Woke up about a half an hour before the 6:30 water delivery, was up and about right after, packed up my bags because we were moving today, before going to breakfast. Carried everything that I needed during the day out to breakfast, leaving my big bag fully packed, behind. Enjoyed the lovely breakfast and was ready to go by 8:00. Headed out amongst the usual herds of wildebeest and zebras, saw one elephant but unfortunately we were up wind so as soon as it caught our scent it meandered off. We reached one point where there were a bunch of giraffe, and we stayed and watched them for a while, all the time they watched us. It was hard to tell who was the audience, and who was the entertainment! Lots of fun. Stuck mostly to the plains again, fully enjoying the ride. We were out about two and a half hours, then stopped at a waypoint for lunch. Not back at camp but at a place under some lovely trees, where we were soon practically surrounded by thousands of wildebeest and zebra, who seemed rather surprised to discover that we had taken over this part of the plain, and were a bit confused about how to get around us, but they managed to find a route and we got a real parade. We had lunch and then relaxed around on large pillows on a canvas, feeling like sultans of Old Arabia. We chatted a bit, show each other pictures of our horses and other important things in our lives, exchanged contact information, but didn't get any nap time in. We saddled back up again and headed out circuitously toward camp, this time going through more of a forested area, in the hopes of finding a lion, because apparently this is their habitat. Unfortunately, one of the horses shied badly at something, which was rather amusing since they were not the least bit troubled by the thousands of zebras and wildebeests going through at lunch time, but it caused a chain reaction amongst the horses, and my horse Roy made a dramatic step sideways and I lost my balance and ended up on the ground. I hit back on the ground first, then my hip on my fanny pack, and my helmet on the ground. It took me a few minutes to regain my breath and get back up into the saddle, but I can tell that the fall on the hip and is going to be probably the worst of it. Nothing broken but I guarantee you I'm going to have a bruise the size of Australia on my hip. We carried on in the best fashion possible, getting back to camp around 5:00, where I medicated myself with several gin and tonics and an ice pack. It was a lovely evening, a fabulous dinner watching the sun set. It looks like there was some rain off on the horizon, so hopefully the grass will be green and the animals will stick around, and then finally it was time to head to bed. Katya offered up some pain relief cream, which I accepted gratefully, and I headed to my tent, took a couple of Naproxen, had a lovely shower, and headed straight to bed. I'm hoping against hope that by the morning I will be recovering nicely and not be too stiff to ride tomorrow morning. I really don't want to miss any of this, but I'm not going to kill myself in the process. Apparently tomorrow we are jeeping it into a town for the afternoon, and having a fly camp, which will be much more primitive, for the night, and then we will Jeep it back to the camp we're in now, which they call the sunset camp. I'm going to just take it one day at a time and see how I feel tomorrow. I'm a bit ticked off about this, because I was just saying how grateful I was that I was in good physical health during this ride, not getting sick or not feeling badly like I have for my last two vacations, I hope I just didn't jinx it. I did have sort of a premonition overnight last night that I would take a fall but I was hoping I was wrong. Anyway, time for bed, and we'll see how it goes in the morning. Good night my love!

OMG! To try to describe this day would be all but impossible! After arriving back at my tent last night, to a bed warmed with a hot water bottle, I couldn't decide whether to wear earplugs or not, but after several minutes of loud wildebeest grunting, I had no choice. I woke up once around 2:00 in the morning, worrying about how I was going to overcome my discomfort about riding, determining that I would wear the half chaps I borrowed and the seat cushion that I brought, then when I discovered what time it was, I decided I needed to get some more sleep, so I managed to nod off again, and slept through until I heard the staff pouring water into the wash basin outside. I actually think he poured it three or four times just to make sure that I was awake, so I finally just said good morning and he acknowledged and went away. Got up, washed my face, did my morning ablutions, and was soon off to breakfast, where once again we were spoiled by incredible food. Finished getting ready to go riding and we all walked down to where the horses were at 8:00, as planned. I had expressed some uncertainty about my mount Nadal, which Luke took to heart, so by the time we got to the horses, he had decided to remount me on a horse named Roy. How's that for kismet? I had mentioned that if things did not work out with Nadal today, that I would prefer a horse that was lower to the ground and that had a mane that I could grab onto, and that was exactly the bill that Roy fit. A lovely chestnut, a bit smaller than the rest, but with my new saddle cover, it provided a much better sense of security, and I felt much more comfortable about the whole thing. We headed across the plains to the north, winding our way through herds of zebra and wildebeest, and then locked on to an incredible sighting of a predominantly nocturnal creature called the honey badger. It looked like a giant skunk, black with a white stripe all the way down it's center. We watched it for quite some time as it foraged through the grass until it finally arrived downwind of us, at which point it galloped off. Our guide Luke expressed his delight at being able to see that particular creature, since they are apparently very rare at midmorning when we were viewing it. We continued on, heading toward a flock of vultures, who are making short work of a fairly recent carcass of a Thompson gazelle, all the while winding through herds of everything imaginable, including ostriches. We did a number of canters, which took a little getting used to again, but Roy was quite willing and his canter was reasonable. He was a little bit more stubborn about taking direction, but for the most part he followed along with the rest. Since he was smaller and his strides were shorter, we often got behind the rest of the pack, except for the drag rider, but I didn't care because I felt a lot more secure on him than I did on Nadal. Still hanging on to the saddle during the canters, but still feeling a bit more secure about it. We did a nice loop around the plains area, seeing multiple herds of a variety of animals, and ending up along the tree line looking for additional animals. We got back to camp, had a lovely lunch, the other girls had a shower but I'm holding off until later tonight, then managed to get a nap in the afternoon for more than an hour, surprisingly. Headed back out for our second ride of the day, this time into a valley that was full of trees and bushes and thorns and a bit more interesting than the plains, and we're quickly rewarded by a string of giraffes right by the tree line. We gazed at them for a while, then we cantered alongside them, before finally heading down into the valley. We were extremely lucky to quickly find an elephant who was playing in some water deep in the brush, and eventually after he finished playing, he laid down along the edge of this puddle and took a nap. We watched him for a good 20 minutes or so, maybe longer, as he flapped his ears and slept. Evidently it's very rare to see them in that relaxed a position, so it was quite an event. There was another elephant nearby who we also watched for a while. Quite a sight! We carried on a little bit longer and ran across some more zebras and wildebeests, and then came across some more giraffes, including four babies and an adolescent. We watch them for a while as well. What an amazing, amazing day! The first ride was nearly 14 miles, and the second ride was just over 4 miles, which I was kind of happy about because I was starting to feel a little bit tired despite the nap. But it was absolutely filled with incredulity at all of the creatures that live freely out here. We headed back to camp, got the horses put away, and had a well-earned gin and tonic or two as we watched more herds pass by and the sun go down. It was amazing! It was so easy to feel like one of the early explorers, out in the bush with a tribe of help meeting our every need. The two girls both took a shower after happy hour, but I waited until after dinner. Dinner once again was extraordinary! We had a beef curry that was second to none. Stories were shared, lessons were learned, and the entire evening was absolutely delightful as the stars began to appear. I finally asked for my shower water, which was quickly delivered, I've had my nice warm shower and shampoo, and will soon be off to sleep. We move camp tomorrow so I have to pack up everything in the morning, but I'm looking forward to the next place, though frankly this one has been so remarkable, I could probably stay here all week! Almost feel like there's not much more I can see that could be better than what I've already seen but I guess, we'll see! Absolutely remarkable! Far exceeding my wildest expectations. Spoiled for any further adventures in the wild, I'm sure. Time for sleep! Good night, my love!

Slept reasonably well, though I kept waking up too hot, because their top cover was a plush duvet, then throwing that off to cool off, then waking up again having to pull it back on to get warm again. Otherwise slept well, even sleeping through a downpour overnight that I never heard. Got up and took another shower, dressed, and went out for breakfast. Katja, who I've learned is a real estate lawyer from Germany, but who lives in Switzerland, was in much better spirits this morning, having been suffering from an ailment the last few days. Tracy soon joined us for a lovely breakfast, and afterward we all rushed to finish packing, meeting at the car at 9:00, which swept us off to a small local airstrip called Dolly, where were we promptly loaded on to a small prop plane, about a 10-seater, and took off for our first camp location. Fifty minutes later, on our approach to the Urdu landing strip, we watched as zebras scurried off the runway just before we landed. A quick transfer to a jeep, and we were soon on our way. In just the first few minutes, we saw more zebras, gazelles, impalas, and so many more animals I couldn't keep track! I'm in seventh heaven! As we traveled along, out Masai driver kept a lookout for more critters, and soon spotted a cheetah on the hunt. We followed her for probably 15 or 20 minutes while she was tracking a heard of gazelle's and ostriches, not to mention many zebra in the same crowd, but finally gave up when two hyenas uncharacteristically showed up during the day. Apparently when they do that, the cheetahs hunt is over, because she knows that the hyenas will steal any kill from her, so not to bother. She gave up and tried it off in another direction. We got back on track, saw a lot more herds of just about everything, including the migrating wildebeest, who's numbers increased as we got closer to camp. We finally arrived in camp, where we were assigned our tents, and I got to say, I am extraordinarily impressed. The tents are large and roomy with a mattress on a frame, (which I later learned was a box that holds the tent during moves!), a side table, a towel rack, and a chair outside on a veranda. About 20 yards behind each tent, there is another smaller tent that holds a shower, and a separate toilet. It's an unbelievable luxury to be camping like this! Once we got settled in we came back to the mess tent for lunch, which was an absolutely outstanding wrap, then after lunch we had about an hour to get settled in and change our clothes to riding gear, then went off to meet our horses, and take our first ride. I was assigned a rather large gray horse called Nadal, and we were soon mounted up and on our way for our first test drive. It turned out to be quite a learning experience. The saddles are rather shapeless polo saddles, with very little support and rather slippery. It's typical English iron stirrups, which are pretty slippery compared to what I normally use, and are going to take quite some getting used to. We headed out at a walk, and Nadal had quite a forward walk, wanting to either pass everybody, or stick his nose right in someone else's butt. They are trained to neck rein, but they're foot cues are opposite to what I typically use, so again, that's going to take some getting used to. We started to do some trotting, but we had to readjust my stirrups several times because I am not used to coming out of the saddle that far, and I felt pretty insecure. We eventually went into a canter, which compared to what I'm used to was an extremely rough canter, but according to our head Wrangler Luke, he has one of the smoothest canters out here, so I guess I'm just going to have to get used to that, as well. I really had a hard time trying to keep my balance when I felt like I had nothing to hang on to as my horse has no mane, My feet kept slipping out of the iron stirrups, and my butt was sliding all over a shapeless saddle. Kind of scary, but at least I never came off, though were a couple of times when I thought I was going to. As we were finishing off a large loop around the area, and we had another long canter, my horse kept trying to pass Luke, who I was told I wasn't supposed to do, and when I tried to slow him down, he started to throw his head, which made me lose my balance, and I had to call to the others to stop, which I was loathe to do, but I feel like I had no choice. It had been a very long canter and we had been chasing a huge heard of wildebeest and the zebras, so I don't feel like anybody felt short changed, but I just felt like I was on the edge at that point. We were almost back to camp anyway, so we walked the rest of the way, put our horses away, and then headed out to where they had set up a bar and some chairs, and a campfire even though it was still daylight, and we had what they call in these parts, a "sundowner", better known in our neck of the woods as happy hour. I was glad to hear that both Tracy and Katja felt pretty much the same way that I did about the saddles and the rough gait of the horses, but I guess I was the most insecure, which really ticks me off at myself, but again, I'm just going to have to get used to it. The last canter was probably the best in terms of getting used to it but when the horse started throwing his head, it was just a bit too much too early. I think we need to adjust one of the stirrups again tomorrow and see what happens. Katja went to take a shower before dinner, but Tracy and I had another drink and when Katja came back we have another lovely dinner, but I just had tiny portions because the ones at lunch were huge, and I'm just not used to having this many meals in a day. The sun went down and the moon almost full came up during dinner. It was truly amazing to be sitting at a dining table with a full service of linens and silverware in the middle of the Serengeti plain. Truly magical. Finally about 8:30, we headed out to our tents, where the service guys had put warm water into our shower tanks, and I was able to enjoy a truly lovely warm shower inside the bathroom tent. Back to the bedroom tent, and all I have left to do is finish this post and read a little bit, and nod off listening to the sound of grunting Wildebeests. I may be putting my ear plugs in shortly! Good night, my love!

Hey Darlin'!
Was awakened at 3:00 in the morning by Chelle's wayward horse Levi (proof that my horses aren't to blame for knocking down their fence earlier!), I heard him run past my window, then come back and munch for awhile. At 4:00 I was still awake, and second-guessing myself as to whether I had remember to turn my fence charger on, so I got up, put on a robe, and checked it. Yes, it was on! But so were the lights in the barn, so I wandered over there to see if I could help. Chelle was just rounding up Levi and getting him back in the pasture. Later they fixed and electrified their fence, so hopefully that will be the last of THAT problem! Finally managed to fall asleep again for a short while, but got up to do some new items I had added to my list overnight. By 7:45 I was leading Chelle through the feeding instructions, by 9:00 Art came by, and I decided I had time to walk with him and Lola, then when we got back, I got involved with gathering my trash for a dump run Eric was planning for later in the day, then I walked Art through the feeding instructions just in case Chelle gets called away, so Art could take over. Suddenly I looked at my watch and realized I was running late for my chiropractic appointment, so I scooted off to that. Another great session, making more headway than ever! Then I went to Ace and got some more Turtle Wax, so I could finish that off when I get back. I tried to find travel size insect repellant but couldn't, so I'll have to get some once I arrive. I got back, did a couple more chores, then saddled up Flash for our last ride for awhile. We only went just under 10 miles, but took some interesting trails I hadn't been on before, and he was brilliant, as always! I rinsed him down, brushed my shaggy Apollo and rinsed him down as well, gave them a good dose of fly spray, and made sure their fly masks were on tight. I decided to try to see if I could fit one of the saddle cover pads in my baggage, and I miraculously managed to get my newest one at the bottom of my carry-on. Don't know if I'll be able to use it, but I figured it would be a good chair cushion if nothing else, and it weighs next to nothing. Finally settled down to some leftover Indian food and a little TV, refreshed my hair, took a hot tub, and crossed some more things off my list. Then, the best news of all, I received my Tanzania Visa! It seems all is right with my world right now, and so grateful for it! Fingers crossed everything goes well with my travel over the next two days. Can't wait! Heading to be early, I need to get a good night sleep! Good night, baby! Love you!