Awesome Weekend.

On Saturday part of our group were the "guinea pigs" in a new weekend adventure.  Before I left for our trip I was looking for a shorter, less expensive option for our in-between week.  I came across horseback riding safaris with a company named Nile Horseback Safaris.  It is located in Jinja which is 1/3 of the distance from Mildmay compared to the safari.  We arrived Saturday around 10AM and were introduced to T.J. and Natalie who are the owner/operators.  After getting suited up we were matched to horses and were on our way.  Jodi, Shelley, and Mayra took a two hour ride so we had to say goodbye to them until Sunday afternoon (Later finding out that they had a great time).  John, Sally, Lisa, Mackenzie, and I opted for the overnight trip and started by learning our horses and how to trot and cantor.  We road through local villages, seeing tea plantations, bananas, coffee, and beautiful countryside.  However none of us had ridden for many years and some of us had never ridden English.  It was very enjoyable and all the village children greeted us with "Hi, Mzungu, how are you?".  They very rarely see white people.  By the end of our ride to "The Haven" we all had to be peeled off our horses and had difficulty walking.  The Haven was very beautiful right on the Nile with thundering rapids that some of us had rafted down in past years.  It was very good food and very nice accomodations.  After a nice overnight, we mounted our horses again for the return trip.  Some of us opted for shorter rides and were picked up by TJ and were taken to base camp.  The others soon arrived later and we were treated to a nice box lunch where we talked for quite a while with the owners.  We have made good contacts and will be returning on our future trips.  Clinic today, more later.