William H. Macy Instagram – Our routine was to get up early (5:30 or 6:00) and have a coffee. After our morning ride we’d have a huge sumptuous breakfast. The staff would fill two basins of hot water, which sat on tripods outside our tents so we could wash our faces. Our horses were already tacked up and our morning ride would begin at about 7:00. Our rides would last two to three hours. Simon led our party and Daisy or Rosie would take the rear. Simon carried a bullwhip which he could make sound like a gun shot. The first morning, as the trail led us through tall brush on both sides, Simon called back that if anything rushed us, we should turn our horse and go back the way we came with “some dispatch”. Now to me, that raised a lot of questions, but everyone just nodded and kept riding so I did too.
Felicity and her brother had ridden across the Maasai Mara on previous safaris, but we were in Laikipia, which is the hill country in north west Kenya. We would cross great plains and then climb into the hills which gave us some breathtaking views. Simon and our Maasai guide, Netti, were astounding in their ability to spot game, and they had encyclopedic knowledge of everything we saw. Simon would suddenly shout “Fish Eagle!”. And I would stare at a black lump in an Acacia tree wondering if I was looking in the right place, and then this monstrous bird, which looks a lot like our Bald Eagles, would open his massive wings and glide effortlessly over us. Or Simon would reign his horse and whisper, “elephants”. And I would scour the bush not seeing any elephants. Until one moved. And then I’d see seven elephants. And they are big. I mean really big. Even the little ones are big. I feel stupid saying elephants are big – we’ve all been to the zoo, but when you’re in the cage with them, they get a lot bigger. They are such improbable animals with their kind wise faces and their adorable giant babies, that you have to remind yourself they kill a lot of people every year. Cape buffalo kill even more people and we saw a lot of them too. But because there were twelve of us on horseback, and Simon had his bullwhip, I didn’t ever feel we were in real danger. Then we saw the lions. | Posted on 22/Jul/2022 05:15:42
