fh_trips | Loisaba Conservancy, Kenya [Monday Daytime]

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spring break 2022: kenya and tanzania

Loisaba Conservancy, Kenya [Monday Daytime]

When you sleep under the stars, the day starts very early. Bonus: the Maasai Warriors taking care of everyone have arrived with coffee and tea for the suites to drink as you watch the sun rise. The second bonus: sunrise is the very best time to go on a game drive ~~where the giraffes are, and the zebra~~ and see all of the animals!

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Experience the unique exhilaration of riding on the plains with a herd of zebra, walking gently through a graceful tower of giraffes or past a herd of elephants. On horseback it is possible to get unusually close to wildlife and the horses and ponies have all been reared from birth in the bush so are quite accustomed to its presence.

[OOC: Mod your animals! You will not be disappointed on your trips this week. You'll be out for about three hours and get much closer to the wildlife than you will on the game drive in jeeps.]

Vi had taken one look at the horses, then gone for a small, staid pony instead. She might be closer to the ground and have less of a view, but she was also closer to the ground.

Sakaki had never ridden a horse before, and it did seem a little terrifying, but it felt like too good of an opportunity ~~to actually use this icon in context!~~ to pass up, and once she was on there? Oh, man, she was in love, and she was so excited to get to see some animals!

It felt rather different riding an actual horse as opposed to his steel horse Triton back home but at the same time it still felt rather familiar to Goose as he rode up as close as he could to the wildlife.

He was enjoying the sensation and rush of horseback riding and he did actually miss Triton, next time he was home he’d have to stop by and visit.

Oh, lucky you, Goose, look was sidling up next to you with her own horse.

"Ohmygod," she said, "you're roommates!"

Tell her she was just supposed to leave that one just sitting there! Come on, now.

Oh look at that despite the fact that he was currently on a horse, Goose still managed to go a bit pink.

“I know,” he said and there was a somewhat shy smile, as he added, “and there was only one bed,” he added. He was still a bit focused on that.

"I know!" Summer gushed triumphantly, as if she had personally had a hand in this twist of fate personally. "It said so on radio! And that you guys discussed 'the viiieeeewwws."

She snorted.

"Yeah, I'm sure you discussed something."

Goose was definitely bright red now, “well that was part of it,” he admitted, still rather awkwardly, “this will be different but …er …I ….think it will be nice though,” he managed to stammer.

Summer grinned, completely shameless and not even a little bit apologetic, at Goose for a moment before turning her attention a little more back on her horse and the tour. "Just wait," she stated, with the confidence of a person who would put good money down it, "by the end of this week, you'll have gotten so used to it that you're not going to be able to stand it when we get back!"

Granted, she knew all about the ridiculous sleeping arrangements at the Covent Garden apartment, so she knew that sharing a bed with giant beefy men and blondes wasn't exactly new for Ignis, but this was obviously different!

Dwight was definitely heading out on the horseback riding tour! It had been a while since his last ride, but he soon found his rhythm again and was having a great time looking at everything around them as they followed the guide across the plains.

It'd been a while since Rosa's done any horseback riding, and it was definitely more appealing to her than riding around in some bouncy Range Rover just gawking at animals with people she potentially passively liked but more often not, so this was definitely pretty dope.

Thankfully, Summer was still quite blissfully unaware of exactly how deep her family's weird obsession with horses ran. For now, she was very much enjoying giving into the little pre-teen horse girl buried deep inside of her, thank you, canon, please don't ruin this for her yet!

If anyone asked, Troy was definitely riding a pony because they were obviously cooler, not because horses were actually a lot bigger and toothier than he was expecting them to be in person!

Astrid would be able to get more sketching done if she'd taken the cars, but there was just something so incredibly appealing about just riding a horse through the Kenyan wilderness that reminded her of similar excursions through Mexico that she really had no choice. There'd be plenty of time for sketching later. Right now, she just wanted to soak this all in.

Yes, of course this was the option Jules chose. Especially since she didn't even have to use her powers to make sure her mount stayed calm as Camden prowled beside them.

She did, however, use those powers to coax the wildlife they spotted along the ride close enough to touch.

... What. They didn't have these types of animals on Fennbirn, who knew when she'd get a chance to see any of them again?

[ooc: you wanna pet a lion or something? talk to this girl. she can make it happen.]

And look whose horse seemed to be mysteriously gravitating toward Juillenne's.

Sakaki gave her a tentative smile, and a nod.

"It's good that Camden was able to come along," she said. "She must really be loving this."

"The school has classified her as a 'service animal', and no one seems to question it," Jules grinned. "There are no lands like this back home," a pause, as she considered. "Well. So far as I know. I could be wrong. But for now, it's an entirely new experience for the both of us."

"Me, as well," Sakaki noted, her eyes lifting to gaze around in wonder again. If she could stay there, right now, in that moment, forever, she would be happy. How could it possibly get even better?

"I've never even ridden a horse before."

Thankfully, horses seemed to like her much better than cats!

"My grandparents made sure I could ride nearly as soon as I could walk," Jules shared. "But then, we don't have cars where I'm from. Horses are pretty much it for overland transportation."

"There are some mounted police on our city," Sakaki offered, almost chattily, which, for her, was saying a lot. "But not many. Most people walk, or take the subway and trains, actually...

"I probably wouldn't mind," she added almost hesitantly, "riding horses everywhere."

“Horseback or carriage is a fair bit slower than a vehicle, of course,” Juillenne shared. “I’m afraid I’ve become a bit spoiled since learning about them.”

It was then that she spotted a herd of zebras nearby. “Now what,” she said, “are those?” They looked like horses, and yet… she could tell they weren’t, somehow.

"Oh!" Sakaki's eyes widened as she followed Juillenne's gaze with almost an excited gasp, and, for a moment, she'd completely forgotten that she'd meant to answer the question. "Those are zebras! They're an equine, like the horse, but obviously quite a bit smaller and their striped pattern is their most unique characteristic, and it's believed that they're to help defend them against their predators and possibly for social identification and regulating body temperature."

Someone had clearly been doing a lot of reading to prepare for this trip!

“Would you like to touch one?” Jules asked, already angling her horse to go trot towards the zebra herd.

Who were, for the record, completely unconcerned about this development.

It took Sakaki a moment to realize that Juillenne's direction had slightly changed, because she was too busy blinking forward and wondering if she thought she heard her right. She couldn't have; it must have been some sort of translation error...

But in the odd chance that it wasn't, Sakaki regained her focus to goad her own horse to follow, staring a little now at Jules' back.

"T-touch?"

“Sure, why not?” Jules shrugged. “They seem docile enough.”

How much of that was due to Juillenne’s own influence over them was hard to say.

Loisaba Conservancy, Kenya [Monday Daytime]

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