A Brief Introduction
Why follow us?
I’m sitting outside in front of the big cashew tree near our porch, watching a spotted bush snake - Philothamnus semivariegatus -slinking slowly down the tree trunk, and wondering how best to introduce who we are and why our newsletter might be of interest to you.
I suppose the best place to start would be with a simple introduction. The sharing of names, after all, is the usual way to begin. So, here it is:
My name is Zoe Whittall. Originally from California, I now live in Chibuene, a village just outside of the town of Vilankulo, in the district of Vilanculos, province of Inhambane, in Mozambique. I have lived here for four years with Jay Retzlaff, my boyfriend, who is originally from Zimbabwe. He moved to Mozambique to work in Gorongosa National Park in 2004, and now runs his own safari business: Southeast Africa Safaris.
I came here originally to volunteer with his parents, Pat and Mandy, who run a horse safari business: Mozambique Horse Safari. I now work online as a writing coach and editor.
Here we are in Botswana, before Covid restrictions made traveling difficult.
We live in a little house about five minutes from the white sands of the Indian Ocean.
Our little house at sunset (in need of a paint job…).
Now that that introduction is out of the way, we can get more to the point: of what interest is our life here in the tropics to you, our readers all over the world?
Well, what we aim to do is give everyone a little glimpse of what daily life is like here. Our newsletter will be a mix of wildlife photos and facts (courtesy of Jay’s guiding knowledge), anecdotes of interest to share about life in Mozambique and the Mozambican culture, and stories, tips and ideas for safaris and/or south-east African travel. We hope that you will find the newsletters informative, interesting, and, at times, humorous, as you follow us along our journey.
As I was writing this, Jay suddenly lunged for the camera with a cry of “there he is!”
We had been waiting for this little bird, the Mangrove Kingfisher - Halcyon senegaloides – to appear as he had been doing each day for a dip into the bird bath. His arrival was preceded by a sharp, and piercingly loud, call – CHEET CHEET CHEET CHEET – as he divebombed the bath with a splash. Just as quickly, bath over, he flew away again and disappeared. These birds breed here in the coastal forests in the summertime, and return to the mangroves in the winter. It is a relatively rare bird to spot – a shy bird, so it is hard to capture photos of it – which is why Jay was quite excited to find it.
LATER CORRECTION
This episode is made even more funny by the fact that the bird was not even a rare Mangrove Kingfisher, but actually the more commonly seen Brown-hooded Kingfisher - Halcyon albiventris; the two look very similar from the front! We realized our mistake on closer inspection of another photo we got the next day, this one from the back.
We will aim to write out bi-monthly posts, but there may be more or fewer depending on what we do each month – maybe we will want to share a cool trip, or have spotted an especially interesting bit of wildlife, and decide to add more.
Thank you for following us in our journey!