Weekend before last, Holly and I went to the beach in Kenton with her teacher Jenn. A lot of our students live in Kenton or have holiday home there. Its about an hour away from Grahamstown. We had a really nice time tanning and swimming in the ocean. One different thing about this beach trip was that we had to walk about ten minutes over the sand dunes and climb up rocks to get to a specific beach, Shelly's beach. Shelly's beach is nice because its between these huge rocks so it keeps the wind from blowing so much sand. We spent about three hours there and then went to have lunch with Jenn's mom.
The day after Kenton Holly and I went back to Addo Elephant Park. I had already been there with the Soper's, but Holly really wanted to see the elephants. So we decided to do the horseback riding tour. The experienced rider tour lasted for three hours and the beginner tour lasted two hours. The experienced tour required a little cantering and running with the horse. We decided to do the experienced one because we didn't think it would be that hard to do. We've each ridden horse before, plenty of times before....
We ended up being the only two on the tour with the guide. I was informed at the beginning of the tour that my horse was temper-mental and had a strong mouth. So when I wanted to stop I had to pull extremely hard on the reigns. We went along with the tour and first saw two cape buffalo. They kept their eye on us because we were in their territory. It was really exciting doing a game drive/ride on horseback instead of in a car because your more exposed to the game. It felt more adventurous I guess, but a little scary at the same time. Made me a little nervous being around the buffalo on a temper-mental horse, if you know what I mean....
Anyway, we just explored around the area seeing lots of buck and elephants. Then we got a big open field where the guide told us we would run with the horses. He told us not to pass his horse because he is the guide and it encourages the other horses to race. Well of course, before I could do anything, my horse takes off in a sprint across this huge field full of wild animals passing the guide. I tried to stop but it just wasn't happening mainly because Holly's horse was right at our tail trying to race. The horses go back and forth racing one another as I'm holding on for dear life and Holly's laughing beside me. Thankfully we made it to the other side in one piece and still on the horse. I don't think I have ever been so scared. I was pulling back as hard as I could on the reigns the horse didn't even slow down. I seriously felt like I was gonna fly off. I then informed the guide that I wouldn't be running with my horse for the rest of the tour that I would walk. He seemed okay with that:-)
Anyway, we just explored around the area seeing lots of buck and elephants. Then we got a big open field where the guide told us we would run with the horses. He told us not to pass his horse because he is the guide and it encourages the other horses to race. Well of course, before I could do anything, my horse takes off in a sprint across this huge field full of wild animals passing the guide. I tried to stop but it just wasn't happening mainly because Holly's horse was right at our tail trying to race. The horses go back and forth racing one another as I'm holding on for dear life and Holly's laughing beside me. Thankfully we made it to the other side in one piece and still on the horse. I don't think I have ever been so scared. I was pulling back as hard as I could on the reigns the horse didn't even slow down. I seriously felt like I was gonna fly off. I then informed the guide that I wouldn't be running with my horse for the rest of the tour that I would walk. He seemed okay with that:-)
No comments:
Post a Comment