Helping the Horses of Mozambique Horse Safari
Mozambique Horse Safari is a much-loved family business. We have been operating for over 14 years on the beaches of Vilankulo & Benguerra Island in Mozambique offering week-long riding safaris and day rides to tourists from all around the world. In total we have 46 horses & employ 40 grooms, grass-cutters and night guards. Like so many our business has been turned upside down with the onset of coronavirus and lack of international travel. It has been 10 months without guests; feeding our horses and paying wages has become the sole focus.
Our adventure into Mozambique all started with the Zimbabwean land invasions in early 2000’s. With the increased violence and seizure of farmlands we began to take in abandoned horses, the trickle turned into a deluge. Our book, “One Hundred & Four Horses” tells of our subsequent journey into Mozambique and the adventures that followed to set up Mozambique Horse Safari. We have worked hard to build a brand that is known all around the world for our incredible horses and superb riding.
We are very privileged to have our horses and absolutely love the work and way of life. However the reality is that our success is completely reliant on international tourism to generate an income. Our biggest expense is labour, we rely heavily on grasscutters for hay & cannot send the horses out into the bush to graze for fear of poisoning. In 2010 we lost 30 of our horses, they had been eating a small green plant called Crotalaria which grows wild around us. Its not only grass, we also buy in maize bran comes in from a group Mozambican ladies in town.
Our loyal workers who have been with us since we started operating in Mozambique have so much faith in Pat and I that it is too frightening to imagine not being able to keep them on . Running horses is expensive and in our case being in a fairly isolated area in Mozambique fairly difficult. For those of you who have visited us in this beautiful part of the world and have met the horses and staff you will have a good understanding of our concern. So this is a direct appeal to safeguard our beautiful horses our workers and our community.
Sending thanks from the bottom of our hearts and hooves .
