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Animal Sanctuary

Based in Aradippou near Larnaca in Southern Cyprus, we volunteered at a sanctuary which shelters animals that have been abandoned, lost, injured or ready for slaughter for whatever reason.
It started with a kiss pig. About three years ago, as a piglet, Sympa was on her way in a truck to the slaughterhouse when she fell out and broke her pelvis and hind leg. Marios and his family, the kind owners of the sanctuary, took her into their apartment, cared for her and some months later, bought this land, so Sympa could have space while she grew to weigh 400 kg. Little by little, people started bringing in other animals, so he created a shelter on his land for all his new proteges. Sympa now leads a really happy life. With good food, friends and a daily mud bath, what more can anyone want?
There were some real characters there including Maggie, the pet goat who lived in our ‘kitchen’ (which had a washing machine but no sink and no running water)
Maggie was wilful and headstrong (but not very clever), forever pooping in our kitchen and teasing the big dogs.
,,,Malou the lamb had been rejected by her mother at birth (clearly the black sheep in the family). She was hand raised and fed ewe milk in baby bottles every 4 hours for two months.
At the sanctuary, she plays all day with the dogs.
So gentle, she even accepted to walk on a leesh and to wear a nappy/diaper when she came in the car with us, although on one occasion, there was an unfortunate leak!
A cat lived in our room with an injured bird. We called them Sylvester and Tweetie Pie…
…Tweetie Pie was just too much of a temptation and really never had a chance with the wily cat.
One of our main jobs was to feed the animals
After windy days, we collected carob pods fallen from the tree as a sweet but healthy treat for the animals. Otherwise, we fed them hay, grain, pellets and veggie scraps from the kitchen.
Some got to the grains and pellets before us.
Looking after four ‘killer’ dogs was a bit nerve wracking. They had all been abused prior to being saved by the sanctuary and they would no doubt have eaten us alive if we had made a wrong move, but we trod gently and they were thankfully real sweethearts with us.
Even more scary – especially after it stood on our toes!- was this giant 700kg bull, whom we called Big Julie. Given his size, the only way we could make him release our foot was by sticking our fingers in his nostrils and pulling him (bulls often wear a ring there for that purpose as their nasal septum is sensitive). He too was a real sweetheart….shy even and bullied by the donkeys!
The donkeys terrified some of the farm animals but were thankfully gentle with us.
This ‘Jerusalem donkey’ is a unique breed and has a cross on its back, of course leading to legends of what it symbolizes religiously.
The goats were an odd bunch including Floppy, Horny and at the back, Shoaty – a sheep/goat mixed breed.
Our other jobs included reorganising the workshop…
gardening…
…and of course clearing tons of poop
On a few mornings, we helped the sanctuary owner herd schoolkids around the yard and show them all the animals for whom they brought bread and salad veggies.
One of the teachers hilariously shouted out “Stavros, stop eating all the food, it’s for the animals”
Some evenings, we participated in drum circles with local people, although we mostly read or watched classic films on Youtube in our room.
In our room we shared a single bed – which proved really challenging on sweltering nights and great on cold ones – It thankfully had an ensuite bathroom albeit with non drinkable water. Since the kitchen had no water, it was our only source of water for cooking, washing veggies and everything else, so lots of bottled water there…..
Directly outside our room was the entrance to the goat occupied kitchen, plus a generator which was so loud it drowned out all of the dogs’ barking – but not their smell unfortunately.
Without cooking facilities, our diet included lots of crackers and ewe or goat cheese (the different types of feta and Halloumi were overwhelming), salad, fruit and nuts, so in fact , we had a balanced and delicious diet.
The tavernas were great although the veg offering became very monotonous.
We had no problem however drinking coffee every day.

Weekends Away

We spent a beautiful weekend in the Troodos mountains, known for its quaint and old cobblestoned villages.
We stayed in Omodos village, famous for its medieval grape press, although we were there for its even more famous chickpea bread.
Hiking between Kalopinayiotis and Oikos,
we feasted from nature on damsons, figs, walnuts and almonds
.and admired beautiful flowers like these wild cyclamen.
We even crossed the path of some apparently wild horses.
We also went on long hikes along the coast…
…and picnicked on deserted beaches. Heaven.

Holiday

After our volunteering ended, we did nothing but rest and Agios Theodoros was the perfect place to do it.
We will miss our morning coffee and chats with the locals while they played Rummy. A lot of Cypriot men wear khaki like the one here: hunting is hugely popular throughout the island and many men still take on stereotypical roles – that further enhanced our admiration for our animal sanctuary owner who bravely bucked the trend and became vegan.
The village market had one stall once a week but it had everything and it all was local, fresh and organic.
In winter, without tourists, the peaceful and quaint villages of Cyprus can be so romantic!
Even the big cities like Limassol had beautiful parts
We were really impressed there by this recycled glass bottle Christmas tree.
The huge flag spread over the mountain behind Nicosia, made it clear to everyone, that we were about to enter the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
At the end of our stay, our sons joined us for our first family holiday in many years. We stayed at Pomegranate House, a wonderful traditional Cypriot stone house in Eptagonia, replete with working fireplace and Cypriot traditional artefacts, Lefkara embroidery, antiques and very old family photos.
We had long hikes, pine cone kicking competitions…
even some scary wild caving.
Getting out of the cave alive and visiting enchantingly quaint villages was a relief.
We also spent time visiting the ancient site of Kourion and even performed in the amphitheatre when no-one was about…or so we thought.
Leaving Kourion without adopting this cat was tough.
At the Pomegranates, there was a working fireplace in the sitting room where we had a wonderful time talking and playing board games. One evening, James read aloud from his friends’ new book “High Vaultage”, voicing multiple characters and putting Sylvie in stitches for hours and hours. We cherished every moment with our beautiful sons.
And the icing on the cake was for us all to fall in love with a beautiful family…
who quickly became part of our family.

Next

We’ll be back in London next week to see family and friends and then, in January, we will be off to Trinidad.

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5 comments. Leave new

Audrey Brent
December 12, 2024 11:39 pm

Fascinating, as ever.

Reply
Nikki Webster
December 13, 2024 6:38 am

So wonderful to hear your takes of Cyprus. We have wanted to hold there for a while so you have given us food for thought! Glad to see that the wildlife is friendly!!! Keep the stories coming; they are sunshine in the winter x

Reply
Hassoun
December 13, 2024 9:20 am

Bravo, Bravo….que de biens autour de vous. Magnifique de voir la famille réunie et de constater les ressemblances. Bonne continuation. Très grosses bises.
Ralph et Kathy.

Reply
David Rosenthal
December 13, 2024 2:45 pm

We are so happy to be the icing on your cake, as the Rosenthals of Los Angeles and Athens are now your new long lost cousins!! It was wonderful to begin our journey as newfound family together with you.

Reply
G D Berger
December 14, 2024 11:56 am

Pleased that you enjoyed Cyprus and spent time with your boys.
We go to Cape Town on 26 January .
All well here.
Your long found cousins
Ann & Geoffrey

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