Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

This was such a quick trip - it's hard to do a real 'story' - so maybe I'll
just start with all the people I met, and how together they weave the sport
in southern Africa. and maybe it will develop.

Corny de Villers - retired from the bio/chemical industry. now her life is
Endurance. She drinks a lot, smokes a lot, laughs a lot, and knows a lot
(about everything) - including the flora along the cape shores - she's
passionate about the land and the ecology - and loves Capetown. Corny lives
at Fauresmith (in the northern part of South Africa) and has been organizing
their 'national' ride - Fauresmith - for several years. It always falls on
her birthday, so she always has an Endurance birthday party! The Fauresmith
ride is the 'tough one' - everybody speaks of it as the ultimate challenge
in SA. 3 days - 120 km per day - and they ride it fast. Cold at night, rocky
and mountainous - this is the one that makes the eyes light up when people
talk about it. Corny is also an FEI official - she was Pres. of the Ground
Jury for this ride, and takes her job seriously - knowing and enforcing the
rules, and working with the ride manager to keep everything smooth. She
drove me around all weekend, making sure I had everything, always generous
and kind. She offered to take me on a tour of South Africa - to explore the
country from an ecological perspective - sounds wonderful!

Charmaigne and Eben Eksteen - these are the two that made the ride happen.
Charmaigne organized everything - the details. Eben spent the better part of
the week at the ride site - doing the trail, the camp, the logistics, etc.
Wonderful enthusiastic folks - tireless workers, cheerful, the folks that
keep this sport alive. They are going to be moving north soon, sorry to
leave the beautiful mediterranean climate of the Cape, but a good job
opportunity - more endurance horses - awaits them.

Ardi Pienaar - young student who rides (and her twin sister rides as well)
and is completing her requirements to become an FEI official. She lives with
her parents in Johanesburg - her stories of the crime rate, the murders and
theft, the need to live in gated higly secured homes or 'clubs' - gave me a
feeling for the tight line South Africa is walking - 15 years after
apartheid began to crumble, still tension between whites and blacks, a
government - the ANC-  that wants control and racial dominance, but doesn't
quite grasp the need for economic stablity and productivity that was the
white - Afrikaans legacy. South Africa is struggling with AIDS - almost a
40% mortality rate, a minister of health that publicly stated at an AIDS
conference that garlic and coke and beet-root were adequate controls for the
disease (I may have my substances wrong, but that was the gist of her
declaration). After being bashed by the rest of the world, the ministries
are now sharing the responsibility for acknowleging, and dealing with, this
horrific problem.  SA also has a very serious problem with crime, also
denied by the goverment, and they are going to have to come to terms with
this before their tourist industry suffers too deeply. (though hunters and
eco-tourists are already turning to the safer countries of Namibia and
Botswana).   On the positive side, there are many Afrikaans, and coloreds,
and blacks - and Asians and Muslims - that are getting fed up and hope to
starte forming coalitions - or at least some sort of partnership - to try to
turn the government around. They are going to have to get involved and start
developing some political power. And they know this. And students like Ardi
are seeing their country through younger, and more worldly (less
traditional) eyes - they are the future of SA.

Zulu (Derek Liebenburg)- this tall South African - Afrikaaner - robust and
friendly - also fond of sharing drinks and stories - a formidable force in
Endurance in South Africa. An FEI official, a familiar sight overseas - and
also one of the personalities that fuels the sport in South Africa. In
Zulu's words "you have to be tough to live in Africa". I think he's right.
These people are incredibly open and straight forward with each other, and
they all have stories - about their lives, their parent's lives, the wars,
defending their lands, defending their families - sometimes it makes me
wince a little, their history and legacy is so entirely different from any
other people I've met - white people in a black land - whites with the
European work ethic and ability to turn bare land into a productive farm,
raw material into valuable goods. Mixed with the coloreds - the bush people
with their gentle nomadic way of life - and the blacks, most of whom have
migrated down from the north, escaping poverty and persecution, also more
oriented to living off of the land than turning the land into a living...
Unfortunately the brutal legacy of apartheid is going to last for a while, a
lot of resentment, the swing of the pendulum is throwing the country off
balance. But - these people really are tough, they (or their children) will
stick it out, and come through it. The blacks and coloreds are now on the
path to education, opportunity, ownership, equality? - with time...

The de Swardts - Anida and Marius and their son Rojan. I met them in Aachen,
they had a rider entered (more on Willa later) in the WEC. I mentioned that
I was planning on going to Saldanha and they offered me a horse, and a place
to stay. Open, warm, friendly. I rode one of their horses - Princess - a
strong and honest mare that had done several rides previously (including
160km) but was coming off of an operation to remove a bone chip, and wasn't
in full fitness form yet. So Rojan and I rode the 80km together. Rojan - 24
years old - he studied business administration but is passionate about
internet technology - and his horse. Shadow.net - a big half Saddlebred
gelding - they rescued him days before he was headed to slaughter -
undernourished and mistrustful. He is now Rojan's horse - he trusts him, was
trained by him, you can see it in the horse's eyes.  Anida and Marius have a
farm in the mountains, www.waterfallfarms.co.za - a 'wellness' center, for
guests - riders - adventurers. They love people, love company. Marius also
has an Internet business and was very curious about what John was doing, and
about Endurance.net . Rojan and I had a very wonderful ride together - the
horses were strong and forward all day, the scenery fantastic, good
conversation.

Willa Botland - this was the person that touched me the most. He's very
small, colored, a Xhosa (Bushman) father and Afrikaans mother. He is very
special. When I first met the de Swardts at the ride camp, was welcomed
right away - introduced to the horses - we saddled up and went for a little
ride. Willa doesn't know much English, but his smile and efforts at
communication, and sincere kindness impressed me right away. He was to ride
one of their horses on the 160km (which, btw he won!) He is comfortable in
the white world, and the trip to Aachen for the WEC was the experience of a
lifetime for him. He is also comfortable with his African heritage - he
spent several months being initiated as a Xhosa - the 'walkabout' - the
months on his own learning the way of survival and spiritual enlightenment
of his people. He also has a family. He was at a ride when his daughter was
born - at the Christiana ride on a horse named Mandy. So - he named the baby
girl 'Mandy Christiana'. wow. The de Swardts have given him a most
incredible life, and this he deeply appreciates. He first came to them as a
farm worker. They learned that he was also a marathon runner - and asked him
to help with the horses and training. He took to the saddle naturally, and
has become a top rider for them. The only problem is he has to add almost 20
kg of weight to ride FEI! I was taken by his looks also - small, almost
golden brown skin color - beautiful eyes. One of the other endurance riders
told me after the ride that the bushmen actually had a mix of Malaysian
blood (the Dutch brought Malay royalty exiles back to SA from Malaysia) -
and looking at Willa I can see this - and this probably also explains the
gentle and friendly nature.

I'm about to run out of internet minutes (at the airport in Capetown,
waiting for my flight to Paris - and then back to Idaho) - so will send
this. There's more though -I'll finish when I can

-later,

Steph


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