Crossing the Andes into Chile

A collection of saddles and bridles outside my tent

The day dawned when we woke on the Argentinian side of the Andes mountain range knowing that we would soon cross the border into Chile.

After breakfast cooked on the fire,

 We saddled up our horses.

The morning was spent riding higher and higher as we made our way towards a certain, iconic volcano.

We finally crossed a river into a National Park that straddles the border with Chile.

Sadly our Argentine horses were not permitted to cross into Chile due to veterinary controls. We ended up having to walk through passport control, out saddlebags flung over our shoulders.

To our surprise the most wonderful lunch was awaiting us, together with glasses of Chilean champagne.

Small, but beautifully presented horses were tethered up under the bushes.

I was given a Palamino.

We rode off, descending from the Andes watershed into valleys which seemed to be surprisingly Alpine in appearance.

My little pony proved quite a handful, but a sparky and amusing ride.

Sophie Neville having ridden across the Andes into Chile

For more information please click here.

A reader writes ~

A reader wrote today saying ~

Your 'Swallows and Amazons' life in Africa does sound wonderful. What I don't sense in the book is that you were ever worried about your future security even in the short term. Was it not something you thought of or does it just not show?  Or have you mastered being fully reliant on God?

Dear Chris,

I suppose my sense of security at the time was pretty much the same as the Swallows'. We were quite careful about our equipment and stores, but once organised we just went forth, enjoying the adventure of it all. As my letters suggest, I had the security of my friends and my family at home but had to trust God every step of the way. 

Sometimes, when things kept going wrong, I had no option but to up the trust and plough on regardless. Perhaps this is something I learnt off the South Africans. Whilst putting 'Ride the Wings of Morning' together made detailed plans for a trip only to have my (fully equipped) 4WD vehicle stolen in Johannesburg on the first night. Charles Baber advised me to 'always stick to the plan', so I hired a car and kept driving. It was rather a relief to only travel with my overnight bag, although I was jolly cross about the theft.

I did have good travel insurance but didn't get the chance to put much into my pension during the years spent in southern Africa. I'm trying to be sensible about that now, which is a bit dull. Perhaps I should have been more adventurous!

Yours,

Sophie

Reviews of 'Ride the Wings of Morning' on Goodreads

A collection of letters written between the author and her family during the time she spent convalescing and working in South Africa, this lovely volume also contains artwork completed during the years she was there. I enjoyed this book very much and would love to meet the author. 

A wonderfully refreshing book, innocent, appealing, very funny, insightful . . . a must read if you like witty, human life stories. Richard Pilbrow

Loved this book as it reminded me so much of my childhood in rural Zululand, South Africa, in the 1990s. Loved Sophie's adventures, and African experiences.

Thank you, Sophie, for sharing your experiences with us! 

Elephant-back Safaris in the Okavango Delta

In 1994 I flew to Maun in Botswana to set up a documentary for the BBC Natural History Unit on the Elephant-back Safaris, which Randall J Moore had recently started to run in the Okavango Delta.

Randall introduced me to his lead elephant, a mature male called Abu, who was highly trained and responsive. An Africa elephant, Abu had been born the Kruger National Park. After the adults in his herd were culled, he had captured as a calf and shipped to a safari park in America. Randall found him in a bad way, living in a barn in an area too cold for his well-being.

Abu was brought back to Africa with two other trained elephants called Cathy and Benny. After looking for a  home first in Kenya and then Knysna in the Cape, Randall brought them to Botswana in 1990. They were joined by Bibi, a trained African elephant from a zoo in Ceylon, and a number of juveniles who helped to make up a small, captive herd.

The documentary, Dawn to Dusk on Safari, presented by the naturalist and wildlife artist Jonathan Scott, was first shown on BBC 1. We'd often see it repeated on television in South Africa.

Abu has sadly died but Cathy and the herd still thrive. You can read more about them on the website for Abu's Camp.

A Live Broadcast on USA Radio ~

On Saturday 23rd March 2013  

Sophie Neville was on 'Second Chance Radio Show' in the USA 

interviewed by Dr Diane Dike.

Sophie spoke about her books and her life in Africa.  

Free Kindle copies of 'Ride the Wings of Morning' were offered on the programme. 

As a result it reached #1 in the free Kindle store under the category Travel - Africa in the UK and Canada

~ Click here for the links ~

Life in South Africa ~

My friend Juliet was on the phone when a banded cobra slid through the French windows and straight past her into the sitting room. Her brother rushed in with a gun and shot the snake, just missing his mother's china cabinet. It measured 5'7" long and potentially very dangerous. But where was it's mate?

Another night one of the horses decided to cross a cattle grid. He got stucker than stuck. Three of his legs were between the bars. The Government vet told us we would never get him out uninjured and that the only answer was to shoot him. We managed to help by sliding bed boards - great slabs of wood - either side of the little horse before pulling out his hooves with ropes. He finally struggled to his feet a bit bruised and shaken but with no damage done apart from an injury to his pride.

Do add your own stories of life in the bush in the comments below ~

One of many bird lists I have kept ~

and some visual notes

on ground nesting birds

and those keeping an eye on them

filming

keeping out of the way

or or just looking

A page from my sketchbook ~

A page from my sketchbook

Painting in Zimbabwe ~

I was able to go on a number of trips to paint in Zimbabwe in the 1990s.

British friends of mine serving with BMAT were stationed up in the hills on the Mozambique border where it was possible to fish for trout.

I had other friends who were farming near Chegutu who kindly invited me to stay, giving me time to sketch 

Their daughter Jenny was thirteen then and we would sit, peacefully drawing together.

I left them several framed paintings including one of this lady washing clothes and another of their prize Brahman bull.

When their farm was invaded, they had so little time to pack that some of their pictures were left behind. Eventually they made contact by e-mail from Australia telling me of their loss. I spent a wet afternoon sending them these scans from my sketchbook to remind them of their life in Africa.

Painting in South Africa ~

At this time of year it is high summer in South Africa.

When I lived in the Waterberg I went riding every morning before breakfast,

returning for mealie pap and bananas fried with crispy bacon

before settling down to paint in a room looking out over this lovely garden.

You too can stay with my friends on Triple 'B' Ranch 

~ home to Waterberg Cottages as well as Horizon Horseback Adventures 

with Ant's Nest and Ant's Hill  near by ~

I had the chance to talk about 'Ride the Wings of Morning' 

on Premier Radio in London this week.

Maria Toth kindly invited me on 'Woman to Woman', 

her chat show that runs from about 10.50am to 11.50am. It was good fun.

To listen to the show please click here:
(You will need to use the latest Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer Browser)

I was able to offer listeners a free Kindle copy of 'Funnily Enough', the prequel to 'Ride the Wings of Morning'. Do help yourselves and tell your friends about the offer, which is on until midnight on 28th Jan (PMT)

For anyone in the UK - click here

For the US, India, Australia or New Zealand - click here

You can also find it on Kindle for Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Canada and Brazil

Sketches from the Okavango Delta ~

I first went to the Okavango to ride horses with PJ and Barney Bestelink.

It is wonderful being on a horse as you can cross both the water-meadows and dry islands.

I then took friends on to stay at Tchau, a camp on the Borro River run by Jez Lye.

The camp looked out over the flood plain.

We slept in large tents on an island, standing in the shade of Jackalberry trees.

The location of the Okavnago Delta in Botswana

Please let Sophie Neville know if you would like to use any of her artwork.
sophie@sophieneville.co.uk