4th Oct World Animal Day

The 4th of October is the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi; an appropriate date for World Animal Day and suitable for the flag day for animal charities. Every year ADANA, Estepona's Animal Rescue Society, asks volunteers to collect from public places all week! As usual I was asked to station myself outside our local Carrefour supermarket with my collecting can. By the end of the four hour stint, my can was gratifyingly heavy!

Standing there with this label around my neck and my can in my hand, its interesting to note people's reactions! Few people ignore us! Most people around here know what ADANA is all about! "Ah yes! You do good work!" Some grin as they put in a few coins, saying; "I've put money in your tins several times already this week!" Some say; "I haven't got any change now, but I'll give you something when I come out." And they mostly do!

Apart from ADANA there are two other major charities in Estepona. CUDECA offers home care, family support and a hospice for terminally ill cancer patients. AGE CONCERN gives support to the older generation. They're all vital services! Each has their own charity shop with volunteer staff. They need items to sell, and appreciate donations of good clothes, books and bric-a-brac.

Messing About in Boats!

These photogenic boats are in Estepona Port. You would have to know their owners if you wanted to go for a sail. However there are boats for hire.

And you can go fishing!

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!

Dolphin Delight!

When my family visited me, we hired a little yellow inflatable boat from Estepona beach. We were shown how to start it and steered it ourselves! We followed a tall young man. He stood up in his boat as he headed out to sea. He was searching for dolphin.

When he sighted them, he waved to show us where to steer. Suddenly the dolphin were all around us! But by the time my camera clicked the dolphin had often disappeared! But I did get lucky! These are striped and bottle-nosed dolphin!

Boat hire costs 40€ per person for two hours.

Estepona Alive!

San Isidro, the patron saint of Estepona, is celebrated with a Fiesta for a week in May, with much song and dance! It starts with a trip out to a park in the country for paella and picnics under the trees. Then every day in town there is something going on! My friend Brian took this enchanting picture of Spanish dancers!