Woke up feeling fairly reasonable, actually slept past my 6:30 water delivery, but pulled my earplugs out at 6:45 just as he came back through to check on me. They are so attentive here! Took some painkillers, got dressed in my riding gear and headed to breakfast. After sitting there for awhile and reviewing the itinerary for the day, I decided I just wasn't up to the ride. I didn't want to exacerbate what felt like a possible cracked rib, and since the ride was all plains riding, where there wasn't likely to be sightings of any new animals, just the same wildebeest and zebras that have been in the area for a while (how blasé I sound now!), and I would be better served trying to make my back I feel better. So off they went for the ride at 8:00, and I went back to my tent, rested for the morning. I didn't fall asleep but I did read and I did feel quite a bit better by the time they returned from the ride and we had lunch. I also slowly packed the stuff that we would indeed for the next portion of our adventure, which was a Jeep Safari followed by a night in what they call a fly camp. The Jeep Safari turned out to be incredible experience. Of course, this is the typical way that most people safari, and I can understand why. As we were leaving camp, of course, we saw the usual wildebeest and zebras and hyenas and Thompson gazelles as well as a few more of the creatures that we have already seen, but we were really in the search of lions today. We went for a long period when we didn't see very much wildlife, but as we got closer to a place they simply call the "marsh" area, we started seeing things in droves. We saw some giraffes, which we have seen quite a few of previously, and then we came across a herd of elephants, watching the family dynamic for a while, and then we came across two lionesses sitting right out in the open next to a little water puddle, they paid us no mine whatsoever. We stopped literally within 10 yards of them, and watch them for a good 20 minutes or so as they slept and yawned and stretched and luxuriated. We are so excited to see lions! We went on the hunt for some more things to see and before long we came across a gorgeous cheetah, once again in the middle of a wide open area. Evidently they like to do that because it has them see what's coming from a ways away. We were in search of leopard at this point, and we were all anxiously looking for cats in trees, when we noticed a couple of more lions. We watched them for a little while, then we kept going when we saw that they were more lions further up the road. Then we noticed that there were two more lions that were beginning to stalk a herd of wildebeest, so we moved along to see what we could see. We watched for a while but it was clear that the lions were not going to have any luck hunting, because they heard them coming and ran off. By now it was getting late in the afternoon, and there had been a big storm nearby that started flashing a lot of lightning, so we started to head back to where we would be spending the night. We didn't get very far when we ran into four hyenas, quickly followed by a herd of buffalo, which apparently is the first sighting that Luke has had the whole season, then Tracy saw hippopotamuses swimming in the lake that we were by, and we also saw pink and white flamingos walking across the shoreline. It was a cornucopia of animals! I never imagined that I would see so many different species in such a short time! It has been a really amazing day! We arrived at fly camp, which still had the modern conveniences of a shower and toilet tents, the bar for our sundowner, although the sun had pretty much gone down by the time we got over to the bar. Dinner was served shortly afterward, today we had kebabs cooked over the fire, potatoes, coleslaw, and a slice of pineapple cooked in cinnamon. Absolutely delicious! A beautiful finish to a beautiful day! My back is feeling somewhat better but occasionally I still have a major pain when I move in just the wrong way. Will have to see how it pans out tomorrow. Meanwhile poor Tracy has contracted some sort of virus and is not doing very well. I gave her some zinc and Katja gave her some other medications, so hopefully she'll be feeling better in the morning. I was the only one that decided to brave taking a shower, but that's the only way I know I would get a good night's sleep. We are each in our own little dome tent, which is much bigger than my old dome tent, I can practically stand up in it. Tomorrow, we will start today at the same time but skip breakfast until later in the morning, and take the Jeep Safari again back to the camp we were at last night. There's a ride planned for the afternoon, I'm just going to have to see how I feel tomorrow. I hate to miss another day of riding, but I also don't want to be in horrendous pain. Signing off for the evening! Love you, babe! Good night!
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