http://ourparellijourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/backwards.html

Hi everyone.

We were about 15 ft. away from these beauties. I could barely breath!

http://ourparellijourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-audition-scorecard.html

I recently requested my L2 Audition Scorecard and they emailed it to me (after my friend got hers and I loved how it was broken down so you could really see what you needed to work on the most).

http://ourparellijourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/maraschino-in-round-pen.html

I played with Mr Maraschino today in the 90ft round pen and on the 22ft line.We saddled up and went into the round pen - he came over and positioned himself when I stood on the mounting block which is a first.

An 7 hour time change is NOT fun. I tried to stay awake until a 'normal' time last night but couldn't make it past 8:30 pm Pittsburgh time. I managed to sleep until 8 am this morning. Unfortunately it was 8 am Kenyan time which translates to 1 am Pittsburgh time.

After the first few days in Africa I didn't need any allergy medicine. This morning I woke up with major headache. I don't know if it's sinus, tension, dehydration or migraine but it's kept me down all day.

For 1 more week we will still have a small reminder of our trip as we continue to take our antimalarial medication. I'll miss it only because it gives me the most vivid dreams! ;-0

What can I say? Knowing me, lots.

Africa is the trip I've dreamed of for nearly a lifetime. And in spite of a drought that hid some of its glory I was not disappointed. It was the most exciting trip I've ever taken. I watched do many TV programs on Africa and the animals there and felt I knew what I was going to see. Nothing could prepare me for seeing them up close (a little too close at times). It's not at all like seeing them in the zoo. The animals in these parks are not tame but are habituated to people and the vehicles. That means that they are so use to seeing them that they don't pay any attention to them. Our guide Tony teased they don't bother with us because they know we are in a 'tin can' and they cannot get to us. I said, "Until someone gives them a can opener."

I've always had a special interest in the Maasai people. They are proud, beautiful people trying to continue their traditional ways of life in the face of the decimation of their cattle by drought. And even though it's a very male dominated society I found them to be very charming and the women happy.

The small group of people we traveled with (3 other couples) made it almost like a private tour. The other 3 couples knew each other and had traveled together often. They were so gracious and included us in their group and never made us feel like the odd couple.

Antonio (Tony) our guide is incredible! He was tough, fun, generous, and extremely knowledgeable. And he was full of really fun stories gathered over his 35 years of experience.

Here a few bullet points.

Biggest surprise: The amount of garbage everywhere along the roads in Kenya. The plastic bags make it into the parks and are seen caught in trees. Also that the roads, while bad, were not as bad as I expected.

Most exciting: Being charged by an elephant, hands down.

Most depressing: Finding an extremely young, orphaned zebra standing by the road in the Massai Mara. I'll never forget that baby's pitiful, sad face and knowing that it would most likely not survive the day.

Most awesome: The ginormous herds of wildebeest, zebra and cape buffalo in the Massai Mara. They stretched for miles. We'd drive through the herds with animals on the road and playing chicken by running across the road in front us.

So, now starts the job of processing thousands of pictures and hours of video and boiling them down to a manageble size to share with people.

http://ourparellijourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/horses-responsibilities-and-mine.html

Well I have been listening to Pat's October CD in the car about the horse's 4 responsibilities - Look where you are going, don't change gait, don't change direction... and don't act like a prey animal.

OK, I was wrong about the Tse Tse flies but they aren't as bad as the Serengeti.

We had our last game drive this morning. We were in a beautiful woodland full of very old trees with very twisted trunks. It was so nice to see so much green and flowing water!

We saw a new monkey called a blue monkey. They were in the trees and crossing the road. We saw a couple families of Baboons. They had babies with them and one was playing with a plastic bottle :-( There was quite a bit of mutual grooming going on. One baby came to it's mother who was getting groomed. For some reason the mother got angry and bit the baby who started to scream pitifully. It tried to get on it's mother's back but she pushed him off. He went over to the other one for protection and continued to cry. Finally it calmed down, went back to Mom and all was forgiven.

We saw only a few Impala, Water buck and Dik Diks. More baboons, giraffes and elephants. A young elephant was right next to the road drinking from a stream. In time the mother came and pushed him out of the way. He walked into the bushes next to the LC (Land Cruiser). Mom stopped to scatch and itchy but on a stump and then decided to walk down the middle of the road. It made me sort of nervous to get in between Mama and baby. At on point Mama turned to face the other LC as if she was going to get upset. But she thought better of it and hurried into the woods.

Later on we say a young elephant with a branch in his mouth but still reaching up for acatia leaves. He came closer and proceeded to scratch his ear and trunk on a tree.

Last we visited another hippo bog. There was a group of school children there. I could hear the teacher say something and the children all softly saying "Aaahhh". So cute!

The tree here are so pretty. We saw large Baobob trees. They are called the upside down tree because they have a big trunk and then spread out like a root system. Most look dead because they are deciduous. They flower then get leaves then shed them for 6 months.

Later we are taking a nice hot walk to see banana plantations and rice fields. We will also visit a man who carves figures.

Tomorrow we have a loooong ride back to Nairobi. We will once again stay at the Fairmont Hotel and have a farewll dinner. This group has been so great. The other coupls all knew each other and traveled many times together. They very gratiously included into their group so we never felt like the odd couple.

I'll probably do a wrap up post when I get home because from here out it's mostly traveling.

Thanks for coming along with me. It's been an incredible experience.

http://pnhsavvymom.blogspot.com/2009/11/month-of-lessons.html

The month of October went by super quickly, and what a savvy month of learning it was! I was able to do two lessons with Parelli professionals in October. One with newly trained 1* Annie Shank, and another with 3* Professional Jesse Peters!

This morning we said goodbye to the Serengeti. We retraced our road back to Lake Manyara. This will be our last stop before heading back to Nairobi.

The roads have not been terrific. Most dirt and gravel with a nice washboard surface, even the 'main' roads. We done a lot of long, vibrating rides from one park to the other and today was no exception. Believe it our not all that bumping can really tire you out. About five hours of bouncing. We arrived at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge in time for lunch. All the lodges we've stayed at have been fantastic and this one is no exception. It even has an infinity pool. At least here we don't need escorts after darkamd we left the Tse tse flies in the Serengeti. These flies bit and raise itchy welts but they no longer transmit Sleeping Sickness people but still still make livestock sick.

Believe it or not the group as a whole decided we really needed some 'down' time and decided to forgo the afternoon game drive! I really hate to miss one but Tony assured us that there is not a lot different here except a kind of monkey that we can see tomorrow morning.

I'd like to spend a minute talking about the differences I've between Kenya and Tanzania. In Kenya 99% of signs and billboard are in English. Here in Tanzania it's the opposite, very few English. Kenyans learn english much earlier than here.

In Kenya the Maasai people dress in mostly red based colors. They were tons of hand made bead jewelry, even on wrists and ankles. Tanzanians wear the jewelry but their clothing is red with more purple. In Kenya the people carry whatever they are transporting on their backs with a stap around their forhead. Here in Tanzania they carry it on their heads. In Kenya the beast of burden are donkey. Here they also use donkey but I've also seen oxen.

I've learned so much this trip that I'm turning into a walking book of useless information. I hope to be able to continue, possibly tomorrow. I may have to finish from home.

We had two game drives in the Serengeti. Before the morning drive we stopped a the visitor center to learn more about the history and animals. We were taken on a little walk by a guide who pointed out placards with various information. One was in front of a loosely constructed rock wall. It was alive with these cute little rodents called Rock Hyrax. They came in and out and sat on top watching us.

Further along our guide pointed into a tree right over the path. Hanging from a branch was a dead something or other. It's a leopard kill. They drag their goodies up into a tree to keep it away from the other animals. There is apparently a female leopard with cub on the grounds. Cubs are very vulnerable because they can't climb and mom has to go up the tree to eat.

We left to drive around in the park. Here there are a few groups of trees and lots of dry land. We saw a leopard sleeping in a tree. He was drapped over a branch with feet hanging down. He/she looked comfy.

Later we got a call on the radio. All the driver keep in touch (usually) and let others know when something is happening. We took off at a brisk pace because 4 lions were trying to take down a Cape Buffalo. By the time we got there they were already eating. We watched for a while and saw bloody faces and for lack of a better word...guts! While we are watching that a drama began to unfold on the other side of the road. There was a rather large herd of buffalo standing at the top of a hill. Two lions walked toward them then lay in the grass making the buffalo very nervous. While the other end of the herd calmly grazed and lay down the end near the cats took turns staring down the lions and occationaly charging. The lions waited patiently. Tony told us that only 2 lions could not take down a buffalo (it takes at least 4 or 2 big males). But these were not too concerned. They were trying to get one to charge far enough away from the herd for one to cut him off and then jump on him. We watched for a while but it was a Mexican stand off without chance of success. So we moved on. Was I disappointed we did not witness a kill? Not in the least. I don't think I could watch anyway.

Further on there were several lions hanging our just next to the road. Tony played his 'hyena song' and all came to attention and provided us with great photo ops.

The afternoon drive was not quite as exciting but still interesting. We visited a bog full of hippos. They treated us to wallowing, snorting, splashing, grunting and even farting. It was a memorable sight. Then we stopped for a line of Safari Ants marching nearly single file across the road. They remind me of the Leaf Cutter Ants in S. America. We are told that they bit and if you accidently step in the middle of them they will race up your legs and you will be frantically stripping your clothes off.

http://ourparellijourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/track-ride-with-garbos-sis.html

Garbo's sister came over for a visit today, Bronwyn and I wanted to just go for a quiet ride around the property.

I've caught up on my posting so be sure you read the earlier entries.

You may be wondering what the weather is like in Africa. It's not exactly what you might expect. In Nairobi, Massai Mara, and Amoselli it starts our cool enough for a light jacket and is the same in the evening. I dress in layers. On the morning drives I peel layers as time goes and on the afternoon drive I add. It never gets really hot and there alway seems to be a breeze.

Ngongoro Serena Lodge is at about 7600 ft and almost chilly. I wore a heavy coat at times and a fleece pull over other times. Here in the Serengeti the weather is the same as the others. It's been a bit overcast so it's really not very hot.

Well, time for out next game drive. I won't be able to update until we reach our next destination. That is, if they have decent internet. If not I'll try to send a text message to Sara to let her know I can't write.

Until next time.

This is a park that I always associate with Africa. We stopped at the entrance to the park to have a picnic lunch supplied by the hote. It was huge. It had water, yogurt, juice, chicken leg, bun, muffin apple, banana and a chocolate bar!!

We walked up a hill and the Serengeti spread out in front of us. The southern part of the Serengeti is wide open planes that once again were brown instead of there normal green. They are completely flat on both sides with no bushes or trees. Just a few small gazelle and Impala. Further on the trees and bushes start to appear althoug the trees are sparse. We got our first glimpse of a leaopard. She was totally hidden in the grass I wouldn't have seen her if she'd not got up and moved to another place.

It started to rain and we started to race to another spot. There was another leaopard draped over the branch of a tree. Much easier to see.

Now we set out for the hotel. We were stopped by a huge family of elephants on the road. There were many babies with them so we don't want to push our luck. I was watching more of them on my side of the road and turned around just in time to see a female elephant challenging our companions up ahead. She put out her ears and shook her head then just stood there and stared them down. The top on the LC was down so I was taking video through the windshield. She finally walked in front of them and started down the my side of the road. I opened my window and stuck out my camera in time to see her charging us. Her ears were out and she was shaking her head from side to side! I only got a short video because our driver wisely took off! Wow!

We checked in. dropped our bags then went straight to the bar where I had a double gin and tonic. Since there are no fences permitted in the park our resort is not fenced in and there are loads of dangerous animals around. We were told in no uncertain terms NOT to go anywhere after 7:30 pm without the escorts they provide. Tony told us that not so long ago a leopard killed a Dik Dik (small deerlike thing) by the swimming pool. Walking up the the lounge I was really jumpy and heard noises everywhere.

More about our game drives later.

We crossed the boarder to Tanzania. In a town called Arusha we had lunch at a beautiful coffe coffee plantation. Our next stop was Ngongoro Crater.

It is a bowl on top of a moutain. It is not named correctly. A crater occures when a volcano blows up leaving a whole at the top. Ngongoro is a caldera. When it blew the top collapsed in on itself.

The crater/caldera is a wide open plain that is usually covered in lush green grass. Now it's very dry. Our hotel is on the rim. That meant a long windy climb on a narrow rough road. Can we say 'car sick'? I spent a lot of time with my eyes closed.

We reached our hotel and checked in. Our room has a balcony the looks out over the crater. When you sit up in bed in the moring you have an incredible view.

For our game drive we went down that windy road. Dramamine was a help. Once on the floor we got a flat tire. No problem the Land Cruiser carries 2 spares. A lot of people stopped to helf and we were permitted out of the LC. It was safe, as you can see for miles around. But it was kind of neat to be standing in a park in Africa! Usually you are never pemitted out of the vehicle.

We had a nice game drive we managed to see a lioness with a kill. Ranger told us that lions killed 5 buffalo the day before. They killed one and the others mobbed them so they had to kill them all.

We saw hippos in a pond. We also saw a hyena walking toward a lioness. It was trying to decide if the lion had a kill. It finally decided it should give the lion a wide berth.

The next morning 10/31 we moved oun to our next park, the Serengeti. On the way we stopped at Oldupi Gorge where Louis and Mary Leaky found the effidence of early man. The world acutally knows the place as Oldovi Gorge but I used the proper name. Someone asked a Maasai what the place was called and misunderstood him.

I'll move on in the next entry.

Sorry to keep you in suspence but the internet has not been available or it was really bad.

So, I'll tell you about each park. Amboselli was once a huge lake at the foot of Mt Kilamajaro. Then the mountain (volcano) erupted and covered the lake. Amboselli has been hit the hardest by the drought. It's dry to start with. It looks like a lunar landscape. But it does have 2 springs that supply abundant water and green grass. It is very strange to see that flat empty land then look on the other side of the vehicle and see elephants in water up to their belly! However, the devastation is incredible. There are carcasses everywhere in various stages of decomposition. Why were they not picked clean? Beacuse the buzzards and other 'clean up' animals are so full they cannot eat anymore. The smell of death was everywhere. But if there is water why are these animals dying? Most are zebra, wildebeest and some cape buffalo. These animals don't eat the lush green grass. They eat the tougher grass at ground level. That grass is nearly mon existant. Also they think that maybe they are eating sand trying to get the little bits of grass and get blocked.

If an animal has died of natural causes it will lay flat on it's side head on the side. If it has been killed by a predator it's neck is twisted and head is facing up. That's because the predator grabs the throat and suffocates them. Most of the dead animals in Amboselli died of natural causes. It was awful! The few surviving wildebeest and zebra were thin, sad looking walking with there heads humg low. Who knows if any will survive if the rains don't come soon.

Please remember them in your prayers.

http://cocparelli.blogspot.com/2009/10/horsie-update.html

I've been riding Cocoa quite a bit lately! Decided to get my priorities straight this last week..horses before homework. lol :) We've gotten some really great rides in! I've been taking Dixie for bike rides, walks, and for runs with me.

Working on the weekends at a horse barn! Keeping me busy!

Halloween tonight! ;) Trick or Treating for the Food shelf! :)


Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

 Well I've been to a few clinics, lost a horse (R.I.P. G...) and made a few discoveries since I've been on here.  Z is supporting all of my weight pretty consistently, though I haven't actually sat on him yet, and Splash and I are making the usual sort of progress. :) I was just thinking tonight about my first Parelli Tour Stop in Harrisburg...how incredible it was even then, seeing Pat ride Magic (in heat!) while he played with Casper at liberty and on his long, thing black lines.  I'm glad to be around during the heat of things. 

Our L2 Audition, During an especially LBI Day...haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4xdnxEifHI