Newsy Emails... Old and New!

For those of you who may have missed out... I have added all the newsy emails we have sent out on this journey... enjoy!

Written on 15/10/2006

Hi all.

To get you up to speed on the expedition so far... (Christy is a bit behind on updating the travellogue!)
We are staying in a beautiful tourist town called Marsa Matrouh in Egypt, at the kind invitation of the Matrouh Governorate and the Sea Scouts. Although the tourist season is closed for the winter, the weather could not be better and the beach and sea more perfect.
http://www.matrouh.gov.eg/matrouhsite/indexen http://www.matrouh.gov.eg/matrouhsite/indexen.jsp
It is Ramadan so eating during the day is of the fresh produce bought at the souk (market) and then Christy adding Tuna to it.. When all fails add tuna...On the subject of food I am eating 10-12 eggs a day to gain the weight I have lost. Christy, being a good doer, is looking slim and trim but I'm looking pretty haggard!! (I kid you not,this chicky is tough!) Dinner consisting of soup, salad, chicken & rice washed down by Pepsi costs about 30 Egyptian pounds, equivalent to R39 or $5, for 2 people. That however is on the street with the locals. The same meal at a tourist restaraunt will cost 140 Egyptian pounds for 2. This is at least one reason to mix with the locals.
Ramadan is a fascinating time and it is incredible to experience a whole city of people fasting in solidarity with the poor. All shop owners give food and money to the poor. Throughout the day the people are at prayer and the mosques are hardly silent. At sunset the Longtom cannon is fired marking the end of the fast and everyone heads home for "breakfast". The city is deserted and deathly silent. We were invited to Mr Adel, the sports facility manager's, house for this "breakfast" which was a right slap up. Special meals are prepared throughout the month of Ramadan.
People keep on asking why we don't change our horses if they are tired or injured. There are a million & one reasons why we persist with them but I would say the most compelling reasons are that they took the "first steps" and should have the honour of taking the last. This journey is about the people we meet and our horses. Lastly these horses have found a huge place in our hearts! (& because Christy would kill me!!)
So onto the subject of why we are resting in Marsa Matrouh for so long. After 10 months of travel and intense living (living in other peoples pockets!), we have been left to our own devices. Each evening we may socialise or not, but seeing as the scouts are good blokes I choose to. I'll discuss the  horses seperately. We have run out of time on our visas (again!!) and can only receive new ones on 18/10/2006. Hopefully for 60 days.
The horses - Rahaal was too fat and needed to be toned up. He has recovered from his shoulder injury nicely (the injury we bought him with). Unfortunately his right hind is not strong enough to carry me and my kit for 25-35 km per day (the injury he sustained during his castration). We decided to work him on the beach and this has proven to be more of a success than I had hoped for. One possible problem is that over distance I think his right hind may cause him to move incorrectly and wear his hoofs badly. I will consider shoeing him until I am satisfied that his right hind is fully recovered.
Ennahali has worked incredibly hard and deserves a rest from carrying 110-120kg daily in a ridged saddle. We are not happy with his muscle developement in the saddle area and are back to riding him in a backpad. He is Rahaal's schoolmaster on the beach as the little guy has some terrible habits.
Chami has laminitis and has lost an awful amount of weight. Like me he is on a weight gain diet and poor Christy has to get up at all hours to feed him. She has to stand with him until he finishes eating to stop the whily Nali & the fearless (when it comes to food) Rahaal from creating a catastrophe. (As there are plenty of mosquitoes around you can imagine the dance the four of them do...) His laminitis looks like it could be under control and he is walking sound in shoes and even galloping on the beach, but...one never knows. So he rests, does some tar work & at times is let loose on the beach whle we are working. So that is all our news for now. Check out the new photo's on the website.
Kind regards to you all
William and Christine
or if you like;
Lots of love.
Billy & Christy

Written on 25/10/2006

Hello everybody.


Hope you are all well. We are well rested and yes I am almost back up to my normal weight; it's a bit dissapointing having to scale down on my egg intake...

I went to Cairo for visas on 18\10\06.My documents are still with security and because of Ramadan and Aeid I should only return on the 28th. Christy had no problem with her visa and I was told to fetch the passport at 2 o'clock, but they obviously meant "2 hours time" because they were closed when I got there,so I left her passport at immigration and decided to return "home".

..on the subject of Ramadan (for Fiona). Cairo is a very stressful city, if all you are doing is sorting out bureaucracy and dealing with taxi drivers whose only ambition in life is to rip off tourists! So you can immagine how stressed I am after 500km bus ride,4 taxi rides where you have to argue the driver down from 50 pounds to 15 pounds, no visa and an abandoned passport...The bus ticket office is closed its 5:30pm; bus might leave at 8pm.. no 10pm.. can we get you a taxi.. my friend has a taxi.. Yes the microbus to Alexandria rank is very far away.. only 30 pounds.. 7km's, but with traffic we can't charge less than 15 pounds.. (GPS tells me its 1,5 km or 10 minute walk)..!

Bully at Alexandria taxi rank tries to pick a fight.. "BIG SMILE, NO GUN!" (wish I had coined the phrase).. I am first passenger so there is a long wait.. Eventually we get going.. hooting, stop\starting, yelling from taxi driver.. where you from.. South Africa.. NO YOU'RE NOT, YOU'RE WHITE!!.. frenetic driving.. peak hour traffic with 3 million people exiting the city.. Out of nowhere a brute of a man steps in front of the taxi brandishing a lump of wood that a neanderthal would be proud to pick up! Taxi screeches to a halt. He's wearing a tight fitting, bright orange T-shirt and a very dangerous grin.. Yip, it's "lets beat up the foreigner time".. my heart starts racing as I look for the closest exit.. the side door bursts open and Orange's 2 bigger brothers poke their heads in.. their faces break into the kindest smile you can imagine and little plastic cups filled with date juice are handed out to everyone.. 2 minutes later we're on our way and only then do I relax my hold on the seat.. sunset comes and I take a sip of the sweetest juice you can imagine.. the dates in the bottom taste like toffee! Ramadan is a time for sharing with everyone!

Congrats to Lorien and Ian on their engagement!

Christy has finally updated the travellogue and is steadilly getting the horse diary up to date. I hope you all find it interesting. Remember the photo's change every 2 weeks.

Cheers William and Christine


Written on 18/11/2006

Hello everyone.


Hope this finds you all in better health than Christine and I...Yes we have flu but are recovering without taking the advice of taxi drivers,shop keepers,street sweepers,the guy who sells green feed... everyone means well but I swear if you listen to all of them you'll end up at the funny farm!

We are stillllllll in Marsa Matruah! I cannot stress enough what a blessing it was meeting Dr Hamid Khalid the man who invited us to stay at the scout camp run by Mr Hamza Gahin. Chami's life was probably saved by it!

His recovery from dreaded laminitis is incredible to see... of course his recovery is not complete but at least he is out of danger! Still a very long way to go... The funny thing about laminitis is that I have seen mild cases succumb and terrible cases survive. It comes down to the horses determination to survive....!

We are fortunate to have obtained 3 good quality horses who can be "meak and mild" when required and "fiery steeds" that look as if they have just been brought in from the wild! We have seen their mental toughness and Chami's "will to live". Seeing them sleep up against each other every night for comfort moves something in you that is hard to describe. I can only reiterrate how blessed we are to be doing this journey!

I have to go to Cairo again to see if my visa has arrived, just a 1000km's there and back... Christine's visa is until 25\02\2007. It seems South Africans and possibly all Africans face thorough security checks because of working without work permits.

So before I went to Cairo last time I met a taxi driver called Younis. This is his second job after teaching. He teaches at school comes home, sleeps for 2-3 hours and then drives a taxi until 4 or 5am. This is very usual for everyone to hold down more than one job. They can't believe that all I do is farriery. I can't believe I do farriery!! I mean what guy in his right mind would chose such a hard job and then be controversial as well...

So the scouts check out Younis and tell me he is a scout as well and also a good bloke, take his number and call him when you need a taxi (Yes all in Arabic). Younis tells me his brother, Rissik, has a horse. (Yeah yeah, think nothing of it...I have only seen donkeys here...)

We buy green feed and phone Younis to see if this system of phoning for a taxi actually works... So I'll be there in 10 minutes takes 45 minutes after more phonecalls between "green feed guy" and Younis... Taxi stops and strange guy says he's Younis' brother, Rissik. Younis is working later but stops by to introduce us. I take Younis aside and ask him to bring Christine green feed while I'm in Cairo (I don't want her traipsing around town on her own) No problem, Rissk will do this...

We climb into Rissik's taxi...He doesn't stop talking on his phone from the time we met him until halfway home...then he doesn't stop talking long enough for me to say I don't understand when you talk so fast. He is full of exuberance and is exited when explaining his mare to us. He stops talking long enough to make a phonecall...then promptly hands me the phone..."speak,speak".

After a long winded conversation in Arabic and then coming to an abrupt halt when discussing his horse's problem, he breaks into faultless English...Khamies has 2 mares and a foal... So we've had a wonderful dinner with them,ridden with them, been invited to the cousins wedding where there was a horse parade and finally met our first horsemen!!! (all from catching the right taxi...) ...and yes Christine got green feed at 6.30pm (Rissik's 3pm!!!)

Congratulations to Rissik who has a new born son!

Thanks to all who have sent us e-mails.

Jessica, my god-daughter, I'm terribly sorry I didn't phone you on your birthday. I hope you had a wonderful time! Please tell your rotten father to e-mail me sometime with all your news...

Cheers

William and Christine

Written on 30/11/2006

Hello everybody.


(...and Chanda,Caroline,Michelle,Susan,Mildred,8 horses+2 ,4 cats,10 dogs,7 geese+13 goslings and millions of ducks with their ducklings) ...hope I didn't miss anyone!

Couple of questions to answer:

Robert- Sponsorship is always a big problem with certain sponsors wanting more than their "pound of flesh" in return for very little. This is until you are actually "tried and tested"! Very few people believed I would start such a journey let alone get this far... Our 2 current sponsors have not interfered & have been more than accomodating, which is as it should be.

We are adding an expenses section to the website because I believe a lot of "would be travellers" are put off travel thinking it is too expensive. I also experimented with a lot of equipment which was unneccesary & we will add an equipment list when we are fully comfortable with the equipment we are using.

Of course we will be looking for other sponsors to lighten the load financially & also to translate the website into Arabic, so if you know someone...

Sandy- I "think" Egyptians switch their headlights off because they are nocturnal. Everybody socialises out on the streets until the wee hours... Pedestrians have right of way & will probably stone someone driving with his dims on let alone his brights. Taxi drivers use blue inoffensive lights so they can be seen. It's esculated to the point where the trucks & taxis look like christmas trees. When we were in the Libyan desert they were quite a sight & could be seen for miles all lit up in different colours.

My grandfather was in North Africa during World War II, serving in the South African Army but my desire to learn more about what happend has been affected by my aversion to war. We have visited Rommel's underground bunker & that's enough for me! I had no idea that the Coloured Corps were here, but judging by the terrain etc your husbands gardener must have had some hair raising stories to tell. The desert in Egypt & Libya have landmine fields which have not been cleared, and still claim victims...supposedly no maps of the landmines whereabouts exist!

Fiona- We feed our horses oats and a bulk feed. The bulk feed can vary from hay to succulents in large quantities. Each area has it's own speciality so when we talk about green feed it can be anything that has not dried like "hay".

Fiona wrote..."and I hope not only that you will continue to meet and befriend interesting characters like Younis but that you also continue to write about them. We learn so much about foreign places through gaining an insight into the people that inhabit them."

This is exactly what our journey is about...

Jan- so, the girls think I look like some "HULK" on TV... would that be the green guy?

Well I finally got my visa...only until the 25/12/2006 while Christine's is until 25/02/2007.What does a man have to do...

We leave Marsa Matruh on 10/12/2006 exactly a year since we started our journey at the most northern point of Africa! Lots of water under the bridge but, all still intact.

We started a scouts course, "rope knots",Christine is very good at tying them & has to keep showing me how & reminding me of the Arabic names. We are most impressed with the scouts! I of course grew up thinking they were a bunch of mommy's boys who were in it for the uniform, but there is a bit more to it.

So I have to tell you about the white dogs. We first saw white dogs (brown or black patches acceptable even tan colour but nothing else) in southern part of Tunisia. The packs vary in size from 4 to 12 & they look after themselves ie. don't belong to anyone. They very rarely are in poor condition & are tough & wiry, about the same size as big border collie.

When we were in Libya a woman asked me if we were not afraid of wild animals. I told her I was concerned about hyenas but that so far I had only seen packs of white dogs. She told me she had meant white dogs & thought them to be more dangerous. These packs visited us everynight when we were camped close to civilization but fortunately we had no problems.That is not until we got to Marsa Matruh...

We were befriended by Liza a brown dog (who has since had puppies that Christine checks on every 5 minutes) & Fox a black "collie" looking dog. We never fed them!!!! but somehow they wormed their way into our lives... I think Fox had a long term plan in his fight against the white dogs with us unwittingly becoming not only his ally but his front line defense. Here's a normal day...

We get ready to ride after an exhausting night being kept awake by barking dogs. (Fox has been, literally, sitting on the rooftops issuing challenges of a mighty battle to come in the morning..) We unlock the front gate leading onto the road...Fox bursts onto the road, hackles up, snarling & frothing at the mouth...no one is safe...kids run for their lives...old woman with things on their head freeze with terror...cyclists only think they are faster...even motor cyclists get it wrong. Mr Adel from next door,Christine & I have our hands full but nothing serious has happend.(he was meak little lamb before we arrived & everybody is astounded by this behaviour, now people want to capture him for breeding prospects etc).

Onto the beach we go, the domain of the white dogs, this is it the challenge he's been waiting for...forward scout- Mr Fox, front line defense- Mr William, "big gun no smile"(secret weapon) Mrs Christine on (tadah...) NALI. This big grey bomber has been prepped all night by Fox & Liza in turns... Mr Fox lures white dogs into his trap, but unfortunately Mr William is on timid Rahaal who retreats... & immediately Mrs Christine & the grey bomber have to be called into action to avert a disaster. Nearly worked... We'll try again tomorrow... On Google Earth you can witness this battle every day with varying number of white dogs (& a variety of endings) just send an e-mail & we'll send you the waypoint.

Thanks for the advice on the mange, Helen.

Have a look at the new photo's on the website

Regards to all.
William & Christine

Written on 14/04/2007

Hello Everyone


Egypt after 6 months to the day, has been left behind with an interesting excursion on a cargo barge. We arrived at Aswan high dam port at 07H30 and were finally processed by 14H30. By 16H00 the cargo barge, which was to be towed, was finally maneuvered into position along side the quay. The +- 45m barge was pushed, pulled, hauled by it’s twin, this one with 2 engines, and screaming, shouting, “Old sea dogs” on the quay.

A rush of “I know horses” helping hands reluctantly stood back after Christine gave them a tongue lashing they shall never forget. We sedated the horses and led them drunkenly onto the barge. Chami needed a little push and my heart sank as I watched him teeter on the edge between the quay and the barge. 5mm of hoof was all that he was standing on, the rest of his leg was soon to disappear down the gap and his leg would snap like a twig. Suddenly with a lurch he was on, a sharp left, down rickety wooden slats into the bowels of the barge and tied up. Fetched the other 2 boys before the “I know horses” gang had recovered their confidence. Nali went in with a decent scrum by myself and a guy who had muscles I wish I had. Before we could scrum in Rahaal he jumped into the boat fearing he may be left behind.

Long song and dance tying the two barges abreast in a staggered formation with our barge in front. Right, GPS is on, ready for our journey, which is 200m to an island where we’ll “wait out the hazy weather and travel when we can see”. This just happens to be next morning. Anyway two day trip to Wadi Halfa and we’ll unload at about 10Hoo tomorrow morning says Captain. Shams (Sun in Arabic). Finally processed by 16Hoo but the “dam” ferry from Aswan has taken our quay space for unloading. They depart next day at 17Hoo. The barge soon turns into the newest attraction with a constant stream of people from customs, the port authority to the average laborer, who come to check out the horses and the mad foreigners.

Finally the ferry leaves and we can dock, but wait, there’s an engineless barge in the way and no one can seem to work out how Captain Shams wants to dock. Forty five minutes later once all the screaming and shouting has died down we are finally alongside. The quay is still too high and the boys will have to jump up and across a large gap off a slippery steel surface. As fate would have it, Chami’s back legs slip out from underneath him and he skins his back legs on the quay and in the process lands on top of Christine, who skins her knees too! Nali having viewed this near death experience stands like a big chicken wandering what to do. Rahaal having at first gotten tangled in Nalis rope, spots Chami on the quay and having spent four days in the corner of the barge between two big boys suffering from cabin fever, knows where he wants to be. With a massive leap he bypasses Nali and is safe on Terra Firma. Nali cannot be shown up by the little guy and takes “Giant leap for horse – kind.” We let them go one by one and they ran around like lunatics on the lake shore.

Of course there had been endless discussions on which was the best route in Sudan.

907 km to Khartoum if we follow the railway line through the desert or 1,296 km to Khartoum along the Nile with an unknown desert crossing, perhaps. We chat to the station master at Wadi Halfa, he will drop food off for us at all the manned stations at no charge.

Chami started the desert really strongly but the first night showed stiffness from the skinned legs. Soon we changed him to pack horse but he stopped eating and drinking and it was round about this time that we picked up the two Egyptian vultures. 260 km into the desert at Station 8 we had to fetch green feed for Chami from Abu Hamad 90 km away. His pain induced colic, lasted 9 days and eating almost nothing and he had almost disappeared.

So this is when the sand storm struck, lasting five days. Nothing was free from dust. One has to hand it to the pair of Egyptian vultures who either couldn’t fly in the storm or firmly believed this was our end.

Regards to all

William and Christine

P.S. Currently 280 km from Khartoum waiting for Rahaal to recover from a sprained fetlock. Will write again when we get to Khartoum.

Written 06/07/2007

Salem Alaykom


This e-mail is long overdue, but it's difficult to write with a cluttered mind. I won't mince words the stress of the last couple of months has been enormous.

Rahaal and Chami suffered injuries while Nali and Chami fell victim to Babeseosis (tick bite fever). Our slow progress means our visas expire after 3 months. South African bank refusing to transfer money to Sudan after our cash has run out. Not knowing whether we have any money left at all...

Chami got colic on our second day of the 350km desert crossing. The colic lasted 9 days with him refusing to eat and drinking very little, it was almost as if he were trying to commit suicide. Obviously he was not ridable and so little Rahaal had to step into the breach. This he did strongly for 570km before he sprained his left back fetlock. We rested 45 days and in this time both Nali and Chami got Babeseosis.

The vet, a specialist on ticks, refused to give me the brand name for the drug (Foray & Euflavine not available) used in treatment as he said there was no Babeseosis in the area and I should bring my horses into town for blood tests. I was loathe to use Berynil as it is a painful injection and carry it to treat Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping sickness).

My good friend, Dr Helen Tiffin, told me not to fiddle about and inject. I split the Berynil in 4 and injected the neck and hindquarters. Nali ended up with such a painful neck that he couldn't lie down and had to be fed at head height. Chami kept running away from me for fear of another injection. My heart practically broke but they both recovered and have slowly forgiven me, I think...

200km on disaster struck again with us experiencing a heat wave in the desert giving Rahaal and Chami what I can only describe as heat stroke. Chami's fragile state brought on his laminitis again and Rahaal's tired body succumbed to a mild laminitis. We put the boys on a truck and drove them the 60km into Khartoum to rest.

An old friend of Christine's, Brett and his wife Toni have kindly put us up. We have received good support from kind friends of theirs Khalid and Walid. Chami is recovering well but Rahaal has a massive abscess in his right front hoof. It has just started to erupt and things in that department are looking up. Looking at his strong well shaped hoofs I would never in a million years have predicted this.

Christine has left for Kenya in order to get a new visa. You get a monthly tourist visa at a US$100 and may only have three before you must leave the country. The good news is that you can leave obtain a visa and return immediately. So she has gone off to spend time with her family which is also long overdue. I miss her terribly!...and so do the horses.

What can I say about the South African bank refusing to transfer money to Sudan because of sanctions. This whole journey we have experienced institutions, for want of a better word, who feel that Africa's problems or any problem must be solved by aggressive means instead of opening dialogue.

MTN (SA mobile company) are opening here in a big way which will improve peoples lives not damage them. South Africans should understand more than Westerners the "collateral damage" brought about by sanctions. So much for our level of sophistication but then I forget they haven't been here have they...

We are particularly grateful to the Sudan Railway employees who have taken great care of us as we have followed the tracks all the way from Wadi Halfa. All the Sudanese have welcomed us into their homes and been most gracious hosts.

Chami was exhausted and needed to rest. We were at an abandoned station in the middle of our 350km desert crossing and yes there was water in the big concrete water tank and yes the horses had food only because Chami hadn't eaten for a couple of days. But Christine and I had no food just a piece of bread for breakfast that morning.

I had already pilfered our emergency rations and if we stayed and left the next morning our first meal on an already depleted diet would be at best 3pm. Very dangerous risk to take! I had not made up my mind but Christine had and was prepared to stay. Suddenly the horses warned us of an approaching train.

The train driver stops and asks us in for tea. Apples and oranges appear, an absolute luxuary in Northern Sudan let alone in the middle of the desert. After swopping phone numbers and dinner invitations in the next town which seems an eternity away we alight from the train and are loaded with cheese, bread,apples and oranges.

What can I say Big Guy you just keep coming through...

God bless you all.

William and Christine

Written on 16/10/2007

To all our friends,


It is with heavy hearts that we write this email. On Saturday, 15th September, our little Rahaal died. He had been struggling with a high temperature for a couple of days so we had blood tests taken but nothing showed up. In the week before the 15th, he kept going into shock and dehydrating. Each time we managed to administer shock therapy and pull him out of it. On Saturday afternoon, we realised he was going into shock again. We rushed off to the pharmacy to get a drip to rehydrate him and dexamethyzone to treat for shock. By the time we got back he was already dead. We did an autopsy/necropsy and found nothing other than jaundice. We believe it was biliary, but were never really sure because he did not show all the symptoms and the blood tests were negative. We also disected his legs and hooves and found that the pedal bones in the front feet were chipping. We were and still are very sad. He was a great horse and a very special member of our team and we miss him terribly.

The two other equine members of the team are doing well. Nali got caught in his rope a while back and had a sore hind leg but is recovering well. Chami had an allergic reaction to something and his legs and sheath swelled up. He looked a bit like the Michelin man. He too is recovering nicely.

We are still staying in Khartoum on a horse farm owned by an English lady. She does riding lessons and hippo therapy so we have become really involved. We plan to leave on the weekend of the 26/27 and head South to Kenya.

Our next email will follow soon and we hope it will be more light hearted.

God Bless

Billy and Christy

Written on 30/09/2010

Salaam


I first met Christine at Sleepy Hollow Horse Riding Stables in Cape Town. She did not like me at all when we first met but was forced to hold horses for me while I worked, and make me tea as well... :) She went off to England to work for the Olympic gold medalist Matt Ryan, but returned to her mothers bedside after the cancer she had been fighting flared up. So, Christine was back holding horses at Sleepy Hollow for me (and making me tea)! Although Christine did not know it at the time, my father too was dying of cancer, so I could understand her emotional state. I listened and obviously gave lots of advice...and that was the start of our friendship which along the way took a serious turn and then a fanciful horseback expedition across Africa...

Sleepy Hollow Horse Riding Stables (disabled riding and trails as well) not only brought us together but were/are an important part in Noordhoek's social fabric. Many children over the years have passed through their hands learning to ride, have fun and socialise outdoors etc. After hours, weekends, holidays, rainy days, scorching days the place was full of children who did not have riding lessons but just came to hang out. They would muck out stables, groom horses, clean tack, be bossed around by older "salted" kids... I cannot quote Winston Churchill perfectly but he said something like "There is something about the outside of a horse which is good for the inside of a man" (My father would do flick-flaks in his grave if he knew I couldn't quote properly...)

Khartoum International Community School's (KICS) riding stable was a big challenge for Christine. The owner of the school has a property adjacent to the Blue Nile where he keeps his racehorses. He built 6 stables and a classroom, sand arena with round pens and bought 6 ponies for the riding school. 2 ladies, at different intervals, had tried to start up the riding school for KICS but it was not sustainable. Christine committed herself wholeheartedly to these stables for 3 years and is still on the upward curve. If it weren't for the fact that I would like to finish our expedition she would not leave... She approached each facet of the riding school with an open yet determined mind and made some interesting decisions... horses living out in 50 degree plus heat, unconventional training methods, unconventional teaching methods, unconventional fitness training...etc

I think Christine will leave a riding stables that is not only sustainable and very successful, but also has that other dimension...the one of bringing people together !

So we're on the road again on 08/10/2010. Taking a route through Southern Sudan (Kosti, Kadugli, Bentiu, Rumbek, Juba) to Nimule on the Ugandan border. Churchill (again!) said Uganda was "bicycle country" and so I'm quite looking forward to it. You know if it weren't for the last minute nothing would ever get done, so I'm waiting for just then to finish all the little tasks...stitching new saddle bags together, replenish medical kit, Ugandan import permits...

The "boys" Chami and Nali are looking fit and frivolous. I strapped my old blue saddle bags together with my red bedroll to see the fit on the new saddle...WELL, you should have seen Nali's face when approached with this rig he knew all too well... He belongs to a South African and by international horse law that makes him one as well...so he has to cheer the Bokke and dip his toes into the cold Atlantic Ocean at Cape Agulhas...without whimpering!!! I think Christine will post a video of Nali jumping a course without a bridle on Facebook...then you can see my boy shine! Oh, and Chami is cute too...

On a sad note Pepsi is going to have to say goodbye to the boys, particularly Chami. He is a little skewbald pony from Germany, who's health was failing and was lame as hell, when we took him under our wing. He has made great friends with the boys and they are inseparable.

We have made great friends in Sudan and it makes us sad to leave.

William and Christine

Written on 25/10/2010

Good morning all


So we're close to being on the move again, Wednesday 27/10/2010, if nothing goes wrong with the travel permits and I can pick them up without a hitch this morning...

You may be wondering just what state of mind we're in... This has always been the most hazardous part of our journey because of disease and the unknown. Malaria and sleeping sickness are 2 major worries for Christine and I, and then there are all the water bourne bugs... The 3 major horse diseases, African Horse Sickness (95% mortality), sleeping sickness (high mortality) and billary start now.

Throughout the centuries North/South horseback exploration of Africa has been stymied by this very area that Christine and I are about to attempt, 1300km through the biggest swamp in the world (or so I'm told). We've trained the horses well and are carrying the best medication we can lay our hands on, but the most important of all is prevention. Old explorers did not have the same information we have nowadays and this is what gives us the confidence to bypass diseased areas and not to put ourselves and our horses in danger.

There are such varying accounts of what Southern Sudan is like with the effects of a long civil war and poverty, and yet I'm really excited to be given the chance of seeing it and meeting the people before they are affected by tourism.

So what is the "Teams" reaction to moving on...I'd like to tell you that I'm an old salt and that nothing phases me anymore but the truth is I'm light headed, have butterflies in my stomach and very sweaty palms... Christine has a tummy that requires an ablution facility close by...and she hasn't stopped babbling... Chami has decided to try to run off into the village without Nali...now that is a first seeing as he suffers terribly from separation anxiety! Nali is brooding and resentful...he reminds me of the typical "American Movie" teenager who has been forced to move to a new town away from his friends and all he's ever known...

After a couple of hoof-falls the road will become our old friend again...meeting new people will distract us from loving family and friends...Chami and Nali will miss their friend Pepsi less...and the challenge of finding horse feed will start all over again (I still don't have a sickle)...

Hold thumbs!!!

William and Christine

Written on 23/11/2010

Good afternoon all,


Here I sit in the office of AbdelKhalid, manager of the coke warehouse in Rabak. That's right, you read correctly - Rabak! We are back again...

Early on Wednesday the 27/10/2010 we set out from Rabak heading for Southern Sudan. It felt great to be back on the road and adding kilometres to our journey... We quickly fell into a routine of riding 12-15km in the morning before finding some shady spot near some water for lunch and a rest and then riding a further 5-7km in the evening to the nearest village. 20km a day doesn't sound like much but it slowly eats up the distance!

Unfortunately, Chami started to get a pressure sore on his back and I found myself doing a lot of walking! Reliable Nali just kept coming, albeit VERY slowly! You would think that he and William had nowhere to go! The horses also struggled with horse flies and mosquitoes of which there were many. The closer we were to water the worse they were... It was not unusual for the horses to have spots of blood from bites all over them... poor things. The mosquitoes here are like super heroes! They bite straight through one's clothes. Long sleeves and jeans are no longer enough protection... A suit of armor may suffice though!

We spent the nights in various locations, once next to a little shop, in a school, in a police station, at the Omda's (Headman's) house, on farms and with very normal people in their homes. Once again we were blown away by people's generosity. The poorest people are willing to share everything they have with us.

As we neared the border between north and south we were stopped more often by police to check our paperwork, which thankfully is all in order. The border crossing was a little slow but after relatively little hassle, there we were in the south! It really does feel like a different country - There is savannah and thorn scrub intermingled with very green patches. Beautiful ponds with lily pads dot the landscape. There are more Christians and fewer Moslems. Although everyone speaks Arabic, there is an abundance of other languages, English included. Men and women dress differently from the north. There are no camels but lots of cattle with impressive horns. Villages consist of thatched huts made of reeds rather than the standard mud house of the north. People were just as friendly though a little more wary of us.

We arrived in the south in the morning and as is normal we found a place to rest during the heat of the day. We had just finished untacking when a whole platoon of soldiers arrived demanding that we return to their camp with them immediately. after tacking up the horses again (which takes a while with all our kit) we started walking with them. I couldn't work out why they were being so aggressive with us... a few minutes later, an intelligence officer who we had met and befriended at the border post arrived on a motorbike. He quickly found out what the problem was - someone had told the soldiers that we were carrying guns! After they searched our kit and chatted with this officer, they relaxed and became very friendly and apologetic!

After 10 days we arrived in Renk, the first big town in the South. We made our way to the government veterinary clinic where we asked to stay. Having been told that the road to Malakal was still closed, we were left with only one option - to get a barge from Renk to Juba. After much discussion and information seeking, we discovered that all the barges were full and we would need to book our space in Kosti. Billy was to take a bus to kosti and organize this when he came down with Malaria ... and Typhoid! We ended up staying 2 weeks in Renk while he tried to recover. I am now adept at giving injections in the bum and drips! I must say that he never complained and put up with being a pin cushion!

We then heard that the road to Malakal was now open and our next thought was to ride to Malakal and then catch the barge to Juba. But it was not to be.... Billy has very painful haemarrhoids from the Typhoid and can't sit his horse. It will take too long for him to recover and we have little time left on our visa. So back to Rabak we came to book a place on a barge to Juba. I am told it will take 3 weeks - let us hope this is long enough for Billy to recover completely so we can ride on from Juba to Uganda.

We hope to be on the barge in the next couple of days. Check our facebook profile Christy Billy Africanhoofprints for updates from our phantom facebooker! Sadly I have not had time to update the blog but will do at the first opportunity.
Kind Regards

Christine and William