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!
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