ADANA - Estepona's Animal Rescue society

ADANA is Estepona's animal rescue society. A great many animals are lost or abandoned every year, and it takes a great deal of money to house, feed and provide veterinary care for them all.


The present kennels are crowded. A new purpose built facility is needed to house the many dogs brought to Adana. Efforts are made to reunite lost animals with their owners, and to find good homes for abandoned ones.




To raised funds an ambitious sponsored walk, called El Camino, was organised this year from Estepona to Santiago De La Compostela, a distance of 1178 kilometers, (or just under 732 miles) starting on 15th March 2009 and ending on 2nd May. It took a year of planning to organise the whole El Camino Project, to ensure the dogs and the people with them were properly cared for!



When the call went out 45 walkers from all over the world volunteered to take part! Only 15 of them were allowed to participate in any one week as some villages en route were unable to accommodate a larger group. (But many walkers undertook to walk further weeks! Some even completed all seven weeks of the pilgrimage!.) They came with their own dogs or one of the rescue dogs from the Adana kennels. To learn more about ADANA and to see scenes from this extraordinary journey go to the Internet site Ruta de la Plata - the Project Sponsored Walk with its wonderful YouTube video.

ADANA has a programme of fund raising events throughout the year. There is a Coffee Morning in the square outside Longman's Bookshop from 11am-2pm on the last Friday of the month. The next major event will be the Mongrel Dog Show on 13th September. A fun family day!

Chocolate and Churros

This is one of the most delicious treats to have in the morning! Choose one of the chorros shops in Estepona where they squeeze the dough through a huge piping nozzle and fry it in hot oil. When golden brown the whole spiral is lifted out with what looks like a pair of huge chopsticks, and is snipped into long pieces with scissors. (Beware of being served the little hooped ones, as they may well be out of a deep frozen packet and taste anaemic!) You can dip the lovely crisp churros in coffee, but I prefer them coated with hot thick chocolate! They are probably full of calories, but I enjoy this decadent pleasure once in a while! Life is for LIVING!

Cork trees

Photo taken near Grazelema by A.W.G. Reid

Cork Oaks grow in many Mediteranean countries, and live for 150-200 years. They have a thick rugged bark, which acts as a shield against forest fires. The core of the tree is alive even when the outer layer is scorched. To harvest them the lower parts of the trunk are stripped of their cork bark by hand. The men who do the work are specialists and know when the tree is ready to 'give' the cork. It comes away cleanly in large pieces. Then it takes 8-12 years to grow another layer that is thick enough to harvest again. Ecology is undamaged by cork forests, and as none of the trees are felled, and no chemicals, pesticides or herbicides are used, they maintain environmental bio-diversity. And, after use, cork has the marvelous property of being biodegradable.

Cork grows on the mountains, less than half and hour from where I live! When they
have been freshly cut the trunks often look bright red - as if the trees are bleeding. The cork is stacked in huge heaps for drying. Cork has multiple uses. Since ancient times it has been used to make wine bottle stoppers; for roof and floor tiling; for fishing nets floats and for making bee hives. In more recent times for shoe soles, life jacket filling and sports equipment.


One tree can provide cork for 4,000 bottles of wine! But real corks can crumble, causing oxidation and making a percentage of wine undrinkable. So, wine growers are increasingly using plastic bottle stoppers and screw on caps which have zero taint. If this continues, cork forests with their eco-system benefits, will become a thing of the past.

Howling with the wolves!

I love visiting Lobo Park, near Antequera. Four sub-species of wolves live there in huge enclosures; European Wolves, Canadian Timber Wolves, Alaskan Timber Wolves and the native Iberian Wolves. These are another endangered species, so it is good to know that Lobo Park has a successful breeding programme. It is about 2 hours from my place. There are guided tours every day; Adults 8.50 Euros and Children 5.50.

However, I especially love going there on some Friday or Saturday nights for the Wolf Howling! It is essential to book ahead. A barbeque dinner is served at 8pm, before setting off with Daniel Weigand. He is encyclopedic in his knowledge of wolves - and dispells many myths about them! He will give you the chance to watch their feeding behaviour, and their interaction with him. Visits last until nearly midnight! Magical!

Instead of driving all the way home afterwards, I stay at the nearby Torcal campground. On one occasion my cousin and I had breakfast there with a crowd of Harley Davidson bikers!

Film locations; Lawrence of Arabia and all that!

Recently I watched "Lawrence of Arabia" again; one of my favorite films. But this time, when I saw the scene of the entrance of the Officer's Club in 'Cairo', I realised it was in fact the Plaza de Espana in Seville! There are several more recognisable locations in the city! The Plaza des Las Americas provides the setting for the Civic buildings of 'Jeruselem'; El Casino is the 'Council Chamber'; and the courtyard of the Alfonso Xlll Hotel for the 'Officer's Club'.

Spain's varied geography and historic buildings offered the film industry an endless variety of locations! Mountains or plains; rural farmlands or city; seascapes or forests; Spain has them all! Some locations were built to make Westerns, and have remained as tourist attractions. There is one such mini-hollywood 45 minutes from Lubrin in Almeria. The Tabernas Desert Theme Park has all the classic Western attactions; a saloon (with a Can-Can show), boardwalks, hitching rails and horses, an oil rig, a Sherrif and guys in old timer costumes and big hats! Visitors can hire costumes and dress up for pictures of themselves as a gun-slinger or other Western characters! To be relaxed don't try to get there and back from my place in one day. It would be more enjoyable to include it in a tour of eastern Andalucia. Oh yes, and its very hot in that area, so don't go in high summer!

Romeria to El Rocio

During the Moorish occupation of Spain (8th-15th Century) the statues of the Virgin Mary were hidden in attics, cellars and caves. Over the centuries their hiding places were forgotten. But occasionally they were found!

The story goes that during the 15th century in the Coto Donana area of Andalucia a man found an ancient carved wooden Virgin, hidden in a hollow tree. He decided to carry her back to his village, but he got tired. Resting under a shade tree, he fell asleep. When he awoke the Virgin had gone. Returning to where he had found her; there she was - back in the hollow tree. He carried her off again until he was tired, and as before fell asleep, and again she disappeared. When he saw her back in the hollow tree he decided that it was where she wanted to be. Villagers came and made a simple shrine dedicated to her, the Virgin of El Rocio. The shrine became an important place of pilrimage. It was rebuilt and enlarged to be the sparking white church that it is today. (Thanks Brian, for another of your beautiful photos!)

It is traditional that people who come for the El Rocio annual Pentecost pilgrimage do so without motorised vehicles. The roads are full of gaily decked covered carts, and splendid horse riders with the woman wearing brightly coloured gipsy costumes. There are hitching rails for the horses and wide open spaces to turn oxdrawn carts. Celebration continues for the whole El Rocio week! Be prepared to book far ahead and travel far for accomodation! Check internet sites for more history, pictures and information.

Roman ruins; Baleo Caudia

The Roman ruins of Baleo Claudia near Tarifa, are in a stunning position beside a long sandy beach. Before going there check opening times, which vary with the seasons; and use a map and follow signposts carefully. The car park is beside the museum.

The most important industry of Baleo Claudio was garrum; a highly prized fish paste, that was exported all over the Roman Empire! Near the beach there are many large tanks cut into the rock in which the garrum was made. Salt and herbs were pounded together with the fish.

After visiting the ruins, enjoy eating at one of the delightful beachside restaurants nearby; stroll along the sands or have a swim. This place is only about an hour from my place! Or stop over at one of the nearby camp grounds or in a hostal or hotel in Zahara.

There are beaches, and beautiful beaches!

Many Mediteranean beaches have artificially dredged sand. Those without this luxury can have more stones and shingle. The best beaches are on the Atlantic coast about an hour from my place. This rock is at Atlantera, and the long sandy beach stretches to Zahara del Tunes. However, there is more wind on the Atlantic coast! The nearby town of Tarifa capitalises on it boasting that it is the 'windsurfing capital of the world! There are kite surfing schools too!

For those who want to spend more than an afternoon in this area, accomodation of all sorts is available; hotels, hostels and camp grounds with good facilities. However, many places are only open in the 'season', not year round. Other interesting places to visit nearby include wonderful Roman ruins - Baleo Claudia. More about that later!

Bahia Dorada Sunrise

Occasionally I wake up early enough to see the sun rise. I sit out on the terrace and watch the light magically changing. Words from the song 'Summertime' ring in my head;

"One of these mornings, I'm going to rise up singing; spread my wings and take to the sky!"