Where to start! It is the end of May. The Merry Month of May
which has now turned into June. For those who read my
newsletters I am delighted to tell you that my mother Beryl
is back home recovering. She had a particularly bad time and
I was passportless. She had to go on life support and I was
convinced she had given up. I phoned the world, cried for
two days, so did Pat and Jonathan got drunk with the anguish
of it all. My cousin flew back from Cape Town expecting a
funeral. My brother Tim spent every spare hour at the
hospital. I lay awake all night waiting for the call to say
that she had passed on. In the morning I phoned the hospital
expecting the worse. You can imagine my shock when they said
Beryl had a good night and had woken in the morning asking
for a Mango. Granny is a legend.
Julia and Jonathan produced a beautiful daughter Talia Lily.
Pat and I are Grandparents and very proud. We have been
skyped beautiful photos and we are longing to meet her. Pat
can’t wait to get her riding and I am sure he will make her
a little saddle and stirrups. Very exciting! It’s just a
pity they are so far away.
We were sad to say goodbye to our volunteers Amanda Kwong
and Chantahl Stedman. We wish them luck with their travels.
A big thank You to Lisa Molera for her enormous donation and
encouragement. Also a huge thank you to Ahmed Serour for his
wonderful donation. This money helped us through a very
difficult period and we are so grateful. This has been a bad
year for tourism so far and we hope that things improve. We
know the World Recession has not helped but Mozambique is
quite an expensive destination to get to. We are hoping that
air flight prices will be looked at and cheaper packages
will be put together. Our volunteers bring so much for us
and we are so delighted that people take the trouble to fill
their backpacks with so much. It is impossible to get
anything in Mozambique. Pat is making our saddles, girths,
stirrup leathers and he is amazing. It is all done by hand.
He puts so much effort into it and I know how hard he works
at it.
We also have to say thank you to Anita Quigley for her
donation. Thank you Anita.
Lucy Campbell Jones attended Indaba and represented
Mozambique Horse Safari. She said it was worthwhile and she
met loads of interesting people. While Lucy was doing Indaba
I was attending meetings with angry villagers. Horses had
broken free and had eaten a swathe of maize through Chibuene.
I am getting good at this now. It seems more and more people
are moving into the Chibuene district so we are finding it
difficult grazing the horses. We have problems ahead and
will have to look for more grazing land.
I took the TCO bus to Maputo to renew my British Passport.
You have to be quite intrepid. The road to Maputo is
presently under repair so it is quite a journey and not for
the meek. Maputo was wonderful and I was entertained and
looked after by Bill and Jane Clegg. I love Maputo and there
is so much going on. I had my hair cut for 200mets by a
lovely Chinese man who could not speak English we were
treated to an amazing head massage as well. That alone was
worth 200 mets.
Our new volunteer Diane Kennedy has arrived followed by
Danni Holdsworth who if you read my newsletters was with us
last year. Danni is looking after the horses on Indigo Bay
for a couple of weeks. Now Diane is a Psychologist and a
therapist. Where has she been all my life? Pat and I are
taking it in turns to pour our hearts out. I must say Diane
is looking a little exhausted and I have only just started
telling her about my life. Pat and I race each other to get
to her first. To think I used to laugh about people having a
personal Guru. So I am sharing Diane with the Chibuene
residents and we are holding a workshop on Wednesday. Will
tell you how it goes in the next news letter.
Our volunteers continue conversational English at IMAP
School. The community fishing ride is one of our most
popular rides and I give 10US dollars from each ride to the
community. We did a leadership skills course with Diane for
the English Students at IMAP. I am presently trying to raise
funds for a lap top so volunteers can continue to interact
with the school once they have left.
A big thank you to Sarah Cox, she wrote a wonderful article
about Mozambique Horse Safari in the Hurlingham Polo
Magazine. Thank you so much for trying to raise our profile
in the UK. Please read the article by
clicking
here.
Our old Land Rover is seeing its last days so my goal is to
raise the funds to get a good second hand replacement. It
has been the most amazing vehicle and works so tirelessly
for the horses. Collecting grass, water, and never ever has
a rest period. It has to be pushed a lot and it causes some
hilarious moments. I always mean to write to Landrover to
say this Land Rover deserves a medal. It would be such an
amazing trip to buy one in the UK and then drive it back
through Africa. Anyone keen?
Thank you for all the continued support without it Pat and I
would not be here. I am always humbled by people’s affection
and kindness to us. Let’s hope business picks up and we can
continue to keep our horses safe and happy.
From Mandy, Pat, Volunteers and all the horses.
APRIL 2010 NEWSLETTER - MOZAMBIQUE HORSE SAFARI
Friends of the Mozambique horses,
Where to begin?
Sadly we have said goodbye to most of our volunteers. We
were very sad to say goodbye to Lisa Molera who had been
with us for four months and was so much part of the family.
I think her family were beginning to worry she might have
got involved with a strange cult as there were frantic calls
wondering if she was ever going to go home. Sam leaves us on
the 28th April and we will be sorry to see her go. Sam has
put in an enormous amount of work in her three months
training horses but is now off to sunny California and will
leave behind the chaos of Mozambique for more sophisticated
stables. Oriane Lee Johnston left us to ride with Varden
Safaris and is now safely back in Canada. She has lots of
stories to tell of her time in Africa. We now have Chantahl
from Australia and Amanda Kwong also from Canada who is
looking after Benguerra while Lucy is away.
We also had wonderful clients Anita, Maggie and Roz who were
such fun and so nice! Roz arrived without her luggage and
had to borrow shoes, bras etc but was extremely good about
it and caused no fuss. Fortunately for us her suitcase did eventually arrive
and she thankfully was able to get back into her own
clothes. Roz and Maggie took time to adjust to Mozambique
and spent the first week full of welts from various
insects. By their second week they both bloomed and were
truly adapted to African life and and loved the beach riding.
Jonny Bealby from Wild Frontiers arrived but unfortunately
not his girlfriend. She was unable to fly out of London to
join him because of the volcanic ash eruption in Iceland. So as I write
this he is at
honeymoon destination all by himself. It was great fun having
Jonny and if you read his profile you will see that he has
written travel books and is a real adventurer. He absolutely
loves Mozambique and we hope he markets us very soon.
May and June worryingly look very quiet for us and
the whole of Vilankulo - so we are holding thumbs that bookings will come in.
Nobody is really sure what the next few months will be like
with the world cup in SA. We had such high expectations but
it seems that many people have been frightened off with the
increasing price of flights and hotels in South Africa. We
can only wait and see what happens.
The highlight of April for us was the Andy Johnson / Kate Mellon
wedding. Something we have been excited about for so many
months. We were not sure how to get to Nyanga as the
Landover is needed here as it works so hard bringing in
grass and carrying water. We pondered over riding across the
mountains but we finally hired a car. It was the first time
Pat and I had been back in years. After a few payments to
people called Pedro and Elias we managed to get the car
cleared. We were overwhelmingly home sick once we crossed
the border. It was amazing to see the shops so well stocked.
Kate had to keep a tight rein on Pat and I before we spent
all our money. We ran up and down the aisles of the local
supermarket clutching Mazoe Orange and Colcom ham. Kate
was continually racing behind us reminding us that we had hotel bills to pay.
Finally we arrived at Troutbeck our son Paul who is
responsible for our wonderful websites was best man to Andy. Our cousin Tanya had sent heaps of dresses from
Harare and our ex volunteer Julia had sent me a wonderful pair
of pink shoes all the way from London. Kate and I had our
hair done so everyone did a double take seeing us looking so
glam. The wedding reception was at the Troutbeck Hotel. It
was absolutely amazing. Paul’s speech took us completely by
surprise, after half a bottle of rescue drops he took to the
podium like a politician and executed the most brilliant
speech. We were so proud I almost burst. It was a truly
emotional day for us all and I am so glad that we made it.
We saw so many of our dear friends from Zimbabwe - it was a day we will never
forget. Kate Mellon was the most gorgeous bride and we have
known her ever since she was a baby.
Of course with all the happiness we have to have some
sadness. Somebody stole three of our saddles which was a terrible loss
to us as it’s impossible to get anything vaguely related to
horses in Mozambique. We take such great care of equipment
and are very disappointed that we are now three saddles down. Nobody can give us any
information and it’s a mystery why they should be taken. To
make matter worse they chose our English General Purpose
Saddles which we make the most use of.
My beloved mother Granny B was rushed to hospital and has
had part of her bowel removed. She is so far away from us in
St. Ives in the UK and I
worry about her. However it seems that she is making a good
recovery - so lets keep our fingers crossed.
The horses are well. A few bad eyes and Jade has been lame.
The horses on Benguerra are looking lovely - thanks so much
to Lucy & Amanda. Once again I would like to thank our
amazing clients and volunteers - where would we be without
you!
With all our love
Pat, Mandy & the Mozambique horses
FEBRUARY 2010 NEWSLETTER - MOZAMBIQUE HORSE SAFARI
Friends,
I hope you are all well. February has been a quiet time for
us - we have lacked clients which is expected at this time
of year but have made up for it in volunteers. We have had 8
amazing volunteers join us from all around the world; they
are Aaron, Amanda, Ahmed, Ana, Lisa, Lee, Rowenna and
Samantha.
I am so thankful that our volunteers leap on planes, travel
across the world and give a month or two of their lives to
our wonderful horses. It is usually their first time in
Africa, yet they always seem to fit in without a problem and
sail through the experience. I could not imagine myself
jumping on a plane and setting off for British Colombia or
Lapland facing the unknown and looking after a whole herd of
reindeer!
At the moment we have a mixed group of volunteers and Pat
and I are learning loads of things. We have been shown how
to speak to horses, tasted green tea, heard about personal
growth, yoga and meditation. Our latest volunteer, Amanda
has spent one month in a Masai Village teaching English
before coming to Mozambique. She said it was a fantastic
experience and something we should all try out – sounds like
lots of fun. We also have a down to earth English
girl, Sam from Manchester training our horses - she is doing
an incredible job.
I love the volunteers; they light up our lives. They lug
suitcases of horse equipment from all around the world - we
are very grateful to these contributions. Without them the
horses would have a much more difficult time. So thank you
to all my wonderful volunteers
This month Getaway Magazine,
www.getaway.co.za , the largest
travel magazine in South Africa will come out to interview
us and take some good shots of the horses on the beach – how
cool is that! Soon the acclaimed travel writer Jonny Bealby,
who is one of the last great modern travellers and owner the
UK-based adventure company Wild Frontiers
www.wildfrontiers.co.uk , will be riding with us. So we feel
very honoured that so much interest is being shown in
Mozambique Horse Safari.
In April, the excitement of the year will be the Johnson
wedding in Nyanga. Paul our son is best man to Andy Johnson
who is marrying the amazingly beautiful Kate Mellon. I am so
excited about the wedding and am so looking forward to it.
We are hoping that Lucy Campbell Jones; who looks after the
horses on Benguerra Island can get to Africa's largest
travel trade show, INDABA this year. It could mean that we
are represented for the first time – let’s hope it works
out. Lucy – thank you for all the effort you put into making
Mozambique Horse Safari better!
A big thank you to our Egyptian volunteer Ahmed, for his
very generous donation that he gave to the horses – it was
very, very kind of you. Also to AnaMarta from Portugal who
brought her own weight in presents for the horses. We are
missing you both so much.
So we send you all good karma and hold thumbs that we have a
good season. Thank you so much for the wonderful letters we
receive and a big thank you to all our clients, and
volunteers - without you, where would we be.
Lots of love,
Pat, Mandy, Jonathan, volunteers and all the horses
JANUARY 2010 NEWSLETTER - MOZAMBIQUE HORSE SAFARI
Friends of the Mozambique Horses,
Where to begin? December was a very busy time for the
Mozambique Horses; we had lots of new clients, volunteers,
an amazing vet and so many interesting people
from all over the world who came to visit us.
The highlight of January was
a visit from Allan Hislop; an incredible vet and wonderful
person who gives up so much his time to
tend to our dearly loved horses. He performed a range of operations on the
horses and when he had a spare moment managed to spay some strays dogs and do a few other essential
veterinarian jobs. Thank you so much. Unfortunately when Allan left for
South Africa, he forgot his 'Donna
Anna Piri Piri' sauce behind which was an enormous tragedy as
it was a gift for his wife Spook.
While Allan was here we had the most delightful film crew
who have come to document the story of our horses. They
spent ten days filming us at our most unglamorous and I hope
when they get to the final edit they will somehow be able to
make us look more
photogenic. It was so nice having them and they were such
fun. One of the highlights was our dhow trip to Paradise
Island. A farewell trip for a friend who did not manage to
make it nor did any of his party due to their severe hangovers. So
it was the film crew and us who boarded our dhow and set off
on a 3 hour journey to the island. We were all
curious to see the Paradise Island since Survivors had been filmed
there. When we arrived it was very quiet but the snorkelling
was great. We had a wonderful lunch and a wander round the
old hotel. So interesting, especially for me as my family
used to holiday there when I was a little girl.
The trip back took us four hours. I kid you not - the
wind picked up and we battled the high seas! We felt like
the survivors clinging on for dear life as the boat rocked
and rolled. The slap of warm salty
sea water would hit us in the face at regular intervals
as the waves broke over the bow. The film crew reached for the beers to cheer themselves up
while we reached blindly for the vomidine to try and prevent
sea sickness. Next time we will use a motorized boat but it
was well worth the
visit.
Now to our volunteers. Lucy went home to Wales for Christmas
and was sadly missed. She is a miracle worker who puts so much
time and effort into looking after the horses on Benguerra
Island. She
also worked with a French film crew on Benguerra and they
took some wonderful footage of the horses. Lucy said the
horses were so well behave. They had to spend hours in water
or in the sun waiting for the perfect shot.
Lisa Molera looked after Benguerra Island while Lucy was on
leave. Lisa is from California and has been with us for two
months. She is full of laughter and hugely sensible. We had
a wonderful farewell dinner for her at Blue Waters. We drank
loads of champagne and all made wonderfully emotional
speeches some of us made them twice. A great night but Lisa
suddenly decided she didn’t want to leave so made a quick
trip to Johannesburg to sort out some things and arrives back today.
So tonight we are having her Welcome Home Party.
At the moment we have Samantha Yates who is looking after
the horses on Bazaruto Island for a week or two. Samantha has
ridden all over the world; she was a casino manager before
she became a horsy traveler. We are all in awe at the moment
as
she has given us a few hot tips on how to win at Black Jack.
I am thinking of sending her off to SA to try her luck at
the roulette wheel and make sure the horses can live the
rest of their lives in the style they have become accustomed
to.
We have Ana from Portugal who is delightful and spends a lot
of her spare time working with the disabled. She bought a
mammoth suitcase of stuff for the horses, so big that it
dwarfed her completely as she is so tiny and I almost missed
her at the airport.
We also have Rowenna from Hereford who has just left school
and who has just been on safari in Kenya. Lucky Rowenna!
In February we are getting Oriane Lee Johnston who does
leadership skills with horses and practices holistic
medicine. She has a great website which you need to look at
http://www.orianelee.com
. Last but not least we have Ahmed
from Egypt - I know a man. So Ahmed is going to have a hard
time with all the girls. Or maybe not.!!!
We also had a visit from Mark from Redlands Equestrian
www.relandsequestrian.co.uk in the UK. We hope that he will put something together for his clients
so that they can come out to Mozambique and enjoy some of
the best coastal riding in Africa.
Mark kindly gave us his complimentary bottle of champagne
that he received from Azura. He also visited James and
Janine Varden, I saw some photos of their
amazing safari in Hwange.
Thank you to our friends old and new. We receive so many
lovely emails from people cheering us on and we are very
touched at the warmth and concern from so many people all
over the world.
A big thank you to Archipelago Resort for their continued support.
Nick, Tracy and Grant and the Reilly’s help us in everyway
and we are grateful for their commitment. A Big Thank you to
our clients and volunteers. Where would we be without you?
We meet so many wonderful people who are so supportive. We
have had some wonderful laughs and a lot of tears are shed
at Vilanculos Airport when we say goodbye.
We hope that 2010 will be kind to us and that we are busy.
The huge expense of looking after the horses sometimes takes
its toll and we have stress weeks. On the whole Mozambique
is good to us and let’s hope that each year will get better
and that we will establish a strong business. Mozambique
Horse Safari would not exist without my husband Patrick
whose courage and fortitude has kept us going. He has never
lost sight of his goals and his commitment to these
beautiful animals.
With lots of love from the bottom of our hooves,
The Mozambique Horses.
DECEMBER 2009 NEWSLETTER - MOZAMBIQUE HORSE SAFARI
Friends of the Mozambique Horses,
Well now where to start. As you know I went off to the
Philippines to see Paul and Rachel.
I loved Manila and we spent our time having foot massages,
facials, full body massages and drank thousands of smoothies
and green tea. It was just perfect. I could not believe how
tiny the Filipinos were, Gran and I were like giants; we
didn't fit into a single thing at the clothes shop. A big thanks you
to my brother Tim, Paul, Rachel and my mum Beryl for making
it such a special time for me. Paul is also
responsible for our wonderful websites, he
devotes a lot of time to it and I think it has made a big
difference in promoting Vilanculos and the horses.
A big thank you to Mike Moyes for lending us his car to go
and do some urgent horse business in Chimoio. Unfortunately
for Mike we crashed it ten km from Pambara on the way back.
As we came over a rise singing aloud to the Mamas and the
Papas a drunken herdsman chose to chase two cows across the
road, Pat had to make a split decision and chose the calf
hoping the damage would be minimal. The calf was instantly
killed and the car was crushed. We had to phone Ryan at Blue
Waters to rescue us and tow us back. On the way back Ryan's
car overheated and we came to a standstill wondering where
we could find water. Just as Ryan was about to urinate in a
bottle the police arrived guns blazing. They stopped us
demanding our passports. They said that they had a report we
had run over somebody. Goodness "a la Mozambique" Pat was
hauled off in the back of the truck along with African
Impact Nicky who was with us at the time.
Fortunately I knew the owner of the cow and got him to rush
out and restore some sanity. It seems the herdsman thought
he would spice up the policeman's day and thought maybe
something lucrative would come out of it for both parties.
Mozambique Madness at its best. Which brings me back to our
favourite joke why does the Mozambique Chicken Cross the
road? So that the owner can get 10,000 mets. Now if you are
living in Mozambique you will find this hysterically funny
as its absolutely true. Michael was very
gracious about his car and fortunately it was insured - but
poor Michael we are so so sorry.
So any good news? I can hear you asking. Well plenty. We
have our new volunteer Lisa Molera with us who is great and
has decided to stay on for another month. She is a charming
hardworking American full of fun. She seems to have blended
into the chaos extremely well and can hold her own in this
crazy place. Lucy has gone on well deserved leave so Kate
our daughter is on Benguerra Island.
Our lovely girls in Scotland had a wonderful cake sale and
sent us 500US which is amazing and keeps us in food and meds
for awhile. Rosie thank you from all of us. Pat has been
making saddles, girths and halters so we are now nearly self
sufficient.
The horses themselves have been so amazing. They have worked
hard and behaved. You will never find gentler and sweet
horses in the world I am convinced. We have had huge tick
infestations specially ears and have had a tough time
keeping them at bay. We have had quite a few clients come
through this year which has been wonderful. The horses
deserve a lot of accolades but Patrick needs a medal for his
absolute dedication and belief in these horses. We would
have put our heads in the gas oven long ago except for Pat's
constant energy and encouragement. We just hope that we
continue to grow and that business improves.
A big thank you to Jayne Janet, Andrew Frodsham, Lucy
Campbell Jones, Rosie, Eileen, The volunteers and all the
people who constantly support us. I thank everyone who takes
the time to write in and give us so many words of
encouragement.
Also thank you to Archipelago Resort for their continued
support Tracy in the Office, Grant who lets us graze the
horses round Archipelago and to Nick Faulk who takes such
great care of our guests. Brenda from Archipelago bookings
who always tries to help where she can and last but not
least Jeff and Jane Reilly who have always given us a lot of
encouragement.
A big thank you to all the lovely clients who come out and
ride with us. We have been deeply touched by so many of you
and appreciate how easy you are in this funny old third
world country. I am thrilled that so many of you have booked
to come again. So we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New year. Let’s hold thumbs that year ahead will be good to
the Mozambique Horses.
Merry Christmas from Pat, Mandy, Kate, Lucy, Lisa and all
the horses.
