Banguerra island, Mozambique

We arrived in Mozambique just about one week ago and have set up residence in Vilankulos, on the coast. We are volunteering with Mozambique Horse Safari, an organisation that takes clients on trails in and around the area. 

Mozambique Horse Safari isn’t just any such organisation - they have a very special story which has been told in the best seller ‘104 horses.’ I really recommend reading it but in case you don’t it tells the story of Horse Safari owners Amanda and Patrick Retzlaff who left Zimbabwe at the time Mugabe was reallocating farm land from white farmers to war veterans. To make a long but fascinating story short, Mandy and Pat ended up with 104 horses they saved from the farms and fled all the way into Mozambique, where they have been for the past 8 years. Today, they have 22 horses left, all of whom - except for one - are from the Zimbabwe rescue lot. 

The horses are split between the island of Banguerra (6 horses) with the rest on the mainland in Vilankulos. Just shortly after we arrived we were fortunate to be sent to spend a few days on Banguerra to enjoy a holiday and see the set up there. 

Banguerra is incredibly beautiful. With only two resorts and few local inhabitants it is pristine. The horses are in a rudimentary but gorgeous set up with stables made out of wood and branches overlooking the beach. There is no running water so the guys working there constantly have to make runs to the well to make sure the horses have enough, which they do. They have plenty. They are in great form with a beautiful coat. It is difficult to imagine how much these horses have been through, how far they have travelled. 

We stayed in a beautiful colonial styled house just a few feet off the beach. The house is a little run down but it just added to the charm, with its high ceilings, open plan kitchen and green garden full of squirrels and birds playing with the sprinkler. There is actually quite a lot to do around, including scuba diving, snorkelling (you can see dugongs apparently) boating, kayaking but we didn’t do any of that. Mainly because it was very windy but also because we just enjoyed long walks on the beach at low tide. I have never seen such a low tide, it feels like miles and miles of white sandy beach appear out of nowhere every day at noon. And of course the riding, plenty of long rides on the beach and in the mainland which is so green even though we are in summer. There is also a fresh water lake with crocodiles just metres from the sea coast. We were told it’s a system of sand filtration. I don’t really know, but nature really is full of surprises. 

On our way back the boat broke down and a 40 minutes trip turned into a 4 hours one. We were the only ones to care - the locals on the boat were completely relaxed, laughing and joking around. I had forgotten how important it is to bind our time here. There is no point whatsoever in trying to rush things up. And let’s face it, rush to what? We have no better place to be than where we are right now. A good lesson in time management. Just let it go. 

we had to carry our stuff half a mile across the beach to reach the house

this is what the house looks like from the outside, you wouldn't know it was there if no one told you 

the house, it looks quite small on this but it's pretty big inside

lunch spot in the garden

enjoying a sundowner

the obligatory trail ride

low tide and the majestic sacred ibis

waiting on the boat for hours on end 

finally, on our way back to Vilanculos!