Sonia

Message for those in Kentisbeare - one of my best friends from Leicester has just got offered a job at Uni of Exeter (modern languages - Sonia Cunico/she is Italian) and is therefore planning to move down here (double yippee). She has two girls (year 5 and 4) and I am hoping that they will consider Kentisbeare (of course). Jo/Stewart - can I give them your number and could they pitch up with their campervan and have a look around?

We spent a couple of days in Molomolong Lodge near the centre of Lesotho. While we were there we went horse riding for a couple of hours. At one point we started to walk up the road with no particular aim when we met two women coming towards us. We exchanged the usual 'how are you?' and when they asked 'where are you going?' we said 'don't know, where are you going?'. They said: "the Chinese shop" so we asked to go with them. It turned out to be just behind our lodge and was guarded by a man with an automatic machine gun! Inside there was just about everything including massive radios circa 1970s but we only bought a packet of biscuits, some rooibos tea and a couple of penny sweets. The women were there to buy candles as there is no electricity here.

We all left the shop together and the women asked us to walk with them. They took us up through a cultivated area: apricot trees, maize and pumpkins to where the aunt of one of the women lived in a traditional round house (Rondavel) made of straw and mud with a straw roof. It was tiny and inside there was only a single mattress on the floor (to sleep five people), a tiny stove, a hand-made radio in the shape of a modern, rectangular house (!), a pile of old brown leather suitcases, a couple of chairs and a few tin bowls. We offered her a biscuit and gave her the teabags. Patrick played them a tune on his tin whistle! They picked us fresh apricots from their tree and we ate them together. When her grandson came home from school, the boys went off to play soccer together with our ball which we subsequently gave to the boys.

Umgeni nature reserve where we are working...

Photos at last

All packed up and ready to go. One rucksack each plus a day sack. Note the coats - haven't worn them since arriving in SA

Howick Preparatory School

Bit :-( to be back in Howick as I loved it in the mountains! I've fallen in love with a horse called 'Tanderwe' (Tandy), a bay Besotho horse who only has two paces: walk and go-like-the-wind. I plan to ride her next week when we go into Lesotho to recover the stolen horses - can't wait!!
The boys have started school at Howick Preparatory School. Alfie was a bit non-plussed when faced with an Afrikaans test yesterday administered only in Afrikaans by the teacher! He didn't know which bits were the instructions and which were the test but Zulu seems to be going a bit better and they love the Zulu teacher!

Everyday after school they can do sport for an hour 2-3pm. It is winter here but with temperatures of 30+ degrees it certainly doesn't seem like it but the sports are winter sports: soccer (not football), rugby, hockey, x-country running etc and they are doing soccer, tennis, x-country and mountain bike riding. The other kids do everthing in bare feet - imagine kicking a rugby ball with bare feet or doing x-country without shoes! So Alfie and Oscar will have tougher feet soon...

I'm helping at WESSA, an environmental organisation, writing a proposal for funds from USAID. Shame when the sun is shining to be inside but at least I can see zebra wandering around when I look out the window! WESSA is within a nature reserve hence the wildlife.

Wondering if we should really stay here for the rest of our seven weeks or to take the kids up to the Mozambique/South Africa border for a few weeks? I think we would all love to go back to Khotso to be with the mountains and horses!

Easter holidays

Not had much access to internet but here we are in the Drakensburg mountains helping out at Khoto Horse Lodge. Its been a busy weekend and they were short of staff so I have taken a couple of hour rides with other guests having only ridden the route once myself I am obviously qualified! The lodge is owned by Steve Black who is a South African running legend having won just about every long race there is here so, as you can guess, Patrick has been doing plenty of running. Steve's brother, Ali is also staying here, with his partner Kylie, in their log-cabin a couple of km further up into the hills and they are both keen runners. Steve is planning an epic run with Patrick into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho in about two weeks time. There are few roads in Lesotho and people use horses to get about. On Friday a few horses were stolen from the farm nearby and Steve is planning a four-day run into Lesotho with Patrick (about 40km each day) to make a dawn raid on the Lesotho village where he thinks the horses have been taken. He might carry a gun... but the Lesotho people are armed as well. He will take a CB radio to radio back to the other farmer about the whereabouts of his horses. If I can, I will ride some of it and carry supplies: rifle (?), food, blanket to sleep under...
In the meantime, we spent a night at the Splashy Fen music festival. Pitched our tents (the pop up kind), almost froze on the starriest night I have seen for a good while and listened to thumping pop/rock, reggae music... Not much of a place for kids e.g. really crude comedian, loads of pissed youngsters, and blisteringly hot so only stayed one night. Best bits for us were the Zulu dancers/singers and the Indian musicians - not impressed by the Africaans taste in music!
After riding out for a few hours this morning we walked over the hill to pick blackberries - great way to spend Easter Monday! So now we are cooking an apple and blackberry crumble in the Aga to share with the others tonight and it is hammering down with rain so really pleased that Steve has given us a four-bed room rather than sleeping in our tents.
Tomorrow we were going to head up Sani pass early - the highest pass in South Africa, in our 4 by 4 but Ali and Kylie want to do a long 3 hour run in a nearby national park and of course, Patrick will join them so we might get up there in the afternoon. Love this flexible kind of travelling! Great fun...