lighthouse and view the huge colony of sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks - they make up one of the largest populations of sea lions in the world. While riding along the beautiful sandy beaches you can occasionally spot a migrating Franca whale (October-November rides). After a swim in the sea and a delicious lunch at a restaurant in an idyllic location right on the waters edge, you will ride on into the dramatic landscape of the sand dunes. After one last canter, you leave the beach, pass between huge sand dunes and ride through an area which has been declared a Biosphere Natural Reserve by UNESCO. The sand dunes and daunting sand walls are quite an unexpected sight. Reaching a picturesque estuary you turn and ride through the pine forest. Soon you say goodbye to your horses and are driven south to a wonderful working estancia ‘ El Charabon’ in the rolling hills, set back a little way from the coast. A very comfortable overnight. Day 8 - Eucalyptus woodlands, open pastures and rolling hills: The day starts with a breakfast out on the veranda with homemade bread, jams and cakes, admiring the views out across the hills. Guests can take a close look at the rheas, the estancia has some of these native South American birds as pets. The armadillos often pop up out of holes ruining Jorge’s (the owner) beautifully manicured lawns.The ride today takes you through the scenic estancia lands traversing the eucalyptus forests and grasslands then across the huge fields of the neighbouring estancias, towards the coast. There is the chance of some long canters as you ride across the flatlands. Riders enjoy the glorious blue skies and tranquility as you gallop across the pastures, often sighting the abundant wildlife. A game of armadillo jumping often inadvertently gets underway as the little armour-plated animals make a dash for their holes as the horses approach. After a picnic lunch, guests can return to the estancia on horseback and relax around the pool or take the minibus to the nearby beach for a late afternoon swim in the sea, sunbathe or stroll along by the ocean returning to the estancia for tea or drinks in a prime location to admire the sunset over the surrounding hills and then gaze in awe at the star-filled southern hemisphere sky. (4-6hrs riding). Another delicious dinner with our delightful hosts. Overnight at the estancia. Day 9 - Cattle and sheep work with the gauchos: A morning spent working alongside the gauchos and their trusty dogs as they tend to the cattle and sheep on this 1200 hectare (2900 acre) ranch (4hrs riding). The work varies depending on the time of the year, but the gauchos always welcome a bit of help checking and moving the stock or putting animals in the corrals. Sometimes a lame animal has to be caught and tended to. The wonderful, friendly gauchos with their berets, ‘bombachas’ (riding trousers) and with their knives tucked into their colourful belts all seem to have been born on a horse and it is a delight to be riding with them. Their dogs are very much work animals and it is an amazing sight to see four dogs working in unison moving a herd of cattle. The dogs unfortunately cannot count and that gets very tricky for the workers, especially with the sheep, a recount often being required! After a final swim in the estancia pool and a wonderful homecooked lunch you say goodbye to the horses and head back to Montevideo – to the airport or the city, or to start further adventure. |
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| Minimum group size: | 4 |
| Maximum group size: | 8 |
| Ability description: | Intermediate - Advanced |
| Type of ride: | Trail |
| Total riding time: | As detailed in programme. |
| Departure dates: | Scheduled dates: 2010: 30 October - 7 November; 13 - 21 November; 27 November - 5 December. 2011: 26 February - 6 March; 12 - 20 March; 9 - 17 April. |
| Pricing: | See Pricing |