th International 6Arabian Horses Festival “A TREE IN LIBYA” During a visit in May of this year to the Arabian horse races in Casablanca, Dr. Mohammed Machmoum mentioned that I would get an invitation to attend the sixth international Arabian horse show in Tripoli, Libya. Dr. Machmoum is the organizer for that show and I had the pleasure of meeting him during the World Cup Show in Las Vegas, where he was one of the judges. Libya? I thought, how interesting! Are there Arabian horses? How come I’ve never heard of that country in the context of breeding Arabian horses? I would mention the idea of this trip to my friends and they would ask: “Where do you plan on going? To Libya? WHY?” My sense for adventures awakened and I felt ready to take on this challenge. After all, I had moved my family and my breeding program years ago from one continent to another so to travel to Libya did not seem like such an obstacle. I also traveled to Saudi Arabia and Oman by myself earlier this year, knowing that I would meet many of my friends and fellow Arabian horse breeders there. However, I was not aware of anybody I knew besides Dr. Machmoum who would be in Libya. I mentioned this to my longtime friend and famous photographer Gabriele Boiselle and her answer was: “You will have friends after your trip!” I applied for a visa at the Libyan Office of Foreign Relations in Washington. The visa was entirely written in Arabic and I assumed that that was enough to allow me to travel to Libya. When I checked in with the airline in Frankfurt they informed me that my passport had to be translated into Arabic. I had incorrectly
August 14-15, 2009 Tripoli, Libya Story and photos by Sigi Constanti
believed the Arabic visa was the translation! Fortunately an official translator was found at the airport and I was finally allowed to board the plane to Tripoli. On arrival at the airport in Tripoli I noticed that EVERYTHING was written in Arabic, NOTHING in English! At the gate an officer told me that there was some confusion with my passport because a woman with my name had traveled to Tripoli the day before and the officials had to make sure I was really me. I had never heard of anybody else with my name — how strange that was! I had to wait for quite a while on a bench while the officials decided upon my fate. They finally let me through and I was driven by a private driver to the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli. I was very happy not to have to drive a car because all the street and traffic signs were written in Arabic. Westerners can get around on their own only if they are familiar with Arabic. The city looked attractive and clean, and the hotel was a beautiful five-star hotel. I felt immediately relieved when I entered the hotel to find people I knew. Three of the five show judges were visiting in the lobby: Claudia Darius from Germany, Pilar Cavero Pino from Spain, and Anna Stojanowska from Poland. I quickly left my suitcase in my beautiful room and joined the ladies for a stroll to the souk in the old part of Tripoli. The souk resembled souks I had visited in Morocco and
1 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD