Jo Westermark, owner and founder of Kaskazi Horse Safaris in Tanzania
Joanna “Jo” Westermark is the owner of Kaskazi Horse Safaris in Tanzania, where she shares her vast knowledge of the area and experience with horses and wildlife to share her passion for the wonders of Africa with her guests.
Growing up in between Sweden and Kenya, always an adventurous spirit, riding horses and exploring the African bush as a child. Jo followed her heart and dreams of turning her passion for horses and nature into a career, attending the Bush Academy in South Africa, where she developed skills in guiding and hospitality and then became a guide in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve. trained to become a wildlife safari guide. Jo set off to South Africa to the Bush Academy, allowing her to develop the necessary guiding, hospitality and bush skills required for work in the outdoors of Africa. After her extensive training, Jo soon became a guide as well as an equestrian guide in and around Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve, the oldest game reserve in Africa, located north of Durban in central KwaZulu-Natal.
After three years in South Africa, Jo set off on a different kind of adventure, driving her Land Cruiser, Helga, through the wild African bush on her way to Kenya. Six months later she drove across the border into Tanzania and instantly fell in love. The wild, untamed beautify of the country captivated her heart and soul, and she began working for a lodge, managing the camp, training their horses, and setting up horse safaris., before eventually setting out on her own.
How long have you been riding and how did you get started?
I got my first Shetland pony when I was 3 years old, I was at that time living on my parents’ horse farm in Sweden’s countryside. My parents are both riders, so I guess it came natural to them to get their three daughters to start riding as well. Then we had some welsh ponies and my mother bred one of our “gold mares” and a beautiful colt was born that was given to me and I named him Caboy. This little pony was my true joy until the day I grew out of him and my parents sold him on, one of my saddest days in my life, up until today. However it is thanks to him that I have such an interest and passion for horses. Very often when people ask why I ended up starting horse safaris I often say, because of my welsh pony Caboy.
You grew up between Sweden and Kenya; do you have any particular childhood memories of the African bush that particularly impacted your love for wildlife and the outdoors?
I have always been a nature child and obsessed about horses since early age. As mentioned before I do have to thank my little welsh pony Caboy for making me such a passionate horse person, he taught me a lot and he taught me how much fun one can have on a horse/pony. When I went down to study field guide, hotel and lodge management in SA [South Africa] us students were based on a private game reserve where there was some feral horses roaming around, I do remember clearly the day when I asked the principal if I could break those horses in and ride them in the field…this was a great experience and pretty much within two weeks I rode this horses up to rhinos, buffaloes and thought this was definitely something I could do for a living.
What were some of your most memorable/interesting/dangerous/exciting/scary moments on horseback safari in those early days?
No two safaris are the same, with many moments of excitement
There have been many of those moment, the list is endless with lots of fun encounters in the bush. I guess one that sticks to my mind is the story about the lioness… we were a group of five people, watching a breeding herd of elephants. There were lots of small ones so my full attention was on the mothers with babies to be ready in case they would do a charge. They were browsing in a bit of a thicket until they eventually came out of the thicket and we had a beautiful sight of them out in the open. However, all of the sudden I feel that my horse starts shaking and her ears peels to her right. This all happened within a split of a second…next thing I see this huge lioness coming straight towards me and my horse, flat out and in “hunting position.” There was pretty much nothing I could do so I saw my life pass by. The lioness is now no more than 5 meters away from me and as I think she’s about to jump us she turns in the air and heads back into the bushes. Up until today I’m not sure what happened that day, only thing I can think of is that she might have been trapped by the elephants in the thicket and as they left she saw her chance to get out, came across us aliens, panicked again and headed back to safety. Whichever might be the reason, it’s the closest I’ve been to being eaten by a lion on horseback, nothing that I’d like to experience again.
Who have been some of your role models, either in the equine or safari community?
My mentor and role model was definitely Tristan Voorspuy. He was a great supporter of my company and never saw me as a competitor. When I went on exploratory rides he was always there accompanying me and helped me with the horses, logistics and brought guests to add to the table. I always had my eyes on his safaris and always thought of them as the most adventurous, wild, and fun safaris and my dream had always been to join on of his safaris.
What does a day in the life of a horseback safari guide consist of?
Tanzania is full of wide open spaces for long gallops
Early morning wake up with a hot shower, check on the ponies, head over for morning coffee, chat to the night watchmen about what’s been happening at night, greet the clients for breakfast, head out for your morning ride, lunch under a tree or back in camp for some more comfort, plan the afternoon, ride out for a shorter ride, back in camp for sundowners, a hot shower, dinner with the guests, chat to my manager about the following days logistics, off to bed.
Who is your favorite safari horse and why?
Jo on her favorite horse, Tzar
Tzar, my baby and best friend. He’s not the bravest but with a strong and brave rider he will do everything for you with a bit of convincing. The most incredible and most comfortable gaits, he will jump anything you turn him towards. He has a lovely temperament, is very friendly and cuddly on the ground and will follow me everywhere while out in the bush exploring. We have a huge trust for each other, if I tell him it’s ok he will do it for me, only because he trust me and vice versa. The companionship with my horse on safari is what makes me truly enjoy being out there guiding and showing people the beautiful parts of Tanzania.
What is your favorite animal to view on safari?
Elephants. Elephants you can sit and watch peacefully forever and watch their behaviours without getting bored. It can be the most peaceful interaction when they barely know that you’re there however at the same time it can be a very adrenalin-like encounter if they decide to give you a charge.
Experiencing a visit with a herd of elephants on horseback is a truly unique and unforgettable experience.
What advice would you give riders who want to learn to become safari guides on horseback?
Make sure you build up a nice string of horses and a good lead horse for yourself, your crew is key to success and make sure that you enjoy hosting people.
Where else have you traveled and ridden?
I’ve ridden in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Coast Rica, Sweden which is nothing really but I’m hoping to get a chance to travel more as I have a few on the list that I’m dying to pay a visit.
What took you from South Africa to Tanzania, and how did you know this is where you wanted to stay?
The backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro casts a dramatic shadow across the Serengeti, where all manner of African wildlife roam free.
So when I left South Africa, me and my current boyfriend where supposed to go up to Kenya and work for a lodge that my parents had shares in. I was meant to set up horse safaris for them and run the operation. However, we drove through Tanzania on route to Kenya and I immediately fell in love with the country. We were very lucky and got a job offer at a place called Manyara Ranch Conservancy where I set up horse safaris and ran the camp for about two years until I decided to move on and start up my own horse safari company.
What is the story of how Kaskazi Horse Safaris began?
When I left my job at Manyara Ranch Conservancy, I was “bored” of just riding in circles and riding the same areas every day. The place was stunning but I felt that I wanted more adventure and do safaris that was progressive. I tried to buy the equestrian side of the company when I left, as by now I had grown very fond of the horses and didn’t want to abandon ship without them. However, this sadly was not possibly so I had to leave them behind and decide what else I could do. My options now was to either go and work for another horse safari company and gain more experience, which I definitely needed, however I was so in love with Tanzania and didn’t want to leave which left me with no option but to start up on my own. So that’s how Kaskazi horse safaris was born, I had no experience in running a company so the first years were difficult and we had some hairy moments however today I’m a very proud owner of the Kaskazi Horse Safaris.
What are some of the obstacles or challenges you had to overcome in starting your own safari company?
Good question but I guess I will have to commit that it has been to run a horse safari business as a woman, as much as I wouldn’t want to commit that. In the beginning, especially when I started, I was very young, 24 years old only. This young age along with being a woman along with being from Europe, it wasn't the greatest combination. However, seven years later I have to say when you do finally earn your respect without trying to prove anything, things do get easier. It’s just frustrating sometimes when men immediately get that respect but as a woman you will have to earn it.
Kaskazi runs mobile safaris which move camp to a new location each day, allowing for riding through a greater area and more opportunities for game viewing.
Horses is another topic, it’s heart breaking when you break and train up all these lovely horses, they do their utterly best on every single safari and then you lose them to some horrific disease, this is up until today the hardest part for me to run horse safaris, each and every horse that we lose shatters my heart in more pieces.
Other than the above, the challenge of running mobile horse safaris, the logistics behind this trips are phenomenal, I think I probably say to my crew after each and every safari, this is the last mobile safari we will run, let’s set up a permanent camp and make our life easier…but we never do as I don’t think I would be able to do it any other way.
What is your vision for the future of Kaskazi Horse Safaris?
My idea for Kaskazi Horse Safaris is to become one of the most green and environmentally friendly horse safaris in our industry. Due to being mobile I feel that we have a huge advantage due to the mobile aspect meaning that we never overstay our visit in one place for too long, that way not interfering with nature, the wildlife and the local tribes that inhabit these areas. In terms of horses in Tanzania, it’s very challenging due to all the different diseases that we fight on a daily basis. This along with the fact that we do not have an equine vet or a blood work lab makes it extra difficult. I would therefor love at one point in Kaskazi's career to set up a small blood work lab so that we can save the horses that we now lose for no reason, only due to not having the facilities to save them.
Other than the above, I guess as everyone else in our industry, we keep on aiming to always be better than our previous safari. This along with always pushing to get access into new areas to explore on horseback, as Tanzania has so much to offer but horses are still fairly new to the culture and now it’s all about slowly introducing the equine that is the zebras cousin. So far we have managed to get into stunning areas since we started, Arusha National Park, Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, so we have made very good progress and already made history by riding in areas for the first time, this all since we started seven years ago.
Wild life and wild rides across the savanna of Tanzania!