Rietpan I

I've been wanting to show you photos of where I'm currently staying, so here is a small batch. Rietpan, the farm, is humongous - I'm not entirely sure of the scale, but to give you an idea, it has it's own dam. Miriam has three horses, who I have yet to ride, but they take kindly to being fed carrots out of the kitchen garden. I hope to ride at some point this week as she often rides around the dam. The birdlife around the dam is extraordinary. I'm only just getting to know my south african bird names and sounds...it's the haadeedaa that wakes everyone bright and early, the guinea fowl that only take flight just as you're about to nick them in the road, and the pale pink flamingoes are easy to identify. It's the million other birds I have yet to learn! This evening we rode on the 4-wheeler to a spot called the vlei, where we watched all the birds congregate at sunset. It's still dry here, but the marshes around the dam are fed by spring water and so it stays pretty full year round. The house is very expansive, with lots of terraces and porches and I feel like a princess in my mosquito-netting bed. The views of the house were taken from my bathroom windows - showing the kraal where the horses stay (through a yellow tinted window at sunset) and the very productive kitchen gardens.

Check out this last picture! What a discombobulated little rider, with her helmet practically falling off whilst giving goobery, tired smiles! This morning I went on a 28k (prob about 20 miles) bike ride with Chris (my host) and a couple he knows who are big into cycling. The ride was intended to be a race but our philosophy the whole time was to take it easy - and we did. It was good to get up on a bike, however I'm poor with gears after living in flatland Chicago, am not used to riding up steep hills with no chance to catch momentum prior and am also not used to off-roading -- all on a man's bike that was too large for me! Alas the views were beautiful, as you can see, and the company was great. This picture was taken only a few kilometers before the end, just before we arrived back in the little city of Parys (called par-ace).