I've just read a 'horsey' book for a change – a sort of equestrian Lassie Come Home – not that I don't think horses are wonderful creatures, but horses and I do not have a good track record. There is a wildlife angle to 'Running Wild', however, because it is the story of a horse that took advantage of the stable door being open and literally ran wild in the Tuli Block of north eastern Botswana for four years.
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This tale is told by David Bristow, who, as they say, should need no introduction – he is a consummate writer about things natural. One thing puzzles me a little, though, why does he have to declare right at the outset that "The people in this story are all fictitious…" the name of the lead character, the horse, is not however – and this book is about Zulu.
The main story of Zulu, an African stallion*, begins in Mozambique, although we should note that he was a South African horse whose father was probably one of the famous wild horses of Namibia. Anyway, Zulu ends up with a horse safari operation in the Tuli, but it is the Cyclone Leon-Eline that hit the southern African coast in early 2000 that launches his story. Within hours, the Limpopo River, from its mouth in Mozambique right up to and into Botswana, is in flood. The deluge hits Zulu's safari operation and to save the lives of the horses, they are set free. Most of them returned – Zulu did not.
So, this is the story of Zulu in the wild, pieced together from scraps of information from dozens of sources, some accurate, some pure myth, but the story involves many of the wild creatures of the Tuli, including a herd of zebra.
I'll tell you no more, find out about Zulu yourself.
Moving on, with the news firmly fixated on the International tragedy of refugees and their acceptance or rejection, comes a good news story. Two Syrian refugees, Sulaiman Wihba and Elias Badin, both 19, fled Damascus and made it to England two years ago, Sulaiman travelled across Europe in a refrigerated truck surrounded by frozen chips, while Elias made it to Greece on a small boat with 40 other refugees. They have both been reunited with the families and granted temporary asylum in the UK. Last year they were both granted scholarships at college and they have graduated with a bunch of straight 'A's and are now about to go to medical school at the Queen Mary University of London. **
And with international and national politics in the state it's in, here's something for someone who has everything, it's a survival capsule. It is a bright red aluminium ball with bullet-proof windows that can withstand hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, and presumably military coups d'état – otherwise why the bullet-proof windows? It has built-in air canisters and other supplies to cater for a maximum of 16 people. The price tag? You don't want to know.**
*Running Wild: The Story of Zulu, an African Stallion, David Bristow, Jacana, Johannesburg, 2017.
**The Week: The Best of the British and Foreign Media.
{UAH} Freddie Figgers: The millionaire tech inventor who was 'thrown away' as a baby - BBC News
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