Fifth Chukker Magazine V2 Issue 10 June 2016

VOL 2 ISSUE 10

Adventures in Luxury

Meet the prominent & popular

GBENGA OYEBODE Joe Labuschagne Introducing the man who is running for Africa

Ecotourism

Can a holiday be about giving and not just taking?

fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

UNICEF MESSAGE The 2016 UNICEF Fifth Chukker and Access Bank partnership has two folds, in the sense that we have once again come together for children and coincidentally we are talking of having achieved 10 years (2006 -2016) working for children. UNICEF is convinced this partnership has very positively touched the lives of thousands of children and well over 45,000 people in communities who in many respects have remained beneficiaries of our collective efforts to promote the rights of children with focus on education for orphans and vulnerable children and indeed those invisible ones who needs this support the most. We must remember always, the fact that, all children have the right to primary education which should be free and of good quality. This would help to ensure that all children have equal rights and opportunities to grow and develop to their full potential. Therefore, the choice to focus on basic education to guide this partnership is deliberate and strategic to give children a solid foundation in their journey to attaining greatness and limitless opportunities in life.

Through the Fifth Chukker and Access Bank 2015 support funds, UNICEF has constructed and equipped a computer library in Maraban Jos Primary School in Igabi Local Government which is second-to-none in Kaduna State. Other intervention support areas in schools over the years include rehabilitation of schools, scholarships, school uniforms, provision of water through the construction of boreholes, recreation centres, and provision of instructional materials, enhancing the general works on security and connecting schools with electricity with a view to providing and enabling environment for a conducive learning with little or no distractions. These efforts have proven worthwhile with evidence of progressive increase in the enrolment of pupils in these schools benefiting from this interventions.

To ensure completeness of monitoring of the schools and to institutionalise ownership, UNICEF has ensured the establishment of a functional School Based Management Committees (SBMC’s) made up of male and female members in the respective communities. Gladly, the partnership is steadily growing and expanding beyond the popular one-off annual Charity Shield tournament to all year round activities serving as a platform to advocate for children through advocacy, media engagement and other strategies including the involvement and participation of children to promote their rights through the partnership.

UNICEF is committed to this partnership for children and increasingly working to achieving a robust and result oriented collaboration which is already generating a wide range of public interest and readiness to join this laudable initiative.

At this stage, UNICEF sincerely appreciates Fifth Chukker and Access Bank in the journey so far in honour of children. Together, we shall deliver more quality results for children!

The Tallest Residential Building in Lagos.

Features and Facilities

LorenzoBySujimoto - The New Oil

Can you offer a Bentley for the price of a Toyota?

Absolutely not! In Real Estate, every investor craves two things - Quality and ROI. Nigeria’s current economic situation presents a climate of fear for Investors because of the volatility in the Forex, Capital Market, and the rumble in the global Oil and Gas Industry.However, these are not enough to stop an optimistic investor.According to American Investor and Philanthropist, Warren Buffett, 'Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful'. There can be a no more relevant time to use these words in the history of our country than now.

Investment experts, however, say these are the best times for smart investors, to go for the kill …Real Estate Investment. No matter what happens to the Nigerian economy, the 180 Million Nigerians would still need roofs over their heads.Putting your money in Real Estate is the best way to hedge your Naira against Devaluation. This is where The LorenzoBySujimoto comes in bringing in three fundamental principles of Real estate into one space, LOCATION, ARCHITECTURE AND LIFESTYLE. Eventually, our investors will own a $2Million property at $1Millon.

The LorenzoBySujimoto is set to be the Tallest Residential Building in Nigeria and the First Fully-Automated Building in Africa. With 26 floors, we have a semi-Olympic size Swimming Pool on the 16th floor; the tallest pool deck in Nigeria.

The LorenzoBySujimoto’s state-of-the-art units boast www.lorenzobysujimoto.com

an average size of 360sqm to 1,000sqm (this includes balconies and common areas), Two Pedini Style Kitchens, Virtual Golf Bar, International Standard Gymnasium, 2 Olympic Size Swimming Pools, First Class Beauty Salon & Spa, Bespoke Designer Interior, Architecture, 4 meters floor – Ceiling, Central Air Conditioning Systems, Smart Home Features and other exceptional features.

Eventually, our investors will own a $2 million

Images, L to R: Bedroom, Lift Lobby, Kitchen.

Financial Auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers has predicted that the Real Estate sector’s value will rise from $9.16billion to $13.65 billion in 2016.

It reported that the sector is growing at a rate of 8.7%, making it the 6th largest in the Nigerian economy.

The bottom is crowded with mediocre developments that’s why at Sujimoto Construction, we have decided to rise above the crowd.

property at $1 million

From an investment perspective, the LorenzoBySujimoto has been dubbed the new oil because it gives investors the double advantage of living their dreams of world-class comfort while also offering exceptional ROI, especially for off-takers.

Our intention is not to do things 10 percent better, but to do things 10 times better. Having travelled to New York, Tokyo, Dubai in search of quality and inspiration, we can confidently say we have redefined Luxury Real Estate in Africa.

Sijibomi Ogundele CEO, Sujimoto Group

Contents VOL 2 ISSUE 10

7

CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD Ahmed Dasuki

9

EDITOR’S LETTER Yasemen Kaner-White

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

10 TEN ISSUES AND COUNTING

Celebrating Five Years of the

Fifth Chuker Magazine

LAST SEASON AT FIFTH CHUKKER

12 MTN PATRONS CUP

A first time winner savours

the moment 13 GENERAL HASSAN CUP An MVP Scrap drives a very close final to the edge 14 PINK POLO South Africa and the United States share the honours in Pink Polo showdown as Nigeria unites for breast cancer awareness.

INTERNATIONAL POLO HIGHLIGHTS

18 CARTIER INTERNATIONAL DUBAI Cartier charms the international set with a new winter date for their marquee event at Desert Palm 20 DUBAI OPEN

Sheikha Maitha shines as her UAE Polo team joins the party of champions after overcoming

Mahra to win the top tournament in the Emirates 22 BEACH POLO CUP DUBAI Under the stars and megawatt floodlights, pop polo tickles the UAE social scene 24 TRIPLE CROWN La Dolfina’s awesome foursome claim three consecutive titles on the last day of the Argentine season 26 SENTEBALE A look back to when Prince Harry played for his worthy charity Sentebale, in Val de Vie, November 2015 29 US INTERNATIONAL Orchard Hill Snatches 2016 US Open Trophy from Dubai 13-12 32 LAGOS INTERNATIONAL Fifth Chukker strikes with ruthless dispatch to defend Nigeria’s top polo prize

SPECIAL FEATURE

35 MAGAJIN GARIN

Traditional Culture

& Modern Times 38 GBENGA OYEBODE

THE BUSINESS SECTION

45 UBER UNCOVERED Changing the face of public transport

48 OUBAAI GOLF & SPA HOTEL

An opportunity to escape, relax and unwind 61 ENTREPRENEURS Chika Russell, Petit Tribe and Cookieskin

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

51 THE FALL & RISE OF AFRO CENTRIC Africa’s influence on the world of fashion

POLO PEOPLE

91 RUNNING FOR AFRICA Introducing the man running

for Africa, Joe Labuschagne

95 ENGLISH FOOTBALL Not owned by the English

FEATURE DESTINATION 98 ECO TOURISM Can a holiday be about giving and not just taking?

105 Twelve Months of Sports Around the World

74 PHILIP GREEN A businessman with a big heart, improving lives in southern Africa

77 TOM DE BRUIN

Polo Player Spotlight

ART IN FOCUS

80 OPENSPACE EXHIBITION

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

85 T HE PASTIME THAT’S

STRIDES AHEAD! Clive Tully explains what’s afoot

WORLDWIDE SPORTS DIRECTORY

CUISINE SCENE

108 TREAT YOUR PALATE

in Patara

GOOD BOOKS

BOOK REVIEW 114 The Forty Rules of Love –

Elif Shafak 115 Me Before You – Jojo Moyes 116 WHO’S READING

FIFTH CHUKKER 122 INTERNATIONAL POLO

CLUB DIRECTORY

CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD

“On a high note, Fifth Chukker was recently highlighted in a feature on polo in Nigeria broadcast on CNN’s ‘Inside Africa’ programme”

I

t is with great pleasure that I welcome our readers, both those at home here in Nigeria and internationally, to our tenth Issue of the Fifth Chukker Magazine. Whether you are a new reader, or have followed us over the years, we hope you have enjoyed the journey from polo, the arts, business, travel, fashion to entertainment, with us.

Once again we are excited to kick off a new season with the Access Bank UNICEF Charity Shield Tournament. We are enormously proud of the work that has been done to improve the lives of disadvantaged children here in Nigeria and are thrilled that Access Bank continues to be an amazing partner in the efforts to bring about change through the work done by UNICEF. And, speaking of UNICEF, the Fifth Chukker family bids a fond farewell to Jean Gough who, as Head of Country, has been an incredible presence here in Nigeria. We wish her all the best in her new post in Asia.

Our CSR initiatives, as many know, include the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign that coincides with the Africa Patrons Cup held in October. Dr. Amina Abubakar Bello, the wife of the Executive Governor

BOARD MEMBERS ADAMU ATTA, BABANGIDA HASSAN, UMARU ALIYU, AYO OLASHOJU, KASHIM BUKAR SHETTIMA

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

of Niger State, again graciously accepted the offer to be Fifth Chukker’s Ambassador for the Campaign, which launched in Minna with a lecture and free screening, concluding with the same at Fifth Chukker, as part of the Pink Polo events. The highlights of which were the women’s exhibition games featuring teams from the USA and South Africa, a fantastic end to the 2015 season.

On a high note, Fifth Chukker was recently highlighted in a feature on polo in Nigeria broadcast on CNN’s ‘Inside Africa’ programme.

We are proud to have been able to showcase on the international stage not only the history of polo in Nigeria but the future of the sport here as well. With that said, here is to riders and horses that give us the thrills of the game and continue the tradition.

Wishing everyone a safe and successful season!

AHMED DASUKI Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Fifth Chukker Magazine is a publication of Fifth Chukker Polo & Country Club Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of this publication to provide up-to-date and accurate information, we cannot guarantee that inaccuracies will not occur. All material presented are used in good faith and whenever possible, permissions have been applied for. The publisher will not be held responsible for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any inaccuracy or error within these pages.

7

Global voice and text GlobalVT® uses your number, your contacts and caller ID on your smartphone during flight.

At any altitude. Anywhere in the world.

Exclusively from Satcom Direct®. Let’s fly.

Don’t Miss a Moment

Visit www.satcomdirect.com to learn more about GlobalVT.

GlobalVT app icon

EDITOR’S LETTER

With great pleasure, now on my 4th edition as Editor of Fifth Chukker magazine, I am delighted to introduce the 10th edition, what a milestone! Whilst an international publication, it seems only fitting that a large tranche of this special edition pays tribute to alluring Africa and its positive global contributions. For it is not only the birthplace of Fifth Chukker, where, as usual, readers get an overview of their last polo season, packed with thrilling tournaments and importantly, money and awareness raised for breast cancer on Pink Polo Day, but also our featured Polo People have African roots too. Globetrotting professional polo player South African Tom de Bruin is celebrated, whilst we take a look at Philip Green, who dedicates much time to improving the lives of disadvantaged South Africans via his own charity, and royally patronised charity – Sentebale. Naturally we look at influential international games too, covering Argentina, the US, Dubai, South Africa and Lagos. We celebrate Africa’s colossal creativity by looking at the prominence of their paradigmatic prints influencing high-end, far-flung fashion, in our Afro Centric feature, whilst our regular Art In Focus section, this time, observes Nigerian based; The Openspace Project – supporting a collective of innovative individuals from writers, to artists to entrepreneurs. Talking of entrepreneurs, I had the pleasure of interviewing three very successful businesswomen, who have made their global mark from beauty products, to clothes, to noteworthy nibbles. Our Adventures In Sport feature follows the story of South African runner Johann Labuschagne, he walked me through his latest undertaking – a year of running through Africa… for Africa! raising much needed funds to help alleviate the misery of many living in the poorest areas. Most cultures, when delved into, reveal rich ancestry to be admired,

“It seems only fitting that a large tranche of this special edition pays tribute to alluring Africa and its positive global contributions”

and Nigeria is no different, with the 50th birthday of Magajin Garin Zazzau approaching; a piece dedicated to his story is found within. Gbenga Oyebode, who graces the front cover, is held in high esteem, not only for his notable business achievements; chairing copious conspicuous companies but also for his charitable contributions and above all, calm countenance, it was an honour to meet with him and to tell his tale. If you’re a football fan as he is, we hope you will enjoy our composition on the biggest club owners around. Thankfully, the world has woken up to responsible travel, thus our eco tourism feature will help you travel with a clean conscience, whilst not cutting corners on comfort. We suggest walking is a great way to get around and our Adventures in Sport feature holds your hand through the best places to trek throughout the world.

For those who would rather hail a cab than hike, our in-depth look at transport company; Uber should spark interest. The Book Review highlights two refreshing reads to pack on your travels, in-fact Jojo Moyes’s bestselling ‘Me Before You’, is soon set for the big screen next month. Lastly, though I’m a sucker for suya (Nigerian style BBQ meat), the Cuisine Scene this time focuses on something from my own heritage, Turkish, in particular – Patara, originally a land for nomads, where the first fridge arrived around 25 years ago, it fascinates me how the nomadic need for preserving food, still prevails even today. Whichever section appeals to you the most (ideally all!), I hope you take away knowledge and enjoyment from this, and every edition…

YASEMEN KANER-WHITE Editor yasemen@parmuto.com

Editor - YASEMEN KANER-WHITE Editorial Team - TERRI M. BRENNAN, YUSUF SAAB, BARBARA PATRICIA ZINGG, ONYEKA UDECHUKWU Contributors - YASEMEN KANER-WHITE, LILBY SKAZ, TERRI BRENNAN, ROBERT CLAYMAN, JAMIE BEZUIDENHOUT, KAYLENE WEST, TREVOR WILLIAMSON, LAURA JONES, DARLENE RICKER, ERNEST EKPENYONG, CLIVE TULLY, ROSS BIDDISCOMBE, HELEN TRUSZKOWSKI, FRANCES WHITE Photography - SHEYI AFOLABI AND TONY RAMIREZ, additional contributors credited Design - TONI BARRINGTON, THE MAGAZINE PRODUCTION COMPANY www.magazineproduction.com

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

9

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

TEN ISSUES AND COUNTING...

Celebrating Five Years of the Fifth Chukker Magazine Terri Brennan

Fifth Chukker

OCTOBER 2012 | VOL 1 ISSUE 3 | N2,000 | £8

may 2012 | Vol 1 Issue 2 | N1,200 | £3.50

Magazine

Adventures in Luxury STEPHANE St JAYMES

BeautIful sIghts BeautIful people of ethIopIa

meet mumuNI dagazau

The new fashion phenomenon

A true polo aficionado

LATEST TRENDS

in contemporary art and fashion

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

LIFE LESSONS

with polo hotshots Abu Kari and Bashir Hadejia

Michelle Ogundehin Editor in Chief

ELLE Decoration UK

A visit to the Hidden Gem of Africa

deVelop a passIoN for polo

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

Adventures in Luxury

Adventures in Luxury

OCTOBER 2011 | VOL 1 ISSUE 1 | N1,200 | £3.50

A spectator’s guide to enjoying the Game of Kings

With Polo Hot Shots

CHUKKER BANG

aiGBOJe aiGiMOuKhueDe

Introducing the brand new Hublot Polo watch

Luxury List

MaKiNG aN iMpact ON sOciety

BIKE POLO Making a début in Nigeria

super yachts aND super watches

polo Women in

Milestones &Memories 10 years of Fifth Chukker

fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

A chat with Uneku

Atawodi

Cover.indd 1

MAY 2013 | VOL 1 ISSUE 4 | N2,000 | £8

PRIVATE JETS

ARRIVE IN STYLE

Polo

ROYALTY World No.1 Adolfo Cambiaso and Princess Maitha of Dubai star for Fifth Chukker in UK Tournament

fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

26/03/2012 23:47

VOL 2 ISSUE 6

VOL 2 ISSUE 5 | N2,000 | £8

Adventures in Luxury

Adventures in Luxury

Adventures in Luxury

Claire Tomlinson

Polo’s First Lady

Royal Polo Players

The Sport of Kings

Cape Town

Marwan Chatila

South Africa’s Coastal Gem

Bond Street’s Most Discreet Jeweller

The America’s Cup Yachting’s ‘Formula One’

Aston Martin

fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

A Century of Innovation

Sayyu Dantata Passion for polo

Nigerian Monarchs

Captured through the lens of George Osodi

The Emir of Kano

50

Russia where polo is growing in popularity

Sheikha Maitha of Dubai

Adventures in Luxury

in Nigeria

Her Highness

Years on the Throne

VOL 2 ISSUE 7

World Economic Forum

Past & Present

I

fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

VOL 2 ISSUE 9

Adventures in Luxury

Adventures in Luxury

THE SPORT OF KINGS GIVES BACK International Pink Polo

Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons

Geoffrey Kent

The man who put luxury safari on the map

Formula 1

& Today’s Biggest Star

t was just five years ago that the Fifth Chukker magazine invited readers to explore ‘Adventures in Luxury’. Adamu Atta, founder of the Fifth Chukker Polo Club, saw the need for not only coverage of the ‘sport of kings’ in Nigeria but Africa as a whole within the context of an international setting. Thus the stage was set for the launch of the Fifth Chukker magazine first published in October 2011.

Within the world of polo the magazine has celebrated not only the game itself, it has highlighted the players, both in Nigeria and those abroad, that bring the excitement to the game and with a look at those that inspired them to play the game in the first place. Adolfo Cambiaso has graced the cover of the magazine as has Princess Maitha of Dubai and Nigerian favourite – Sayyu Dantata. Central to the magazine has been the coverage of the Sport of Kings gives back. From making a difference to the lives of at risk children through Fifth Chukkers’

10

fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

VOL 2 ISSUE 8

Souk to Successful Shops

Queen’s Cup

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

Milan

City of Expo 2015

PRINCE HARRY

Making a difference fifthchukker.com fifthchukkermagazine.com

partnership with UNICEF, to the on-going Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, the issues through the years have continued to highlight the need for all to be involved in giving back with the positive results that can be achieved through increased awareness.

Issue 9’s cover story ‘Prince Harry Making a Difference’ continues that tradition.

Culture and tradition – Issue 5 celebrated the late Emir of Kano’s 50th anniversary on the throne – the arts, fashion, travel – from Cape Town to Milan and points in between, and literature are highlighted in each issue, with readers encouraged to join in the continued exploration of what Nigeria, Africa and international hotspots, well known and not so well known have to offer.

With this, the 10th Issue, we welcome our readers to come along with Fifth Chukker magazine as we continue our ‘Adventures in Luxury’.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

LAST SEASON AT 5TH CHUKKER

MTN African Patrons Cup A first time winner savours the moment Lilby Skaz

F

ollowing years of trying and falling short, Keffi Ponys finally laid their hands on the elusive African Patrons Cup after defeating Susplan Meridian 8-5 in the final of the 8th edition of the championship sponsored for the second consecutive season by ICT giant, MTN Nigeria.

Fielding two professionals a side, both squads dueled intensely from the starting minutes before Santiago Cernadas and Babangida Hassan opened their goal accounts for Keffi Ponys. Diego White and Leroux Hendriks responded in kind for Susplan. As the chukka flashed by, Keffi stayed 3-2 ahead on account of their one-goal handicap award.

Keffi scored twice in the second chukka but White pulled one back for Susplan. Chukka 3 ended scoreless as Susplan switched to a more defensive mode to stem the free-flowing Keffi attack. The strategy seemed to pay off as they held off the Ponys for a second consecutive chukka while scoring a goal of their own to reduce the deficit to 5-4 at the end of chukka 4.

With Susplan ascendant, Keffi upped the ante, scoring the only goal of chukka 5 to recover a more comfortable margin of error going into the final, decisive chukka. In response, Susplan pushed back a lot harder but struggled to convert superior possession into the goals they needed.

A thrilling last chukka of end-to-end action opened up the contest for a final flourish, with many opportunities for both sides to wrap up the match going begging. Hendricks, who had proved to be an almost unstoppable force throughout the championship, struck first for Susplan to close the gap to one goal. But as the South African and teammates charged harder to ride the momentum and turn the match around, Keffi wangled out a counter attack from which they scored to restore their two-goal cushion.

12

Staring down the barrel of defeat as the clock wound down, Susplan surged forward in ‘Hail Mary’ hunt for goals. And as one such attack broke down deep in the Keffi half, Babangida Hassan controlled the ball and drove it in a long mesmerising dash to goal.

After receiving the Patrons cup from Katsina State Governor Bello Masari, Patron Aliu Wadada expressed relief and pleasure that Keffi had finally won a big one at Fifth Chukker after several attempts. “I am really happy today and I congratulate my team mates for delivering a very positive and professional performance to ensure victory against highly deserving opposition,” he stated. Keffi pivot, Santiago Cernadas was named Most Valuable Player.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

LAST SEASON AT 5TH CHUKKER

General Hassan Cup An MVP Scrap drives a very close final to the edge Lilby Skaz

T

he final of General Hassan Cup was and an epic battle between two teams for the title, and two players for the MVP prize with a cash value of $2000. Dogonyaro Sublime, led by Nigeria’s top player Bello Buba (+4) were clear favourites despite ceding 11/2 goals on handicap to the hard-charging Maigari Farms pivoted by Abdulmalik Badamasi (+2).

It was an intense game from the get-go as both teams went into successive scrums seeking the early break. Sticking to the polo playbook prerequisite of maintaining any handicap advantage through the first chukka, Badamasi scored first for Maigari to add to their advantage, but Dogonyaro Sublime’s Suleiman Bello responded almost immediately to end the chukka 21/2 -1.

There was no messing about when both teams returned for chukka 2. Buba tried to rise to his billing and dictate the match with an eye-catching goal after freeing himself from the leeching Maigari defence. Then Muktar Adhama connected from Buba to put the ball away again for Sublime before Badamasi scored his second to retain his team’s now reduced lead to half a goal, 31/2 - 3.

Buba and Badamasi battled for possession for most of the third chukka, allowing teammates Adhama and Lado Aliyu, for Sublime and Maigari respectively, to a goal each for a 41/2 – 4 score line at the end of the period. As the decisive final chukka beckoned, excitement ran high in the arena, as well as anxiety in the camps of the two teams and the two players going head-tohead for the MVP prize.

As expected, Buba tore into the game, playing with frantic skill and urgency to get the two goals Sublime needed to turn the match its way. He got one, but you could guess who cancelled it out - Badamasi, of course, who also turned up the zing to maintain the half a goal advantage and ride out the match 51/2 – 5 as Sublime threw everything at the barricades.

After the biggest upset of the tournament, Badamasi duly received his MVP prize of 2000 dollars from the MVP sponsor, Alhaji Ibrahim Magnet. The General Hassan Cup is played in memory of General Hassan Usman Katsina, the highly revered former Life President of the Nigerian Polo Association.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

13

PINK POLO

PINK HOPE South Africa and the United States share the honours in Pink Polo showdown as Nigeria unites for breast cancer awareness.

Lilby Skaz

I

t is one of the most anticipated events in the Nigerian social and Polo Calendar. DaViva’s bespoke African print with a mélange of pink shades was the order of the day as VIPs and guests converged for the annual Fifth Chukker Pink Polo Day, the classic highlight of the African Patrons Cup polo tournament.

Now in its fourth year, Pink Polo aims to raise awareness of breast cancer in Nigeria, the second biggest killer of Nigerian women. The family friendly event attracted thousands of people, including First Ladies of Kaduna, Niger, Katsina and Zamfara states, as well representatives of local and International health and business organisations.

Speaking at the event, Niger State First Lady and Fifth Chukker Breast Cancer Awareness Ambassador, Dr. Amina Abubakar Bello reiterated the overriding need for women to get screened and tested regularly for early signs of the disease. She also commended Fifth Chukker for its commitment to humanitarian issues and applauded MTN for being “a strong advocate against the disease.”

14

Kaduna state First Lady, Hadiza Nasir El-Rufai, expressed optimism that the Pink Polo Day would draw more awareness to the devastating effects of breast cancer in the country. She also called on other corporate bodies to emulate the collaborative effort of Fifth Chukker and MTN in raising the awareness level in a more connective way.

The Events and Sponsorship Manager of MTN Nigeria, Dola Bamgboye, who represented the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Richard Iweanoge, assured of MTN’s continual support in the fight against the disease, stating that to complement the various efforts in the country to reduce death from breast cancer, MTN, through its Foundation (MTNF), has established six mammography centres located within public hospitals across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.

With the launch of the 2016 Awareness Campaign held in Niger State, before the beginning of the tournament, a Pink Clinic was held in the morning, where guests participated in an interactive lecture delivered by Dr Femi Olaleye of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

PINK POLO

They also had the opportunity to meet breast cancer survivors, learn self-examination techniques and undergo free screenings at the mobile mammography unit under the auspices of Dr Charles Cudjoe and Chasel Hospital, Kaduna.

The showcase exhibition match between South Africa and the United States was a hard fought battle from start to finish by two evenly matched teams. Play was fierce from the outset with impressive offensive and defensive talents on both sides, but the goals just wouldn’t come until Kylie Sheehan broke the deadlock to put the Americans ahead in the fifth minute. It wasn’t long, though, before South Africa responded forcefully through Sancy Vermaak to end the first chukka 1-1.

The second and third chukkas went pretty much the way of the first – a whirlwind of steals and misses, and plenty of tit-for-tat. Then the Americans struck again Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

through Kaylie Eldredge at the end of an impressive move that got the crowd cheering. After getting away from the unwanted close attention of the American Captain, Terri Brennan, South Africa Captain Erin Jones smothered the euphoria moments later with the equaliser.

Tied 2-2 at the end of the third chukka and with everything to play for in the final period, South Africa took an early 3 - 2 lead through Jones again, and held on until the final seconds of the match when Sheehan scored from a goal-mouth scramble to level the match as the final bell rang out. With light rapidly failing, the winner was decided on a toss, and South Africa got it. America’s Sheehan was named MVP and also rode the Best Playing Pony. However, it was sweet revenge for the United States the next day as they defeated South Africa 4-3 to win the MTN Cup in a high octane climax to the tournament.

SOUTH AFRICA Erin Morgan-Jones 0 Dominique Theones 0 Jessica Heinrich 0 Sancy Vermaak 0 UNITED STATES Terri Brennan 0 Kailey Etheredge 0 Kylie Sheehan 0 Devan Cox 0

15

Cintron Pink Polo Polo with a purpose

A

pplauds for polo with a purpose! Thousands unite in support of breast cancer awareness at the sixth annual Cintron Pink Polo. This has been the second year that Cintron has sponsored the growingly popular charity event. Cintron World believes in making a difference and giving back to communities all around the globe. Cintron has a long-term commitment to women’s health through events and two

international initiatives: Selfies for Survivors® and Stop Human Trafficking.

Cintron World is an international beverage company that develops aspirational lifestyle brands and offers premium drinks crafted from natural ingredients with great taste.

Cintron World brands represent an upscale lifestyle, which encourages people to look good and feel great by living a fashionable, productive, and healthy lifestyle.

Cintron hosts Polo Tournaments all around the world, and these events are the perfect place for prestigious guests to enjoy a high-goal tournament, drink Cintron, and experience the Cintron lifestyle.

Guests from near and far gathered at the Val de Vie Estate’s polo grounds for Cintron Pink Polo, which was a unique blend of elegance, entertainment and exquisite scenery, all in support of the fight against breast cancer.

Funds generated through the event went to non-profit organisation Reach for Recovery and its Ditto project, which assists women with their practical and medical needs in their fight and recovery from the disease.

The day’s proceedings included a luxurious fashion show, hosted by international fashion brands, Vicomte A. & IKKS, a live performance by celebrity vocalist, Tamara Dey, and of course an exciting polo match with sponsors Cintron and Julius Baer competing head-to-head.

Cintron Cocktails paired with delicious food was a talking point as guests were presented with an indulgent spread of skilfully crafted, never before seen “food-ventions”. Cintron offered its line of flavored premium enegry drinks made into colorful craft cocktails. Also, this year the Pink Food Truck Fair was launched offering guests a picnic style, laid-back experience where they enjoyed tantalising food straight from innovative food trucks. No polo event is complete without the traditional act of divot stomping. In great fashion, Cintron Pink Polo guests put their best foot forward and took to the field to pat down the torn up turf along side the luxury car brand, Crossley and Webb.

Six years ago the event was launched to act as a vocal platform and to raise awareness about breast cancer in our country, and world-wide. The day was a celebration of stories of miraculous healing, as well as an opportunity for those who have lost loved ones to honour the lives they lived.

- Simone de Wet, MD at Val de Vie Events

After four chukkas, the nail-biting match ended on a score of 5-6 to team Julius Baer. Team Cintron fought hard to make a come back but the South African polo captain, Tom de Bruin, for the Julius Bar team made sure not to lose! Tom’s pony, Chilli, was named Best Playing Pony of the day while Johan du Plooy was awarded Most Valued Player, scoring several goals for the Julius Baer team and bringing the crowd to their feet.. Also, with two female polo players, Jossi and Sally, playing at such a high standard, hopefully more ladies will take up the exciting sport of polo. Jossi Spilsbury’s speed and aggression was inspiring!

Along with Cinron Polo Club members, Cintron was pleased to host some of South Africa’s most famous faces and esteemed guests. From Tanya van Graan to Liezel van der Westhuizen and Jen Su, these A-list celebs joined in to support this worthy cause. Apart from polo events, the international brand ambassador of Cintron, Akon attends Cintron events across the world and performs with other musicians in the international Cintron concert series.

Cintron is more than just premium beverages; it’s a lifestyle. Join Us! Drink it, Live it!

For more information on this event please visit our website www.cintronworld.com or email us at info@cintronworld.com Cintron Pink Polo 2016 is set for the 5th November 2016

CARTIER INTERNATIONAL

Cartier INTERNATIONAL DUBAI Cartier charms the international set with a new winter date for their marquee event at Desert Palm.

Trevor Williamson

18

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

CARTIER INTERNATIONAL

Cartier Red (+7) Sandra Schneider (-1) Stefan Sund (0) Mark Hayden-Kellard (+2) Nacho Gonzalez (+6) Desert Palm (+8) Rashid Al Habtoor (0) Tariq Albwardy (+1) Daniel Gradiador (+3) Matias Machado (+4) Al Habtoor Polo (+8) Mohammed Al Habtoor (0) Stuart Wrigley (0) Tomas Iriate (+5) Santiago Gomez Romero (+3) Zedan Polo Team (+8) Prince Abbas bin Ali bin Nayef (0) Amr Zedan (0) Martin Gandara (+4) Rodolfo Ducos (+4)

T

he Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge has been Dubai’s most coveted invitation for more than a decade. But after the vicious sandstorm that almost derailed the February 2015 fixture at the fabulous Desert Palm Country Polo and Country Club, it was little surprise that Cartier has brought forward its marquee event from the traditional February date to the early polo season, in December. That meant one of the most celebrated dates in the UAE social calendar had a double bite at the cherry, with the 10th and 11th editions of the tournament held in the same year.

Played under the patronage of HRH Princess Haya Bint Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, more than 500 guests joined Laurent Gaborit, Managing Director of Cartier Middle East, India and Africa, and his special guest, socialite and model Bianca Brandolini at Ali Saeed Albwardy’s luxury oasis on December the 12th for the conclusion of the 11th edition. VIP guests were treated to a sumptuous three course meal before players saddled-up. Omani lobster with sundried tomato tartar was the standout starter, followed by a main course of Angus beef tenderloin with butternut squash purée, and a tartelette trio for desert.

Four international 8-goal teams, featuring players from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Europe and Argentina played week-long league matches in a bid to reach the

final and win a coveted Cartier watch.

Two of Dubai’s leading polo playing families – the Albwardys and the Al Habtoors teamed up together in one squad for the first time in the tournament’s 10-year history.

After the league shootout, Habtoor polo emerged with maximum points for a place in the final. Desert Palm, who had earlier lost to Habtoor against the odds, scraped through to complete the title match lineup. The Desert Palm team featured Tariq Albwardy and Rashid Al Habtoor, while their valiant opponents, Habtoor Polo, comprised Rashid’s brother, Mohammed Al Habtoor and Stuart Wrigley. In a thrilling final encounter, Desert Palm defeated Habtoor 8-4 to win the glittering Cartier cup.

Both Tariq Albwardy and Rashid Al-Habtoor stepped forward to receive trophy from Bianca Brandolini and Laurent Gaborit.

Desert Palm’s Matias Machado received the Etiqueta Negra Most Valuable Player of the Tournament Award. The Etiqueta Negra Best Playing Pony Rug and Saddle was won by ‘Linda,’ who was played by Habtoor Polo’s Tommy Iriate.

The subsidiary final opened the play on the final day and was settled in an almost similar fashion. Amir Zedan’s Team Zedan, featuring HH Prince Abbas bin Ali bin Nayef of Jordan, overpowered the Cartier Red team 8 – 41/2.

This annual event is organised by the Guards Polo Club and DesDesert Palm (+8), the Chief Executive Officer of Guards Polo Club joined Mr. Gaborit and Ms Brandolini in the royal box for the match and afterwards ticked the new winter date in December as an exquisite choice that will add to the already impressive reputation of the event.

“Tournament planning decisions can now be made with less concession to the weather,” he said.

Cartier’s Gaborit exuding pride and satisfaction after another successful outing for the brand stated: “Cartier is known as ‘the king of jewellers and jeweller of kings’ and its long standing association with polo combines elegance, passion and tradition, values which reflect the lifestyle symbolised

by Cartier.”

The Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge is one of several prestigious international polo tournaments sponsored by the brand. Others include the Cartier Queen’s Cup at Guards Polo Club, Windsor Great Park, Berkshire, and the Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow at St. Moritz, Switzerland. This unique blend of haute sporting and social event with Cartier hospitality, has kept the company’s soirees at the top of the league of luxury event attractions.

19

DUBAI GOLD CUP

Dubai Open

UAE Polo Win Julius Baer Gold Cup Sheikha Maitha shines as her UAE Polo team joins the party of champions after overcoming Mahra to win the top tournament in the Emirates Trevor Williamson

20

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

DUBAI GOLD CUP

Julius Baer Team

by Habtoor (18) Mohammed Al Habtoor 0 (Patron) Matias Torres Zavaleta 7 Guillermo Cuitino 6 Manuel Elizalde 5 Edrees Polo (18) Sultan Edrees 0 (Patron) Pierre Henri N’Goumou 5 Patricio Neves 6 Juan Ruiz Guinazu 7

T

he 7th Dubai Open for the Julius Baer Gold Cup was won by UAE Polo after defeating Mahra 10-7 in the final played at the Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club in the Arabian Ranches. HH Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s UAE Polo team joins Mahra, Abu Dhabi, Habtoor Polo, Ghantoot and Zedan in the winning list of the most important polo trophy in the Middle East.

Lucas Monteverde was named Most Valuable Player of the final and ‘Asesora’, the mare played by Jack Hyde, was awarded Best Playing Pony. The Argentine Polo Ponies Breeders Association gave its prize to ‘Dolfina Divina’ played by Lucas Monteverde. The victorious UAE players were also rewarded with iconic timepieces worth $150,000.

Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series (Dubai Open) is an 18 Goal Handicap competition played under the banner of the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA), and under the patronage of HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai. The tournament is now the highest handicap in the UAE and the fourth largest tournament of its kind after Argentina, the US and the UK. First founded by Mohammed Al Habtoor in 2009, the tournament is the premier regional polo competition and attracts VIPs, society figures, and senior corporate executives from across the Gulf States.

It has grown in tandem with the city of Dubai and since 2012, it is the only tournament in the UAE to be recognised and certified by the World Polo Tour.

The 2016 event came with the high expectation of elite sportsmanship display owing to the presence of some of the very best players in the world. Before the title match however, Mahra and UAE Polo had achieved two spectacular victories in the semifinals at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort. Mahra defeated Bin Drai 8-6 and UAE Polo defeated Zedan in an extra chukka after rallying to draw level in the fourth of the fivechukka match.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

With ex ten-goal star Lucas Monteverde and Alejandro Novillo Astrada leading the UAE and Mahra teams respectively, fireworks were expected in the final and the fans duly got their money’s worth, right from the opening chukka where intense pressure play and full-court action from both sides ended 3-2 in favour of UAE. Mahra’s play and coordination seemed to desert them in the second chukka and UAE punished them repeatedly to put daylight between the two teams.

Monteverde combined effectively with teenager Jack Hyde, Matías Benoit and HH Sheikha Maitha to rattle in three un-replied goals and go 6-2 clear.

Although Mahra mounted a feisty response in chukka 3 with two goals from Alejandro Novillo Astrada, UAE managed to keep them at bay with another Monteverde goal to finish the chukka 7-4.

The match was ultimately decided in the penultimate chukka when UAE cranked up the power with three more goals to widen the advantage to 10-5 going into the fifth and final chukka. Mahra’s Astrada, Isidro Strada and patron Rashid Al Habtoor battled to cut the lead down to 10-7 but UAE controlled the play to ride out the match.

At the conclusion of the final, the delighted tournament founder and promoter, Mohammed Al Habtoor stated: “Each year the event gets better and better. This year we are proud to have hosted nine strong teams and we all witnessed how tough and exciting the competition has been.”

Commenting on Bank Julius Baerr’s sponsorship of the Gold Cup, Daniel Savary, Head of the Middle East Sub-Region said that the bank “is proud to continue our partnership with the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series in 2016, the UAE’s most prestigious equestrian event. Throughout our long lasting heritage spanning 125 years as the leading Swiss private bank, we have championed values like innovation, conscious of tradition – all traits that are recognisable elements of the polo dynamics.”

Ghantoot Polo (17) HH Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Patron) Yousef Bin Desmal 0 Lucas Alberdi 5 Bautista Bayugar 6 Tomas F. Llorente 6 Mahra Polo (18) Rashid Al Habtoor 0 (Patron) Isidro Astrada 5 Juan Chavanne 5 Alejandro Astrada 8 Wolves Polo (18) Ahmed Al Habtoor 0 (Patron) Agustin Canale 6 Diego Araya 7 Jeronimo Del Carril 5 Zedan Polo (17) Amr Zedan 0 (Patron) Martin Podesta jr. 4 Martin Gandara(4 Nachi Heguy* 9 Bin Drai Polo (17) Saeed Bin Drai 0 (Patron) Tomas Iriarte 4 Matias Zavaleta 7 Raul Laplacette 6 UAE Polo (18) HH Sheika Maitha 0 (Patron) Jack Hyde 3 Matias Benoit 6 Lucas Monteverde 9 Abu Dhabi Polo (18) Faris Al Yabhouni (Patron) Ali Al Merri 0 Facundo Llorente(5 Alfredo Capella 8 Valentin Novillo Astrada 5

21

BEACH POLO

Beach Polo Cup

Dubai

Under the stars and megawatt floodlights, pop polo tickles the UAE social scene Trevor Williamson

I

t was a glittering experience at the purpose-built arena at Skydive Dubai where thousands of guests walked the red carpet to the finale of the Beach Polo Cup Dubai 2016, featuring the third-and-fourth play-off, Grand Final and Award Ceremony. Amid neon lights and rock music in a surreal carnival atmosphere, this was pop polo at its most theatrical flourish.

The two-day extravaganza had endured a 24-hour delay due to rain in the UAE. That decision was made to ensure the best possible experience for guests whilst also ensuring the safety and well-being of polo ponies

22

and the 12 players, including a mix of professional polo players and patrons from the USA, Brazil, UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and Argentina.

The spectacular opening of the 5-goal tournament saw four teams battle in two semifinal matches for the rights to contend for the title the next day, as well as the subsidiary final for third and fourth place finishes.

Cadillac and Lindt won their matches to set up the championship contest, while the runners-up, Qatar Airways and Hills Advertising squared off in the first game of the final day. Qatar won it 15 - 81/2 in a second half flurry of 4 goals in five last-chukka minutes

Gaby Katiela Events & Tournament Director

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

BEACH POLO

following an imperious display by talented 6-goal Argentine, Lucas Labat.

In the title match, defending champions; Cadillac, powered to a second consecutive Beach Polo Cup Dubai victory by narrowly edging Lindt 10-8 in a 4-chukker cracker. Trailing 3-2 after an intense opening chukka, Cadillac fought back to draw level 5-5 at midway point.

With scores tied at 7-7 going into the fourth and final chukka, Cadillac’s Tariq Albwardy, Sam Instone and Matias Machado had to dig deep to find the extra gear to pip Lindt.

MVP Machado followed up leading Cadillac to victory last year by scoring what proved to be this year’s title-clinching goal. Racing clear with only 2 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock, Machado’s pivotal goal ended the brave challenge put up by Lindt’s British-born patron Stuart Wrigley, patron Carlos Pinal from Spain and Maxi Malacalza, who all demonstrated real determination and pushed themselves right to the limit.

Beach Polo Cup Dubai founder and promoter, Sam Katiela, Managing and Creative Director of Mamemo Productions, expressed satisfaction after another well orchestrated event. “It was brilliant to see so many people showing their support for beach polo – a game that is growing in popularity in the UAE and across the world, beach polo resonates so well locally and internationally because it is so far removed from the traditional elitist image of polo. This energetic format focuses on a younger, more sociable crowd and it really is a sport for everyone,” he said.

Beach polo has grown phenomenally since it debuted in Dubai in 2004. It took off internationally almost immediately, spreading to Miami in 2005 and is now, twelve years later, played in 33 cities across the world. Other tournaments may not have been as established or as successful as the Dubai event because they rarely attract the level of official support provided by the Dubai government. The Dubai Sports Council is in partnership with Katiela because it appreciates the tournament’s strong economic impact for the city as a whole, and the promotion of Dubai and the UAE as a sporting hub and luxury event destination.

Putting on an event this size year on year, is certainly a huge challenge and Katiela admitted as much: “Companies in almost every industrial sector are trying to lower their budgets. The flip side is that when there is a cautious business environment, companies look for something different. They look for unconventional opportunities. People start to be innovative and more creative in how they spend. We speak their language.”

The Beach Polo Cup Dubai 2016 tournament brought the curtain down on another highly exciting and competitive polo season in the UAE. Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Hills Advertising (5) Kristian Peterson 1 CJan Bladen 0 Martin Gandara 4 Quatar Airways (5-7) Bruce Colley 1 Piero Dillier 0 Lucas Labat 6 Marcus Schalldach -1 Lindt (5) Stuart Wrigley 0 Carlos Pinal 1 Maxi Malacalza 4 Cadillac (5) Tariq Albwardy 1 Sam Instone 0 Matias Machado 4

23

TRIPLE CROWN

UNPRECEDENTED GLORY Forty years after the great Coronel Suarez quartet won back-to-back Triple Crowns, La Dolfina’s awesome foursome have obliterated that record by claiming three consecutive titles on the last day of the Argentine season.

Lilby Skaz

A

dolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Sterling, Pablo Mac Donough, Juan Martin Nero. These four names are now etched into history as the new idols of polo whose horsemanship, teamwork and mental toughness have been unbreakable for three seasons and thirty-five matches in the land of peerless polo.

The Argentine Triple Crown consists of the three Opens; Tortugas Open, Hurlingham Open and Argentine Open, and is a series of the most important tournaments worldwide organised by the Argentina Polo Association. Tortugas is played by the six highest handicapped teams. Through a series of playoffs, two more teams qualify to join them for the Hurlingham Open, the oldest championship of them all. The same qualifying process applies to the Argentine Open.

La Dolfina made the first move to Triple Crown glory for the third time in a row by taking the Tortugas Open back in October. By a score of 11-9, the defending champions defeated Ellerstina whose latest line-up include the Pieres brothers Facundo (+10), Gonzalo (+10) and Nicolás (+9) as well as their cousin Pablo (+10) by 11-9. Adolfo Cambiaso scored ten out of eleven goals for his team. One down, two to go.

If this historic accomplishment was ordained by the gods, look no further than the Hurlingham Open where the stars seemed to have aligned for La Dolfina in avoiding a most likely stumble against Ellerstina in one of the most exciting final matches of the 122-year-old history of the tournament.

Ellerstina exhibited the strongest grit by quickly taking a 5-3 lead at the end of the second chukka. The Pieres were up 12-8 after five chukkas before La Dolfina mounted a ferocious and devastating comeback, scoring four goals in the final chukka to win 15-14.

The 122nd Argentine Open final between La Dolfina and Ellerstina was not only another clash of the titans, but also the latest installment of the battle royale between the incomparable Cambiaso and Ellerstina’s Facundo. Each scored six goals as the final went one way, and the other, before heading straight down the wire to a riveted full house in Palermo.

After tying the first chukka 2-2, La Dolfina peeled away with Cambiaso, who was a real monster on the day, dictating play and scoring goals to leave Ellerstina floundering at 7-3 at the end of the third chukka, and 8-4 at half way stage. La Dolfina were looking like clear winners by the start of the sixth

24

chukka when a sprinkling of rain slowed down the game and the momentum swung to Ellerstina. Facundo and Gonzalito spearheaded a vigorous counter to narrow the gap to 12-10 at the end of chukka 7.

Ellerstina pressed on, scoring again in the eighth and final chukka to make it 12-11 and land within one goal of a potential overtime showdown. But Juan Martin Nero extended the advantage once more for La Dolfina before Facundo recovered the single goal margin with only ninety seconds left to play. Enough time, it turned out, for the privilege of witnessing arguably the most famous hook in Palermo history as Nero thwarted Nico Pieres’ last second attempt on goal.

La Dolfina’s historic record setting day lifted the gloom that had descended over Palermo since the disappointingly shambolic and anticlimactic 2014 final which the Buenos Aires Herald fittingly described as the “worst Argentine Open final in the last 30 years – a boring, messy and flat encounter.” In contrast, 2015 was a near perfect finale with “few fouls, open play and some of the best horsemanship polo fans have ever witnessed,” said Polo legend Alberto Pedro Heguy.

Heguy can afford to be charitable, having won the Argentine Open 15 times as a member of the Coronel Suarez team that included his brother, Horacio Heguy, and the two Harriots Alfredo and the great Juan Carlos. La Dolfina may have bested their Triple Crown frequency but Coronel Suarez still holds the record for the highest number of Crowns won: Five - in 1968, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1977. Aside Coronel Suarez and La Dolfina (2013/2014/2015), only three other teams have won the Triple Crown – Ellerstina (1994/2010), Santa Ana (1973), and La Aguada (2003).

There are musings if the 41-year old Cambiaso can sustain the very demanding physical exertions into the seasons ahead or leave the stage at the loudest ovation. There is also excitement that the pull of conquering new heights might just be too compelling for La Dolfina to resist - such as surpassing the Coronel Suarez five Triple Crowns tally to undisputedly become the greatest of all time. Fat chance, cynics might sneer, but if La Dolfina can maintain their winning mental attitude, hunger and focus, and retain those incredible big game qualities – calmness under pressure, efficiency and effectiveness near opponent’s goal area and consistency in penalty conversions – nothing might restrain the new ‘Monsters of the Universe.’

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

TRIPLE CROWN

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

25

SENTEBALE A look back to when Prince Harry played for his worthy charity Sentebale, in Val de Vie, November 2015 Laura Jones

A

n enraptured audience watched as the two gallant teams marched out onto the polo field. Prince Harry’s muchanticipated South African visit included his participation in the sixth Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup, held at Val de Vie Estate on the 28 November. The event – the largest one-day charity polo event in the world – made its sixth appearance last year and the first ever on African soil.

There is a long and proud history of polo in South Africa, with the first recorded game taking place in October 1874 at the Parade Ground in Cape Town, between the Gordon Highlanders and the Cape Mounted Rifles.

Val de Vie, meaning the “Valley of Life”, was established in 2004 and polo was first played here in 2008. This year, the estate had the honour of hosting the sixth annual Sentebale Polo Cup, welcoming Prince Harry himself to play polo in South Africa. Alongside him was Adamu Atta, founder of Fifth Chukker, one of England’s own

26

professional polo players Malcolm Borwick and renowned polo player Nacho Figueras, an ambassador for Sentebale. The two teams battled for a victory, which was finally won by 8 goals to the Royal Salute Team, led by Figueras.

The Sentebale Polo Cup was first launched at Apes Hill Polo Club in Barbados in 2010 where a crowd of over 2000 gathered to watch the match. Since then, the event toured across the world from the UK to Brazil, Connecticut, USA and Abu Dhabi. Polo had become a successful vehicle to create a worldwide awareness of Sentebale and its vision to work in partnership to positively transform the lives of vulnerable children.

“It’s an honour to be part of this event where polo can be used as a platform to do good,” says Sentebale ambassador, polo pro Nacho Figueras.

The real heart of Sentebale began in 2004 when Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso took Prince Harry to stay overnight at one of the cattle-posts in the mountains of Lesotho; this was where they made their commitment to support children in Lesotho, many whom are affected by HIV/AIDS. Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

SENTEBALE

Both Prince Seeiso and Prince Harry agreed that their charity is a way to remember their mothers, who both worked with vulnerable children and people affected by HIV/AIDS. Says Prince Harry, “I really feel that by doing this I can follow in my mother’s footsteps and keep her legacy alive.”

In a discussion detailed on the Sentebale website Prince Harry recounts, “I was 19 and went travelling in my gap year. I had a fantastic time in Australia, Argentina and Botswana, but, in the end, the thing that had the greatest impact on me was the two months I spent working in Lesotho. I met so many children whose lives had been shattered following the death of their parents – they were so vulnerable and in need of care and attention.”

Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso says, “Lesotho is a small, impoverished country. Its problems have been made infinitely worse since I grew up because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

It has been said that we, as a nation, are facing annihilation.”

A ROYAL MATCH

Prince Harry teamed up with founder and CEO of Val de Vie, Martin Venter; Royal Salute ambassador, Malcolm Borwick – who scored the first goal of the match – and businessman, Adamu Atta on the ISPS Handa Sentebale team. They were up against polo enthusiast, Hannes Pickard; one of the world’s top 100 polo players and Sentebale ambassador, Nacho Figueras; commercial property developer and investor, Rupert Hackwill and trained aerospace engineer, Bill Ballhaus on the Royal Salute team.

Although it was a close match, keeping the suspense heightened, it was ultimately the Royal Salute team that won the game 8 to 7, after Bill Ballhaus scored the winning goal seconds before the end of the final chukker. This skilful move earned Ballhaus the title of ‘most valuable player.’

Although it was a close match, keeping the suspense heightened, it was ultimately the Royal Salute team that won the game 8 to 7, after Bill Ballhaus scored the winning goal seconds before the end of the final chukker was signalled.

This skilful move earned Ballhaus the title of ‘Most Valuable Player.’

Guests in attendance included businessmen, Patrice Motsepe, Tokyo Sexwale and Sir Martin Sorrell; Olympic gold medallist, Cameron van der Burgh; former Proteas cricket captain, Graeme Smith; TV personality, Minnie Dlamini and UK actress, Laura Main.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

27

Strength of the stallion La Puissance D’un Etalon

We are improving our services Nous améliorons nos services

With our new look, we are committed to being more responsive in serving you better in more refreshing and diverse ways that promises to keep you coming back for a superior retail experience in MRS Stations.

We are poised to deliver to you, family, friends and your vehicles; our unparalleled hospitality that is the hallmark of our existence as you drive up our forecourt.

Avec notre nouveau visage, nous nous engageons à être plus sensible à vos demandes et améliorer nos services de vente au détail afin de faire de votre expérience et visite dans les stations MRS une action récurrente, rafraichissante et varié.

Nous sommes prêts à offrir, à vous, votre famille, vos amis et ainsi qu’à vos véhicules, et ce dès votre arrivée dans nos stations, nôtre hospitalité renommée qui représente la marque de fabrique de notre compagnie.

HEAD OFFICE / SIÈGE SOCIAL: Plot 2, Tincan Island Port Road, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria Tel: +234-1-07419000 www.mrsholdings.com

NIGERIA | BENIN | CAMEROUN | COTE D’IVIORE | GHANA | GUINEA | SENEGAL | TOGO | SWITZERLAND

US INTERNATIONAL

US OPEN Orchard Hill Snatches 2016 US Open Trophy from Dubai 13-12 Darlene Ricker

Throw-in in front of capacity crowd

O

rchard Hill slammed the door on Dubai in overtime, clinching the 112th United States Open Polo Championship 13-12 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC). Facundo Pieres was named Most Valuable Player, and Diva Dos (played by Juan Martin Nero and owned by Orchard Hill) was Best Playing Pony.

The team in black had been mentally gunning for the title for a year, having narrowly lost in 2015 to Valiente in the last breath of regulation play. “I really thought we deserved to win last year, and now we have,” said a jubilant but ever-intense Pieres in the tent, ducking just before he was about to be swallowed by a tsunami of jet-propelled champagne.

Although Orchard Hill’s rival was cloaked in a different name last year, in a very real sense Sunday’s showdown had a dose of déjà vu. Half of the 2015 Valiente team (Adolfo Cambiaso and Alejo Taranco) reappeared on the field in the form of Dubai. So did several of the Valiente organisation’s top horses through an arrangement with Valiente patron Bob Jornayvaz.

It turned out to be a winning formula, with Dubai in its first US season winning the 2016 USPA Gold Cup last month.

Pieres was determined to put a stop to that yesterday. Game high-scorer with 11 goals, he swept onto the field full-tilt boogey, making the game’s Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

first goal only 18 seconds into play. He and Cambiaso took it to the limit all day, repeatedly stealing the ball from one another. Each had their work cut out for them. Pieres had fellow 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero as his wingman, while Cambiaso and Alejo Taranco were every bit as formidable a combo as they were in last year’s Open. When not on the offense, Taranco cleared the way for the world’s No. 1 player like a street sweeper, prompting announcer Tony Coppola to exclaim, “Look at Jejo—he’s everywhere today!” At critical points the tag-team twins fed each other the ball, resulting in several Dubai goals. A slick play by Dubai in the last minute of the first chukker saw Cambiaso hook Pieres and steal the ball.

He passed it to Dubai patron Rashid Albwardy in the front, who kept it until Cambiaso called for it as he surged out ahead toward goal, ending the first chukker 3-1 for Dubai.

A flurry of right-of-way violations ensued through the rest of the game as the intensity spiked. With 48 seconds left in the second chukker, Nero broke free after a complex chain of steals and passes involving Pieres, Cambiaso, Taranco, Facundo Sola and himself. Nero sent a powerful hit along the ground to Pieres, who carried it through the posts, bringing Orchard Hill within striking distance of Dubai (4-3).

With the score tied at 4 in the third chukker, Nero picked up the ball

29

US INTERNATIONAL

Orchard Hill

Adolfo Cambiaso and Facundo Pieres © David Lominska Adolfo Cambiaso and Facundo Pieres

Facundo Pieres

Best Playing Pony “Diva Dos”, played by Juan Martin Nero and owned by Orchard Hill

MVP Facundo Pieres

Orchard Hill Facundo Pieres 10 Julian de Lusarreta 6 Juan Martin Nero 10 Steve Van Andel A Dubai Rashid Albwardy 2 Alejo Taranco 6 Facundo Sola 8 Adolfo Cambiaso 10

about knee-high and launched it 100 yards into goal, pushing Orchard Hill into the lead 5-4. Pieres stretched his team’s advantage with back-toback goals from the penalty line. That ignited Cambiaso, who tied the game at 7 in the fourth. Before the chukker closed Pieres returned the favour, retying the score at 8. Cambiaso made quick work of reclaiming the lead for Dubai, making two goals in the first two minutes of the fifth.

Dubai was ahead 11-9 early in the sixth chukker, but Pieres followed up with a penalty 2 goal and one from the field, the latter looking like the final stretch in the Kentucky Derby, with Sola desperately chasing him down. The warp-speed ride-off brought the score to 11-all. A Cambiaso pass to Albwardy went through the posts, making it a pretty good bet that Dubai was going to make history. But with 48 seconds remaining,

30

Pieres again tied the game at 12 and pushed the game into overtime.

The Nero/Pieres duo wrote Orchard Hill’s name on the trophy when Nero sent the ball on a back-shot to Pieres, who made the winning goal.

A ceremonial retirement bowl-in was held for Wembley, the legendary high-goal gelding owned by Valiente and ridden to greatness by a list of top players, including members of the Gracida and Heguy polo families, among others. Cambiaso has long played Wembley, who he said has always been one of his favourites (so much so that he has produced two Wembley clones for his La Dolfina string, one of them foaled on the day Valiente won the 2015 US Open final). Taranco, who successfully competed Wembley earlier this season for Valiente, rode him on Sunday’s ceremony.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

LAGOS INTERNATIONAL

LAGOS

INTERNATIONAL Fifth Chukker strikes with ruthless dispatch to defend Nigeria’s top polo prize Ernest Ekpenyong

Ernest Ekpenyong

32

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

LAGOS INTERNATIONAL

A

fter a one year break – for a spanking new turf to be laid – a full house of the city’s glitterati turned up at the Lagos Polo Club on the last day of the 2016 tournament, for the tension soaked final of the Majekodunmi cup, the most coveted prize in Nigerian polo and the cynosure of the two contending patrons – Adamu Atta of Fifth Chukker and Kunle Tinubu of Ironclad Trojan. The four-team high goal field had narrowed to the final two after Ironclad Trojan beat Kano Titans 12 – 9 and Fifth Chukker edged out Keffi Ponys 12 – 10.

A nail-biting opening seven minutes saw the two teams rise to the competitive spirit of the occasion, charging the field and scuttling for control, eager not to concede the early goal. Predictably, action was tense with defence tight on both sides and goals hard to come by until deep into the chukka when Fifth Chukker (Adamu Atta, Julio Nolito, Manuel Crespo and Lawal Mohammed) scored, and scored again.

Once they’d found their rhythm, as dictated by Crespo, Fifth Chukker became unstoppable, ratcheting up unanswered goals to take a half time lead of 6-1.

Spurts of comeback rallies by Ironclad Trojan (Tobi Edun, Eduardo Menendez Frankie Menendez, Kunle Tinubu) yielded some goals, but not enough to trouble Fifth Chukker who steamrollered through to extend their lead and win it 15 – 7 after six chukkas. In winning back-to-back titles, the team literally continued from where they left off in 2014.

Inevitably, Crespo was named MVP of the match and he looks a good bet to win some more in the future with a seemingly indomitable Fifth Chukker machine. “It really feels good and I want more of this,” said an elated Adamu Atta, waving his personal winner’s trophy after the match.

Before the finale, however, an exciting first week of tournament polo had come to a close on St. Valentine’s Day with Shoreline emerging the biggest winners after defeating Caverton 9-8 to emerge champions of the medium-goal Open Cup. Sao Polo beat STL 5-4 ½ to win the Dansa Cup even as Shoreline added the Oba of Lagos Cup to their haul by overpowering Ashbert. Titans defeated Keffi Ponys in the Majekodunmi Subsidiary final to clinch the Governor’s Cup. The second week also witnessed other hotly contested prizes, including the Low cup where the championship battle pitted Aerovote against Zippy. But it was Aerovote who zipped it with five goals by Ahmed Umar and Martin Juaregi. Zippy scored a solitary goal way back in the first chukka but their two-goal handicap award kept the final score at 5-3. Ahmed Umar was named MVP. The Majekodunmi, Open, Dansa and Low cups are the four regulation trophies of the tournament as sanctioned by the Nigerian Polo Association.

Among the dignitaries at the finals who also presented trophies and prizes were Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote and Segun Agbaje, Managing Director of GTBank, the tournament’s main sponsor for the fourth successive season.

Other sponsors of the tournament include Union Bank, Chapelhill Denham, Dansa, Interswitch, Samsung and Veuve Clicquot.

Hip-hop star, Olamide thrilled the club-house audience into the night to bring down the curtains on the 2016 Lagos International Polo Tournament.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

33

SPECIAL FEATURE

TRADITIONAL CULTURE & MODERN TIMES Terri Brennan

A

ll too often in the busy lives people lead today, connected more than ever through mobile devices, apps, and ‘selfies’, many individuals, especially the younger generation, have forgotten or in some cases have never learned of their past; the traditions and rich cultures that shape and to a degree, large or small, influence their lives. I recently had the opportunity to speak with the Magajin Garin Zazzau, Mal. Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, about the importance and the challenges of keeping traditions relevant in a modern society.

The Magajin comes by his interest in tradition and culture through his family and upbringing. As he says being “passionate is an understatement, it is my heritage left right and center, I don’t have anything but the tradition because my mother is a princess, same as my father and of course my wife, so you can see I am not faraway from any direction, right from the time I was born so it is my heritage”.

The title of Magajin Garin Zazzau moves around the three ruling families depending on which family the Emir is from. In the last eighty years the title has been in his family starting with an uncle from whom his father took the title over from in 1961. His father held the title for forty years, after serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He assumed the title in 200 1 having now held the position for fifteen years. Within the Emirate it is the second most princely title given to any royal member of the three dynasties.

Being part of the generation linking the past generation, which was still steeped in tradition with the younger generation, who embraces a modern era, where the world is accessible through social media has its challenges when it comes to maintaining tradition. An example of such a challenge would be the maintenance of the horses and camels which have been a central part of traditions for centuries, their importance can still be seen today during the Durbar celebrations held each year. “It is difficult because of the finances, the amount of recourses being spent to preserve this tradition is enormous compared to years back. To maintain even a single horse is a bit of challenge for so many people nowadays, there are the grooms, all the people who run the stable you have to pay them with meager resources unlike before where people did it as pleasure, it was all part of the traditional family, now every single person to pay for those things. Yet it is very important in preserving the tradition in Northern Nigeria.”

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

35

SPECIAL FEATURE

Even given the cost involved, it still feels that the young people are very interested in this aspect of the tradition. One only has to look at the tradition of polo, played for over a century in Nigeria, to see the continued interest in the role horses play in the culture of the modern times. “As far back as 45 years ago I started riding horses at the age of 4 or 5 when my father was around, the little ones were in front of him, that is what we do, over time with the younger ones.”

Although polo tends to be seen as for the upper class there are new programmes for young people to not only learn how to play polo but ride in general. “That is a new innovation and I think outfits like Fifth Chukker, now grooming the little ones [to play] showed me a lot of commitment from the management of the Chukker. I was really impressed the last time I went, to see young children play polo not even on the horse but on the ground [with foot mallets], it is an avenue I believe where the less privilege ones learn a lot of things and can possibly get employed as adults. Window of empowering the less privileged, who are very skilful players.”

Zaria’s history is not only evident with it’s storied polo club, the city is also home to the Palace of the Emir as well as the fabled gates and ancient walls marking the entrances to the old part of the city.

An example of tradition and the new working together can be seen with the establishment of public private sector partnership(s). Through the efforts of MTN, who came on board to assist with much needed renovations at the Zaria Polo Club. “You can see that we as a people hardly preserve our public areas, anything that involves spending of money, [thus] the maintenance of culture is not very good here”.

Through the partnership with MTN refurbishment of a few of the historic city gates was also undertaken. Another example is the on-going restoration of the most important historic gate, the gate through which MG’s great-grandfather rode when overtaking the city in 1804, which was funded by the British High Commission on the occasion of the visit of Prince Charles in 2006.

Although social issues are at the forefront, the preservation of history and culture for future generations is of national importance as well, “otherwise they will have no idea where they have come from, what has formed their society”. Given the lack of resources facing the local governments the public private partnerships are a step in the right direction as attested through the restoration projects of the historic gates and polo club.

With his 50th birthday approaching the MG has taken the time to reflect not only on his passion for tradition and culture but also on the responsibilities that come with the title. To that end he not only studied at ABU obtaining his first degree and a second in law and international relations, he has gone on to do a fellowship in conflict resolution/post war reconstruction at the University of York, a general management programme at Harvard as well as a just completed diploma at Oxford in organisational leadership. By attending some of the most prestigious institutions in the world he has gained a solid foundation in leadership and brought back to Nigeria an incredible network of relations. “It does make a difference, once you travel around you tend to know about other peoples cultures, their way of life, you appreciate them and learn more.

“I always tell people that I see myself fulfilling my natural duties not as an assignment, not acting in an expected way just because I have a royal title… I see it engraved in me, I was brought up in the same system from both sides, my mother, my father. Even my friends and associates, I relate to them in this regard, we flow very well from across the country the tutelage we received because of the exposure of our parents and our level of education has taken us to another level and we are grateful in that regard.” It is with this respect for history and an eye to the future that the rich heritage of not only the North but also all of Nigeria can be preserved and enjoyed by future generations.

36

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

SPECIAL FEATURE

Meet the prominent and popular

Gbenga Oyebode Yasemen Kaner-White

L

iving in the global melting pot that we do, it is so refreshing when you come across someone who is as passionate about their roots as the esteemed Nigerian Gbenga Oyebode.

Oyebode holds one of Nigeria’s highest honours, a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR), founded Aluko & Oyebode, the leading corporate and commercial law firm in Nigeria, is Chairman of Okomu Oil Palm PLC, is Board Director at MTN Nigeria and recently completed his tenure as Chairman of Access Bank Nigeria Plc, 2004 – 2015, so it goes without saying how incredibly accomplished he is. I had the pleasure to meet the man himself in his modern Lagos office, which could almost be mistaken for a gallery - full to the brim of eclectic African art. Dressed impeccably, with strong welcoming eye contact and a genuine engaging smile, Oyebode indulged my every question in my search for the man behind the corporate image…

Oyebode was schooled in Nigeria and upon graduation from the University of Ife in 1979, he completed his Youth Corp and went on to study for his Masters at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981, graduating in 1982. “The American educational system pushes you, matures you quickly, there’s almost no limits in terms of where they expect you to go – in thinking, in achievement, Nigeria is based on the British system, as long as you reach targets that’s fine but the American system says ‘good you’ve reached your target but try and achieve more’.”

He feels it’s the same for the jurisprudence system too, “the British legal system is based on precedent, history and tradition, whereas the American is driven by the logic of your argument.” Oyebode still practices, but less than before, “maybe 60% is in law and the rest in other things.” He is very comfortable within the corporate world. “I thought my skills lay in being able to network, make friends with people, negotiate and convince people of my argument, which is typical of ‘corporate’, where you close transactions and raise capital, I knew I wanted to do that since childhood.”

But what would he have done if he didn’t go into law? “If I didn’t go into law, maybe I would have gone into banking, I’ve spent so much time with bankers. I have always thought what skills can I bring to the table? the skills I have is the ability to make people feel comfortable when I’m around, to keep a conversation going when I feel there is a need for it, when I went to Uni, if I didn’t do law I would have done a Liberal Arts degree, but I never really thought what else could I do.” Whilst insightful into his apparent attributes, he isn’t scared to be self-critical, “if you said what is one of the traits I would like to change; impatience, I am impatient with myself, I rushed though the stages, I graduated from Uni at 20, went to the US and finished school in the States at 24, was married by 24 and set up my own law firm at 25, I rushed through life, everything was a goal that needed to be achieved, like, yesterday.” Now he is maturing in age, he is slowing down, though he says “I still light a fire under myself all the time – ‘these are the things I needed to do by yesterday’.” He says it stems from recognising very early in life that you are what you make of yourself, his father was a civil servant and in those days the most important thing you could do in the country was to be a civil servant. “Once he died, Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

when I was twelve years old, I knew we were pretty much on our own.

The difference between being left behind and making progress was totally up to you. You were extremely fortunate if things happened but you had to make them happen, so I pushed myself a bit harder than I ordinarily would have, because I almost had no fall-back. I’m happy that I set the stage very early for what happened later in life, and I didn’t sit back and wait to see what would happen.” Quite often successful individuals have mentors in life, and he admits he has a fair few, “I have lots of mentors, it would be boring if you lived a life with no one to look up to and try to learn from, because everyone is so different I have different people to look up to for different things, they’ve achieved different things at different points in their life.” For law, his mentor is a man who was the leading corporate lawyer in Nigeria; Chief Chris Ogunbanjo, he’s never worked with him but always thought he ran his law firm the way he has tried to run his own, by straddling both the law and the corporate world. “In exactly the way I have tried to model my life, he has managed to maintain respect as a leading lawyer but also as someone who has invested wisely in successful companies that remain in the country today.” Generally in life there are also mentors that you look at and think they have led good lives but remain relatively under the radar, to which he gives an example, Chief Olu Akinkungbe, “he’s very understated but gained a lot of respect for his position in the market place, the very clean way he has done his business over the years, sat on lots of boards and constantly remained a ‘go-to’ for corporate advice and corporate governance advice, so that is someone who comes readily to my mind.” He also singles out the Chairman of MTN Nigeria Pascal Dozie, for his great corporate governance, he has a low-key manner, but the market respects him for his achievements.

Oyebode himself serves as a mentor for many, not only for his outstanding achievements, both within his career and altruistic pursuits, but also for his notable calm character. “One of the reasons I have a calm disposition is because I always make sure I have time off from the rough and tumble of what I do,” which his wife Aisha Oyebode, daughter of the late General Murtala Muhammed, can vouch for, “we spend a lot of time at home, we do social gatherings, weddings and things, but not so much, we spend more time at home, he’s very homely, we watch CSI on TV as a family, he likes to spend a lot of time with the kids, we used to do a lot of walking before but it got harder and harder with the traffic now, so whenever we travel we do a lot of walking, in London – Chelsea and in Connecticut- Greenwich, he is a bit restless but that’s solved by travel”, she says. Instead of being conceited, he is notoriously humble, “the one thing I try to do the whole time is to try and not believe my own ‘BS’, it is important to remain true to yourself, and to your values, to be authentic, to recognise a lot in life happens in spite of you, this line I picked up from my brother – ‘the etymology of having a fortune, comes from being fortunate’, so the fact that you are fortunate – please don’t think it happened all because of you, it is because you are fortunate, you happened to be in the right place. My view is you work hard, you just hope these things happen, but you don’t stop working hard and believe that these things will just come to you.” He makes it clear that his strong family bond

39

SPECIAL FEATURE

centres and grounds him, “family is important, it is so important to me that I spend a lot of time with them, if you ask my kids they would say I travel a lot but when we spend time together it is quality time. We travel all over. I suspect if my kids looked back they would say we have been everywhere planes could take us, we have been on every continent, trying to make sure that they see themselves as global citizens who experience life but more importantly it is also about making sure that the time we spend together is quality time, so they look back and say their parents may have worked extremely hard but every time they came back they made up for the time they were away.” The Oyebodes have brought their children up to not feel entitled, rather, to be gracious, “that is why we support education, there are so many stories about parents leaving wealth to children and they blow it all up, go off the track, we have tried to make sure our children know the most we will leave to them is a great education and hope they will make the best of it.” According to his wife, he has always been a very ‘hands on’ dad, she recalls him holding them in slings to his chest when they were babies and pitching in to change nappies. “I am grateful, he does a lot with the children, in terms of their schooling too, he has a great father relationship with them, if the children have a question they ask us, even if I answer, they say I’ll check with

40

daddy first, and I’m like ‘really’! but he is very knowledgeable”. Having spoken with both the Oyebodes, it is clear their family bond is concrete, their referrals to the ‘family’ are frequent, “we get along very well as a family, wherever we are in the world he makes sure we all connect; the dictionary website Merriam Webster comes up with new words every few days which he sends to all of us, he’s in touch several times a day, all the kids are abroad but he makes sure they are connected, she says.”

The pair who give donations and plaques out as a couple, ‘from the Oyebodes’ appear unified and approach life as a team.“As a partner, he is very considerate and very caring, he’s fun and has a great sense of humour, he’s a lot calmer than me with the kids and very techy, so relates with them on that level too – easing any adolescent strops!” she says. The adventurous man who enjoys a spot of deep-sea diving in exotic locations with his family never forgets to give roses not only to his wife but his children too, on Valentines Day. Whilst he is lavish with travel trips to unusual places and luxury hotels, when it comes to material gifts, he is a logical buyer, “he does get me presents, but they tend to be very practical presents like he will buy me a laptop and I’m like ‘really’! or he will buy me a new car, though I wouldn’t mind a new bag”! says Aisha.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

SPECIAL FEATURE

Oyebode’s altruism extends far beyond his family, in fact, the day after our meeting he was up early to do a walkathon for The Access Women’s Network in aid of Genesis House Womens Shelter. In the main, his charitable pursuits revolve around education, female issues and the African arts. “If you asked me how we change the continent, I would say through education, I think we create wealth through education, we create the changes through education, democracy is great but if you don’t know what to do with your vote, it comes back to education, as a family we support education”. He is part of the Global Advisory Council of the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, supporting young people to make their mark in Africa and beyond. He also, along with his wife, supports orphanages in Nigeria. They have backed schools all over the world, “we support my alma mater school in Pennsylvania and schools where my kids have gone, making sure we leave something behind, instead of just that my children have come through these schools.” He fully supports his wife’s campaign ‘Bring Back Our Girls’, the campaign set up to find the 219 missing girls, abducted by Boko Haram in 2014, yet to be recovered, by offering strategic advice. “We spend a significant amount of time focusing on the girl child. If we are fortunate enough we should give something back.”

Oyebode was Access Bank’s Chairman for 9 years and sat on the board for 13 years, the bank has sponsored the Charity Shield polo tournament at Fifth Chukker for the past 8 years, “one of the things which Access does extremely well is CSR, when people see the collaboration with Fifth Chukker they see it as just polo but we see it as in aid of UNICEF, for us it is always important.” He strongly feels that corporate companies must see themselves not solely about profit but what they can give back to their societies. “There is always a tendency to complain about government or local government but there is always so much more to do, Access Bank, essentially has done that in the different charities that it supports and causes that it sponsors, it mirrors some of the things that my family has done.” Oyebode is a great believer in making positive changes, creating ‘wealth’ not just monetary but through education, ‘pulling up the bottom billion’, “one of my favourite companies I’ve invested in is Okomo Palm Oil City, outside of Benin, it has 40,000 hectares split between palm oil and rubber, but it is a particularly interesting investment, every time I go there I know the local community wouldn’t have much without us creating local jobs, local schools, roads and hospitals, which we’ve provided, we can see a direct effect, those kinds of investments are a little bit more than what we get out of it, within that community we have created wealth.” He does the same via MTN Nigeria, which has specific female entrepreneur programmes, health programmes – for instance child ‘hole in the heart surgery’ and education facilities such as computers and internet bandwidth for schools and universities. “We have used a vehicle to create wealth across the country, we have gone from 0 to 60 million subscribers in 15 years, but it’s not only about subscribers, it’s what you can use the platform for, for me, it isn’t about these companies being successful, but what they leave behind and what opportunities they create, that gives me satisfaction.”

As mentioned, Oyebode is a bit of a travel junkie, but where does he love the most? His answer didn’t come as a surprise to me… “I feel most comfortable in Nigeria, honestly, Nigerians, we complain a lot about what is going on in our country but when I travel, the second I get off the plane, I check the papers in case I have missed any of the Nigerian news, very rarely does a Nigerian want to go into exile, when you speak to Nigerian diaspora, they come home very often. I can think of some amazing places I have gone, on the continent - I love Kigali for instance, I shouldn’t say ideal, it has its challenges but what they have done after their problems is commendable, travelling through East Africa – Serengeti, you wish we could do that in Nigeria – it isn’t impossible but it’s not something that we have focused on from a tourism perspective. I loved the cities I have lived in –Houston, New York - great food etc. but not somewhere I would Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

want to live in forever.” He has in fact lived continuously in Nigeria bar his studying for a couple of years in the early 80’s in America, and clearly is in love with his birth place, “it’s a great place to live, great place to do business, a place that grows on you, the longer you stay the more you feel welcome. I see a future for Nigeria that will get better with time, whilst there are tough times today, growth is prominent, population growth is growing at 3% – Lagos will be 40 million in 20 years and the country as a whole – 400 million people in 30 years, the reality is, there is still a lot to do but I am very optimistic about the future.” Anyone who has been lucky enough to visit Nigeria knows the beautiful landscapes it offers, though sadly tourism is not something that has been high on the Nigerian agenda and still needs further development. “The reality is when I drive around the country, I wish they developed more tourist attractions, the place where I come from is called Ekiti State, it’s very rustic and old, but you are astounded by the terrain, hills and lush forest surrounding it, we don’t know how to sell these things but they are no different to Brazil, Tanzania or Kenya.” He is quite right, everyone talks about Obudu, famed for it’s magnificent mountain ranges as a destination, but that is because it has been built up to be a destination. If you go to Lagos, you would see stretches of beguiling beach enclosing it, there are not many cities in the world where you can hop on a boat for 20 minutes and arrive at one of the most naturally beautiful, quiet and secluded beaches to enjoy all to yourself. “The whole country is a destination, from Lagos to Kano, northern Nigeria is totally different – you don’t have to just go to a Durbar event to experience the rich culture, history and traditions present, depending on what your target is for a tourist destination – Nigeria has it all.”

Fittingly, on the topic of cuisine, Oyebode tells me his favourite is hot and spicy Nigerian fare, fish pepper soup especially, as now, the health conscious Oyebode has cut out red meat. “Where I come from the staple diet is boiled or fried yam in the morning, pounded yam in the afternoon and again yam in the evening, the only thing we change is the stew (soup) it comes with, for instance efo soup (spinach based) or okra soup,

41

Shipped from around the world to your door step, so you can create exclusive living spaces with superior finishes from the world’s leading producers in stone and porcelain. gm@studiomasson.co.za I +27 21 510 1946 I WWW.STUDIOMASSON.CO.ZA CRN of Nereide and Paarden Eiland Street, Paarden Eiland, Cape Town, South Africa

SPECIAL FEATURE

for me that is my favourite diet.” Whilst he doesn’t prepare food from scratch, his wife, tells me “when the staff are away at the weekend, he fixes things himself and doesn’t accept help from me, he’s very independent.”

Although someone who can clearly quickly build a rapport with anyone and everyone, and who appears at home in company, Oyebode prefers solitary sports to keep fit. “Rather unfortunately I like the sports that I can do on my own, I constantly keep active, I’m in the gym four times a week for an hour, for cardio and weights, in the world of Fitbit I try to keep to 10,000 steps a day, I’m extremely proud when the alarm goes off and I tell people I’ve reached my 10,000 steps”! A firm football fan who supports Arsenal, Oyebode watches it every weekend. “The buses on the road are covered with stickers saying ‘Gunners for life’, we loved Arsenal from when Nwankwo Kanu played for us, for me Arsenal is great because it resonates, if you are almost constantly an underdog and every now and then you blossom, that’s the sort of team I want to support, I don’t want to support a team that wins every year, I want a bit of a challenge.” Another pastime is reading, like many of us, he has several books going at the same time, “I love reading, these days I like reading about the lives of great men, you can learn a lot from history and how people came to where they are, I’m trying to come to terms with modern reading devices, I like to hold a book, but because I travel often, I’ve succumbed to them.” Talking of reading about great men, I was inspired to ask if indeed there’s a book within him, “I’ve actually thought of writing a book, I’ve had a life where very interesting things have happened, I would like to tell the stories, it would make good reading, living in a country like Nigeria where there are very few living heroes, all their achievements are about wealth instead of real day-to-day experiences, it would be nice to tell those stories so someone can learn from them, I’ll do it at a point when I have time to slow down but I’ll definitely do it.” One could assume, a man of his standing may be harbouring political ambitions, yet when asked, he says, “politics, do I have a need to do politics? no – do I feel I still have a lot to give? yes, I want to find myself in a position where I can help, it is not politics of the elections, it is the politics that would create a change, sometimes it is difficult to do, I think it is important that we do not stand aside, we must all engage, speak up if we see things going wrong, political parties – joining them – is not a way I see life, as long as I remain active – contributing to do what I do best making sure the world sees Nigeria how it really is, instead of the jaundiced view of a few, continue pushing an agenda for the country that is real, that also complements the realities of the country instead of the speculation.”

Clearly Oyebode has already made his mark, which has been recognised with numerous awards, but what do the awards mean to him? “they mean Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

a lot in the sense that the honours tend to compliment achievement especially when they are given by your country, lots of people qualify so if you are singled out it is a great achievement. I think I have them because I have achieved a lot in a short time, done things that people have noticed but not in the face of people, so it does take a bit of time for recognition to come but I am happy that my contributions are noticed and that I am celebrated - but the key is to remain true to my principles, and to continue to do what is right, whether it is noticed or not.”

As someone who has been listed in Forbes, one could assume he enjoys the best money can offer, perhaps a little materialistic? but it isn’t the case, in fact, when asked what objects he would save from his house, if it were to burn down he replies, “I promise you that all these things in life, they are creature comforts, nothing I couldn’t live without, if you are alive, you can start again. If you have your head where you have it, you can start again.”

As far as favourite luxuries which he couldn’t live without however, he can only name his aftershave, “I like Tom Ford fragrances, in particular the Oud Wood and Bergamot, so I would run back in for that!” he says with a smile. Whilst he doesn’t rely on having exuberant ‘creature comforts’, he does has an eye for art collecting, but again, it does not go without an altruistic undertone. He is an avid supporter of African artists. “For me it is about celebrating the arts, celebrating the Nigerian Masters in the arts, we tend not to notice them but I think it is important that we all support.”

Post 1999, when democracy came back to Nigeria they revived a lot of their arts, great artists came to the forefront, from fine arts, architects, musicians (Nigerian music is played all over the world), ‘Nollywood’ and great writers. “What that proves to us is that the arts remain a way to push the Nigerian story, even through history, as you travel around the country, you see the traditional cultures, dress and colourful arts of our people, it is something I continue to invest in – I think of it as an investment, I have an eye for it, when I pick something out and return to an auction later that same piece has increased in price.” He himself is artistic, excelling in the medium of photography, “I do take great photographs, maybe I will do an exhibition one day, it comes naturally to me.” For those not lucky enough to know him, or receive an invite to his house for tea to pore over his astonishing collection, have no fear – “I have had a discussion with my wife, what to do with all these works at the end of the day - we will have an exhibition, so when I say investment, it is not an investment that I am looking for a return, it will be a platform to showcase young artists, show people what is available in the country, in the future it will be a gallery that people will come and see”. They are also planning a coffee table book to show off the artworks, so watch this space…

43

BUSINESS

Uber Uncovered Uber has changed the face of public transport, freelance employment opportunities and even given us a new word ‘Uberfication’, to describe the disrupting effect of new technology on old business models. Robert Clayman points out that this disruption is nothing new.

Colin Pickett Fantastic Post War London Scene

T

he clue is in the name. Uber (relieved of its potentially discomforting umlaut) has in a very short space of time become the west’s favourite personal transportation service.

In German usage the word indicates ‘a state or action involving increased elevation or quantity in the physical sense, or superiority or excess in the abstract’. The company has met some resistance to its classic ‘Randian’ disrupting effect – facing bans in Spain and two cities in India and continues to be involved in disputes with several governmental bodies, including local governments in the U.S., Australia and Brazil. However, with all the conflicts rooted in issues of employment law, working conditions, massive increases in city traffic levels and its rather muscular approach to media relations, they still Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

prevail for good reason. The service Uber provides – via unskilled, untrained drivers – is cheap(ish), prompt and essentially undercuts the Taxi trade by sometimes up to 100% per journey.

They have consigned to history the idea of waiting hopelessly on a street for a licensed vehicle to pop up or calling and hoping that a private hire ‘minicab’ firm can service you within 30 minutes of your decision to summon them. It’s a brave new world and the market has spoken.

A current company valuation of $62 billion would suggest that the app, started in 2009 by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, is aptly named. We should embrace and celebrate companies that save us money and improve our lives. Uber have done this and more. I myself use them with enthusiasm – except an enthusiasm tempered with a modicum of guilt. You see, taxi driving is in my blood.

45

BUSINESS

Chris Dorley-Brown The Knowledge 1986

Alper Çuğun – Uber Taxi

Uber on bike

46

Luu Nguyet – uber-taxi

When, in the early 1930’s, the Great Depression hit Britain, my grandfather Samuel Clayman, along with his brothers, Leslie and Mark, were let go from their respective apprenticeships. Sam was a trainee cabinet maker. He could saw entire lengths of hardwood by hand, as well as drill and sand. No power tools were available.

He was skilled, strong and capable. But times had got tough. Then machines came in which cut mortise and tenon joints precisely and uniformly – joints he’d taken years to perfect by hand. Meanwhile, American imported composite woods didn’t need to be hand formed nor did they warp if they weren’t seasoned properly. Sam was on the heap.

So all three brothers, needing to make some kind of living and not being in any position to relocate anywhere outside of London, signed up at the Public Carriage Office to become Licensed Hackney Carriage drivers.

They all embarked on The Knowledge – the gruelling process of riding around London’s soot-strewn streets on heavy bicycles and learning the routes out of the Blue Book – a pocket sized compendium – each page a route from Point A to Point B, with about 15 different turnings in-between. This was the only way to become a London Taxi driver. Having spent anywhere from a fortnight to a month learning sequentially from the first page – Manor House Station to Gibson Square – they would return to the PCO and be drilled by a series of professionally skilled pedants whose only job was to whittle the weakest out of the running.

This involved anything from just asking the novices to describe places of both important and obscure interest along the way (which was and is still considered a secondary requirement for holders of the Green Badge), asking for alternative (unlisted) routes based on imagined traffic-blocked scenarios or, most infamously, pretending to be deaf, or doddery or just plain vexatious to provoke the nascent cabbies into fits of rage. In this, they were routinely successful. Only those that possessed the necessary cognitive skill, emotional strength and tenacity got through. Times were tough though and the three brothers all had new marriages and houses and children coming. Luckily, they also all had the requirements to pass, which they did within a few weeks of each other, some nine months after they started.

25 years later, when my father was becoming bored of his lowly positions in a string of electrical appliance shops, he decided he needed to earn some proper cash. A really hard working London cabbie could pull in £30 a week in Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

BUSINESS

Workers on the ‘Silent Highway’

The Clayman family trade – two generations of London cabbies in 1957 and 1937

1956. This equates to £700 today. UK Inflation has in totality increased by 2,244% since that time. £30 went a long way back then.

Soon he joined his cousins and his uncles on his mother’s side in a veritable industry, locked up in the form of a monopoly. Disruption soon came with the proliferation of telephone exchanges, which led to the first private minicab firms. The London Taxi trade was so enraged, they formed a commando unit to intimidate the new firms off the streets of London. It didn’t work. Today, Addison Lee alone operates a fleet of 4000 vehicles in London and generates annual revenues of £200 million.

Will anyone miss the Taxi trade and its colourful autodidacts when it falls to inevitable commercial reality? Only in the short term. Uber are in the long line of innovators that, in the pursuit of technologies that benefit the greater populace, can often dismantle old ways of working in one generation. They have many great antecedents. Look no further than to another old trade – the watermen or wherrymen of London who were an essential part of the city for centuries. Using a small boat, called a wherry or skiff, they would ferry passengers along and across the river.

With bad rural roads and narrow, congested city streets, the Thames was the most convenient highway in the region. And until the mid-18th century, London Bridge was the only crossing below Kingston.

In 1197, King Richard I sold the Crown’s rights over the Thames to the Corporation of the City of London, which attempted to issue licensing to boats on the river. Henry VIII granted a licence (a form of licensed public transport) to watermen that gave exclusive rights to carry passengers on the river. Sound familiar? Parliament established Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

the Company of Watermen and Lightermen in 1555. After that, generations of London families undertook a five-year apprenticeship, specific to the Thames, to become a waterman, who captained passenger vessels, or a lighterman, who handled freight. Apprentices finished with a gruelling rowing competition on the river, the Doggett’s Coat and Badge.

They had massive bargaining power in the City and the Watermen’s Company were a major instigator of the early Trade Union movement in the UK. Then in the mid-19th century, two technologies came to change everything. Flushing toilets meant the Thames was now an open sewer and a less than acceptable working environment. Then came the railways.

The tech billionaires of their day – engineers like Isambard Kingdom Brunel – had now mastered construction techniques that made bridge building a matter of routine. The road bridges soon followed. There were strikes and protests. There was a payoff in today’s terms of £2 million to get them back on the river, which they accepted, knowing it was essentially ‘thirty pieces of silver’ for their great tradition. The game was up. People wanted bridges.

It’s highly likely that in 25 years from now, Uber’s established drivers will be protesting the introduction of driverless cabs and algorithmbased traffic management systems that make them obsolete. There will be a piece written on a magazine that gets directly projected onto the retina of subscriber from the son of a disgruntled old Uberer who merely thought the words to see them printed out. He will say the same things I’m saying – just quicker. Uber are not the enemy, they are the future.

For now.

47

BUSINESS

Jamie Bezuidenhout

T

he Oubaai Hotel, Golf & Spa is the premier golf and lifestyle estate located between the Outeniqua mountains of the Garden Route and the Indian Ocean, a mere nine kilometres from George Airport. George was established as a town by the Dutch East India Company in as early as 1776 and is steeped in history. George proves to be a popular destination for holiday-goers as the mid-point between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

Family is at the very centre of the Oubaai lifestyle – generous, open and caring for everyone. The hotel itself offers 100 luxurious, spacious suites and rooms to its guests. The architectural style of Oubaai is a unique combination of a modern Bauhaus feel with a South African twist, finished with opulent features and fittings. Oubaai provides a wide range of luxury services guaranteed to satisfy the needs of the most discerning guests. The fully equipped Business Centre provides business travellers with a comprehensive range of services. The importance of family, excellent service and attention to detail have always been key focus areas at Oubaai and will continue to be top priorities in the future.

The seven luxurious spa suites at Freesia Spa provide a perfect place to escape to and enter a space of complete tranquillity. The Freesia philosophy of energizing, calming and nourishing the body to preserve a feeling of well-being is masterfully applied through the use of our facilities

48

and services. Freesia Spa’s treatments include the use of locally-sourced products that sustain health and encourage youth and beauty.

The Ernie Els 18-hole Championship course is kept in pristine condition and is one of the most highly acclaimed golfing venues in South Africa, being the recipient of numerous awards. The course measures 6 516 metres from the pro tees, which is uniquely long for a coastal course. Oubaai also offers some of the most spectacular real estate, including 322 Oubaai Residential Properties and 128 luxurious Oubaai Village Apartments in a security estate.

Brain Shing has a long history at Oubaai and has been working on the property long before Oubaai came into being. Brian is currently the Executive Chef at Oubaai and brings to the team nearly two decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge in the hospitality industry. Guests visiting Oubaai have the option of visiting any of the five Oubaai five-star food and beverage outlets: visit Cucina Restaurant, the hotel’s main dining restaurant for a succulent, mouth-watering lunch; the Waterside Grill, Oubaai’s signature restaurant located in the Village Market for an early dinner overlooking the water to watch the sunset; the Clubhouse; the Waterside Bar and the Brandy Lounge. Be sure to pay one (or more) of these outlets a visit when next at Oubaai or in the Heralds Bay/George area!

In essence, Oubaai offers an opportunity to escape, relax and unwind in a picturesque and comfortable environment, no matter your reason for visit.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Sky Tower, Eko Atlantic, Lagos

Elevating Prestige And High Rise Residential Building To New Heights info@skytower.com +2348121121112

Sky Tower, Eko Atlantic, Lagos Elevating Prestige And High Rise Residential Building To New Heights info@skytower.com +2348121121112

The Fall & Rise of

AFRO CENTRIC There’s something to be said about Africa as a whole and the undeniable influence it has on the world of fashion. The splendour of African design, from majestic beaded embellishment to colourful and bold patterned prints and rich fabrics, are still strongly influencing the arts.

Kaylene West

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

51

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

T

he European leaders in the multi billion industry have for decades been sucking on the rich and fascinating inheritance of the mysterious dark continent and the diverse dimensions of inspiration it has to offer.

Gucci has played with animal prints since inception, making them a symbol of luxury and wealth. Many houses, some would argue, most designer houses followed suit.

Oscar de la Renta’s 2008 Spring Collection included Raffia hats and geometric prints. Diane von Furstenberg incorporated incredible tribal prints in her 2016 Spring Ready-to-wear wrap collection, while Valentino recently displayed a crossedcultured expression of Masai derived patterns and embroidery meeting classic Italian tailoring. Donna Karen New York opted for a strong monochromatic tribal inspired print. Alberta Ferretti simulated larger than life African style kaftans in his Autumn 2016 collection. Dries Van Noten assimilated the body paint of West African priests in divine rituals into his heeled sandal in 2015. Alexander McQueen’s – Savage Beauty exhibition, was again heavily influenced by the Masai tribe, who feature a strong regal impression complimenting his show stopping gowns.

With influence stemming from the top of the continent to the bottom. The adornment of beautiful animal hides by the Zulu people from Kwazulu Natal South Africa. The elaborately colourful and distinctive customs of the Masai people from Tanzania. The facial and body tattoo art of the Yoruba’s living in Southwestern and North central Nigeria as well as Southern and Central Benin in West Africa. The unusual jewellery and fabrics of the Mursi people in Ethiopia. The warm and vibrant markets of Marrakesh. The incredible gold neck rings, as well as the insanely intricate patterns and details of the beaded jewellery of the Ndebele people in South Africa. The colourful traditional robes of the Chagga’s from Tanzania.

With over 3000 fascinating tribes roaming the beautiful landscape of the most undiscovered continent on the planet, each with their own distinctive characteristic and extraordinary artistic genius. How can this magnificent place and its overabundance of creativity not provoke the fuel for the world most incredible designers to be motivated and inspired.

Be it the bold colourful textiles, rich and luxurious fabrics, the intrinsic geometric shaped patterns, the daring mix of polar opposite prints, beautifully oversized designs, the mix of different textures, the unique use of feathers and leather, colourful beads bound together to form such striking jewellery. These special attributes explain why the rest of the world is so fascinated by what Africa has to offer in the world of fashion.

Africa, in itself though, has struggled for its own identity in the western dominated world of fashion and design. Some of the challenge has come with finding the balance between tradition and what is relevant, modern and wearable today.

We waited with baited breath for the break in traditionalism and we have in recent years seen such a revolutionary break through! Afro centric fashion is alive and well.

Established and emerging African designers are showcasing breathtaking breakthrough collections on the varied Fashion Week platforms globally. With so many incredible artists coming out of the wood works we have decided to cover some of the favourites – from the progressive-up-and–coming, to the African fashion heavy weights. Let’s have a look at the continents Fashion royalty.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

53

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

LET’S START WITH A LOOK AT LAGOS FASHION AND DESIGN WEEK 2015

Since 2010, Lagos Fashion and Design week, sponsored

by Heiniken, has showcased the work of not only garment designers but textile and accessory designers alike. This is an essential platform created for talent to boast their beautiful creations through not just catwalks shows but also through interactive showrooms and workshops. This event serves to provide a showcase for established and up and coming talent, giving them a platform to exhibit in an environment buzzing with buyers, fashion journalists, media, creatives and opportunities bouncing off of the walls. The concept of the show was a breath of fresh air among the international shows, which would normally consist of just a runway show.

Fifty three Incredible designers took part, all of which had their own very special characteristics and flare.

The favourite for most, who some are calling ‘The next big deal’ is Bridget Awosika. This gorgeous Nigerian Goddess was born in Washington DC and raised in America. It was clear from an early age that fashion was where she belonged as Awosika had a flaring talent for sketching and collecting fabric. After completing her degree in Fashion Design at Parsons University in New York, she returned to her motherland to make magic. What a show she had! Awosika’s collection was without a doubt on a spectacular international level. Awosika’s designs are daring and bold, they are for the kind of woman who demands to be noticed. In her recent Lagos Fashion and Design Week exhibition, her palette was a sweet pastel ironically mixed with a strong monochrome, and it worked! Bold is definitely a word I would use to describe this collection. Never has pastel pink and bows, ever looked this strong. Surprisingly it does not come across feminine or girly as would be expected, instead it has an appeal of strong sports luxe cuts, meeting eccentric details of over sized, fun non-functional bows, which again, just works. Her fabric drapes perfectly, drops perfectly and folds perfectly. Her cuts are modernly geometric, but somehow there is still something about her details that pays homage to her native roots. Awosika’s collection was beautifully executed.

And from a Princess to a King…

Born to a Jamaican mother and a Nigerian father, raised in Lagos; Nigeria, and now London based, Duro Olowu is who some may call the crowned King of African fashion.

He started in the industry in 2004 when he launched his first Womens wear collection and just like that his bold prints and colourful dress spread like wild fire in the Fashion Kingdom. Olowu, who is married to Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of Studio Museum of Harlem in New York City. His high-waisted, Kimono-like silk “Duro” dress was voted “Dress of the Year” in 2005 by both British and American Vogue. Olowu also won the “Best Designer of the Year” award from the British Fashion Council that same year. In 2010, he was named “Best International Designer” at the African Fashion Awards in South Africa, according to Nigerian news site Naij.com. Olowu not only dresses Michelle Obama and also decorates the White House for the Obama’s at Christmas. Among others, the A list fashion royalty he dresses include the Princess Caroline of Monaco who wore his gown to the The Bal de la Rose in Monaco. Uma Thurman and Keira Knightley are also on

54

Bridget Awosika. All images ©SDR

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

Duro Olowu, Photography – John Paul Peitrus

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

55

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

Duro Olowu

his list of special friends he styles for events. His signature style consists of combining clashing Yoruba prints, with beautiful 70’s inspired tailoring.

He is not afraid of the use of colour and he is definitely not afraid to push the boundaries of what is classic, but mixed it up with completely clashing prints. It is these characteristics that have made him stand out from the rest, that has got attention from the most influential people on the planet, that make him a regular feature in global fashion magazines like Vogue, Harpers Bizarre and Elle.

He has gone from humble beginnings to now being retailed globally, available in London, Paris and Milan. With an impressive bio like this, when Mr Olowu speaks, the fashion community stops and listen. Olowu speaks of level of sophistication, which reflects the way African people have always combined European fabrics with indigenous culture. He says that for a long time, there was a sense that this was limited to Africa but now it has become global. Combined with an awareness of social responsibility, it makes for a powerful statement.

Some one rocking his own fashion revolution on the international fashion scene is the award winning South African Mr David Tlale! His style is outlandish, out spoken and it is hard not to notice this African

56

fashion heavy weight. Seen by some as the Black South African Karl Lagerfeld, Tlale is no newcomer to the scene. He had his career kickstarted in 2002 when he was the semi finalist in the Elle Magazine New Talent Competition, since then this talented artist has jumped leaps and bounds beyond what any of us could have imagined! He has showed at Paris Fashion Week and was the first recorded African fashion designer in history to secure a stand alone slot to show case his own collection at the Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week. Tlale has recently presented his sixth show for New York Fashion Week, with the latest show starring some of the world’s top supermodels! The likes of Tyson Beckford – the world’s first black male supermodel and the sensational Nykhor Paul from South Sudan led the black and bold ebony pack to unveil this incredible designer’s international collection.

His last collection for Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week must be described as regal. Whoever wears Tlale’s designs has an air of majesty, grace and elegance. His designs are the absolute perfect combination of impeccable tailoring using the richest textiles featuring the most intricate and beautiful prints. Tlale is a craftsman and an artist. His world renowned recognition and acknowledgement is more than justified.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

David Tlale. All images ©SDR

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

57

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

Chu Suwannapha. All images ©SDR

When asked what his feelings were to the global obsession with fashion Tlale replied ‘It’s not a particular race that wears fashion, every woman who is on the street, whether from a mass production retail to a luxury store, everyone wants to look good. Everyone wants to look amazing.

Every colour, every race, every nation can be an icon” he told OK Africa.

A very special African Designer, who has the heart and soul of Africa running through every thread of not just his collection but his being, is surprisingly, the Thailand born Mens Wear Designer Chu Suwannapha.

Possibly one of the quirkiest, most interesting and charming characters you will ever meet, Suwannapha – also known on the scene as the ‘Prince of Prints’ chose to make Johannesburg his home and is just as African as the rest of us. Chulaap is his label and it is inspired by the street style of South Africa. His designs are daringly print heavy, yet done in such a way that it is wearable and quirky. It’s a traditional print without being seemingly traditional at all. His work is modern, fresh and edgy and the hipsters are lapping it up like mothers milk! After working with the likes of Versace and Liberty in London – the global Italian sneaker power house Superga, joined forces with Suwannapha for their first ever African designer to present a ‘Celebrate Africa’ collection. The international crowds are wowed at how modern yet authentically African Suwannapha’s work is. When it comes to

58

a designer like Suwannapha, it is so clear than being an African does not necessarily have to do with your blood, you can be African purely in your heart and spirit as well.

Borrowing from other cultures is nothing new, fashion designers have long taken inspiration from foreign lands and national dress. The essential aspect is that international designers keep techniques authentic, like acclaimed Nigerian Designer Olowu said “Certain techniques, whether it’s block printing or beading, cannot be faked, and using the real thing gives a garment an integrity recognised by designers and consumers alike”. Most designers do make the effort to be especially informed and diligent about the origin and specifics of their inspiration and give the credit where it is due. Vivienne Westwood has long worked with the United Nations’ Ethical Fashion Initiative, and her spring/summer show featured cloth from Burkina Faso, bags screen-printed in Nairobi and beading by the Masai in Kenya.

Westwood is a leading force of acknowledgment and respect of the sources of inspiration and the use of ethical worker schemes that benefit the countries and its people. There is something somewhat sacred about this concept. It’s about respect for our ancestors and other nations, respect for the cultures, customs and the legacies handed down to us. It is about gratitude and the promise of maintenance of an inherent culture that was entrusted upon us.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ADVENTURES IN LUXURY

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

59

BUSINESS

Chika Russell Chika’s luxury snacks enliven your tastebuds, transporting you to a true taste of exotic Africa…

Yasemen Kaner-White

E

very time I walk into Whole Foods Market in London, the renowned healthy food-store chain, and I see ‘Chika’s’ enticing snack range by the till, I smile. Chika Russell studied economics at university, then went on to work in the City, first for a brokerage, then for an investment bank, during which she qualified as a management accountant. She left it all behind in favour of entrepreneurship, to launch her own luxury Nigerian inspired snack range – ‘Chika’s’. Chika’s Foods was set up in 2013, to spread Chika’s affection for Africa and its cuisine, to people who haven’t yet discovered the uniqueness and flavour of West Africa. “Our range of savoury snacks is inspired by my childhood days spent in West Africa and a desire to create something that genuinely excites the senses.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Chika’s gives everyone the chance to ‘taste’ Africa: through its food, its style, and its culture”, states Russell.

She and her products first came into the spotlight, in a big way, on the 19th July 2015, as one of the entrepreneurs pitching on the hugely successful BBC TV programme; Dragons Den. For those who don’t know, Dragons Den comprises of five ‘dragons’, aka seriously serial successful entrepreneurs, whom people come and pitch their idea to, in the hope to receive investment for their business. Although Russell already supplied high-end hotels and was in talks with Waitrose, she wanted help from a dragon to make it a global brand. “Don’t let these heels fool you, I’m a grafter, these hands work hard, this brain is always thinking and it never shuts down,” said Russell to the camera before

61

BUSINESS

entering the ‘den’. True to her heritage, Russell came in, accompanied by a trio of dancers, holding trays of her snacks, swaying to the beats of uplifting Nigerian music. She immediately made an impression, not only with her novel entrance, but also with her premium snacks and confident pitch. Consequently, in a nail-biting episode, she had all five dragons contending to invest. Unafraid to ask, she inquired as to the dragons contacts and networks in place around the world, which they all had, even though Touker Suleyman has an established network in Turkey, having a population of 80 million people, she still went with Peter Jones, the man who launched Levi Roots. When asked at the end of the show for feedback, Russell simply said; “as Nigerians would say, I came to collect and I collected, I got what I came for”. Later, after the show, she decided not to take Jones’s offer of £30,000 for 25% equity but instead decided to carry on alone, proving her independence and self-belief.

Since then, Chika’s has gone from strength to strength. The gluten free, vegetarian and vegan friendly range can be found at 5* hotels, such as the Westbury hotel, the Ritz, Whole Foods Market, 285 out of the 290 Waitrose stores, Ocado, Selfridges and many independent retailers including Jamie Oliver’s Recipease. They also work closely with Marriott’s, as they supply their more premium hotels around central London. Chika’s latest big achievement is getting Compass on board.

Compass supply a multitude of café’s found in schools and hospitals, among others. They contacted Russell via LinkedIn, much to her excitement and now list Chika’s range is in 1000 of their outlets across the UK. Russell started her whole venture with two nuts, roasted in Nigeria over an open fire, a street food she used to enjoy in her childhood. After her nuts did so well, she introduced other nostalgic snacks and put a western twist on them. Ikpekere are long crisps either made from chickpea or yam and traditionally seasoned with dried crayfish and chili but Russell’s version of Chickpea Crisps, are slightly less pungent though oozing with tantalising taste. Plaintain is another West African staple, featured in Chika’s range, her twist on them, is a chili and lime flavour, whereas

62

lime wouldn’t normally be used with plaintain in Nigeria, instead, it is mainly kept for drinks. Cashews are big in Nigeria, usually chili or curry flavoured, her twist is black pepper and sea salt. Sweet potato chips and cassava chips are planned to come to market next.

Russell is a huge advocator of networking, and not being afraid to ask for help. One of her sounding boards is her husband, though employed full-time, he is always there for Russell to bounce ideas around.

Other mentors include; Robert Devereux, a former partner in the Virgin empire, Crispin Odey, one of the UK’s largest hedge fund managers, the singer Seal, Andrew Jennings, founder of Berry White and the list goes on. Her chairman is Bill Ronald former CEO of Mars. Yet this impressive list of contacts doesn’t detract from her distinct ambition and drive.

She, although beautifully turned out, is very humble and open in person.

She was very excited to tell me about Chika’s Change. “Snack for change is something I am really passionate about”, she said. In a nutshell (pun intended), when you subscribe to Chika Change, for a mere £4.99, you receive a bespoke box, full of your desired Chika’s snacks and in return, with your subscription (which can be stopped by email anytime) you will be paired with a child, whose education will be paid for, by your subscription. More than that, you will get pictures and updates of your sponsored child’s progress. So a win-win situation…

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

BUSINESS

Chika’s Team

INSPIRATION FROM CHIKA RUSSELL: What advice would you give a budding entrepreneur?

Always strive for a better outcome. Look at every angle of your business and assess if in some way, big or small you can do things differently. Continually work to improve every element of your business – from products, services, and processes.

What has been your biggest lesson learned?

Running a high growth company, there’s a great deal of focus on how to get bigger.

But we’ve had tough lessons where we’ve planned for the best outcomes and not thought enough about what happens if it doesn’t go well. It’s a reminder to get the details right, check contracts, and understand and prepare for the worst case, and not just the base case or best case.

What key attributes do you believe an entrepreneur needs?

For me, resilience is the most important one. There have been a lot of tough days (and nights) on the journey so far where, inevitably, you question the challenges in front of you. I’ve always had confidence about the path I’m on, and that certainly helps to offset any negative emotions. Labelling 12000 packets of plantain crisps with ‘gluten free stickers’ and changing them from boxes of 24 to 12 one Saturday night is one of those occasions. Although there have been big highs and lows, being able to continue to move forward when things are not going well is the single most important quality that has got me to this point.

It is equally important to be able to handle criticism and take knockbacks, things will not always go your way and doors will not open easily, its about remaining positive and turning the useful criticisms into a positive learning experience. http://chikas.co.uk Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

63

BUSINESS

Petit Tribe Dressing children of the world Yasemen Kaner-White

P

etit Tribe, which launched in January 2015, is a new and striking childrenswear brand founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Olatoun Jolaoso. Having grown up in Kaduna, north Nigeria among the nomadic Fulani tribe – known for their distinctive fashion, she drew inspiration for her distinguishing bold, colourful prints. After studying in both the USA and the UK, and running a successful womenswear label (based in Abuja, Nigeria), Jolaoso collaborated with British designer Joanne Jong, (who previously worked with Giorgio Armani, Missoni and DAKS) and started Petit Tribe - which is now making its mark internationally. The brand was the first childrenswear label to be selected for the prestigious showcase of Vogue Italia X Yoox.com ‘The Next Talents’. One of only eleven designers

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

elected from around the world – Petit Tribe had the chance to exhibit their collection during Milan Fashion Week. Sara Maino, Senior Editor of Vogue Italia and Editor of Vogue Talent who found Petit Tribe on Instagram, felt their collection brought something new to the childrenswear market, and as such wanted to promote it. Maino stated “Petit Tribe has a fresh vision of kidswear, bringing African tradition to modern daywear”. Jolaoso, naturally, was thrilled to be part of such an auspicious event, “Being selected for Vogue Talent Italia 2016, catapulted us onto the international stage under the beautiful umbrella of Vogue. It has been transformative and we are very grateful to Sara for her kind support.” Any entrepreneur will tell you how much of a kick they get when they see their idea or product come to fruition and actually

65

BUSINESS

come alive in the world, and Jolaoso is no different; “bringing my vision to life with my team, from print and pattern, cut and cloth, to website and words, social and strategy; it has been so exciting bringing Petit Tribe into the world. And also being able to win the Smallish Design Award 2015 ‘Best Newcomer’ – that was also a very exciting and great achievement for Petit Tribe”.

So how did Jolaoso go from running a womenswear label catering for government officials’ – mostly women within Nigeria, to running an international childrenswear label? - “having travelled widely, I could not find any children’s clothing that was ultimately a reflection of African heritage and my ancestral descent.

I then began to put pen to paper, and started thinking about starting a childrenswear collection, because at the time I was pregnant with my almost 5-year-old daughter, who is the inspiration behind me starting Petit Tribe,” says Jolaoso. Although Jolaoso hasn’t had a chance to visit northern Nigeria and be with the Fulani as much as she would have liked to of late, she affirms that the northern culture has been embedded in her.

“I was inspired by the nomadic Fulani Tribe, whom I saw and connected with almost every day while growing up in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna.

The Fulani’s astonishingly vibrant tribal prints and patterns inform the design and influence all things Petit Tribe. I also love their sense of community, their vibrant clothing, but yet very stylish. There is so much about the Fulani Tribe that I relate to personally and also live out, through their constant lifestyle approaches and mannerisms,” she says.

Petit Tribe which is produced in Europe, by manufacturers known for their quality of fabric and workmanship, dresses girls and boys up to the age of 12, as well as newborns and babies. The Petit Tribe child is bold, adventurous and curious. The collections are for children who are citizens of the world – a global tribe. Jolaoso sees those who buy her clothes as becoming part of her tribe, she says, “we love to see children from all over the world wearing our pieces, many of which are shared on instagram”. Yet social media was not something that Jolaoso was originally familiar with, “initially starting off Petit Tribe, I did not understand the importance of social media and how it is inter-linked with brand awareness and marketing.

I have not only acquired skills that will help Petit Tribe within this aspect, but I now understand how to make Petit Tribe social, appealing via various social media mediums.” With her Petit Tribe brand well underway, one might wonder what she will do next, so I asked her – “we are hoping in the near future to expand out into various avenues, especially lifestyle and maybe womenswear; we have a waiting list for our jumpsuits in adult sizes! I see Petit Tribe as the jewel in the crown of a group of international luxury brands.” Lastly, not only has Petit Tribe bought the tantalising textures andcolours of Nigeria to the world, but through the Petit Tribe Foundation, 1% of Petit Tribe’s revenue will go directly to supporting schools in Nigeria, so the brand is going full circle.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

INSPIRATION FROM OLATOUN JOLAOSO: What advice would you give a budding entrepreneur?

To any budding entrepreneur I would say stay true and focused to your vision!

What has been your biggest lesson learned?

The biggest fashion lesson I have learnt is how fast pace the season cycles are – as you finish one collection it is onto the next!

What key attributes do you believe an entrepreneur needs?

Focus, A Vision, A Strong Team and most importantly Patience! With these FOUR things you will definitely be on the right path for success https://petittribe.com

69

BUSINESS

CookieSkin The beauty formulas set to transform you Yasemen Kaner-White

L

eslie Okoye, founder of CookieSkin, delved into skin care out of sheer frustration of having to combine creams herself, to achieve flawless skin. Often she was asked to help make creams for her friends too, “I really just wanted to simplify skin care for the African woman” says Okoye. So, she decided to start her own line of holistic skin care products for women of colour.

“I wanted to embody ‘freshness’ and ‘health’ into my products because I would always notice girls with the prettiest skin and to me, great flawless skin, makes any woman beautiful; that is how CookieSkin came about”. Okoye is impressively self-taught; she previously worked for a skin care company where she learned the true needs and wants of women of colour. “My ‘aha’ moment came when I realised I had been bred and Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

preparing for CookieSkin ever since I was 12 years old, when my mother began teaching me how to take care of my skin.” It all began when she came home with severe sunburn, and her mother took her to the bathroom to show her how to wash her face the right way, using a face towel. “I remember it because the towel was white and she kept stopping to show me the dirt on the towel, as she used it to wash my face”.

She credits her mother as her biggest inspiration. “She cued my interest in skin care by showing me how to choose the right products and use them the right way. Plus, Mom taught me and all her children that we can do anything we put our minds to, so I said I’m going to create quality skin care that addresses the needs of African women worldwide and make L’Okoye a household name just like L’Oreal”. CookieSkin, which

71

BUSINESS

uses tried and tested ingredients, such as fruit acids, kojic, liquorice root extract, hyaluronic acid and vitamin C is manufactured in Asia – “because it’s the hub of cutting edge skin care and cosmetics,” but Okoye would like to start producing in Nigeria soon.

Okoye absolutely has her eye on global expansion, “the mission is for the L’Okoye brand to become household names in every home of African descent worldwide. And while that is in effect, L’Okoye Cosmetics Inc. will redefine the meaning of ‘beauty’ among men and women of colour through its skin care brands.” As well as beauty products, in keeping with Okoye’s holistically healthy approach to life, she has launched a free mobile app called ‘FreshnFit’, aiming to reach at least 100 million African men and women by 2020. The FreshnFit app helps people find and choose the best healthy foods, skin care products, diet aids, health products and services in their area.

The app is geared to motivate, educate and enable people to make the right healthy choices in their daily life. Unafraid of technology and moving with the times, Okoye believes “to stay relevant you have to keep creating new products as the wants and needs of consumers are plentiful…you will be seeing new product lines very soon.” Yet, her greatest achievement so far has been her ability to match the CookieSkin corporate image to its actual brand image. “I believe the strength and longevity of a brand lies in its ability to communicate appropriately the brand’s message to the public.” CookieSkin is a brand designed for women of colour, hoping to re-examine what ‘beauty’ means amid women of colour – she “hopes for a shift from the ideology that beauty is based on skin colour.” Her new campaign – Beauty Is Confidence is aimed at inspiring women of colour to believe in themselves and not see the colour of their skin as a marker of their self-worth.

So what if any hurdles has Okoye come across whilst embarking on her journey? “I’ve had to learn to prioritise in order to manage my time better. It may sound trivial but it’s actually

72

a skill to learn to know what’s important today that would affect your tomorrow.”

She acknowledges, to be able to focus on what’s important and necessary, without diverting too much attention to the miscellaneous is key to brand building and growth. Another skill she has had to acquire is leadership. “Just because I run a business doesn’t mean I know how to motivate, train and inspire people to want to show up everyday for my dream. I’m constantly researching proven techniques, organisational skills and solutions to implement or apply to L’Okoye Cosmetics.” With her drive, it would seem highly unlikely she would give up anytime soon, but out of interest, I asked her what she would be doing if CookieSkin didn’t exist, “I most likely would have my own talk show or own a gourmet health food restaurant.

As a child I dreamed of making movies or being in movies, I would always write and direct plays during every festive event at home.

However I wasn’t encouraged, so I didn’t focus on it growing up. Instead I studied BroadcastJournalism and discovered the power of having a voice. Then I love food and have a large appetite so owning a restaurant is still on the table.” Perhaps not broadcasting, but through CookieSkin, she certainly is making her mark…

INSPIRATION FROM LESLIE OKOYE: What advice would you give a budding entrepreneur?

Follow due processes and take every business step and procedure as it concerns your industry, seriously. As a young entrepreneur, start-up or small business, we tend to take the system and procedures that large organisations have gone through because we feel it does not apply to us yet. I was one of those, I just wanted to start, and saw all these due processes as unnecessary barriers to entry. However, every process I skipped, came back to hunt my business and also slowed business growth.

What has been your biggest lesson learned?

Instead of focusing on business development, I was forced to adopt the systems and go through the procedures I ran away from in order to stay in business.

What key attributes do you believe an entrepreneur needs?

The first attribute I believe all entrepreneurs need is a clear ‘vision.’ Followed by a positive rationale that your vision will come true no matter what. Next, you need confidence to stand alone and make executive decisions, because not everyone will understand your vision especially in the beginning. Then indeed you need discipline to carry out the most mundane, unexciting, uninspiring tasks on a daily basis as required for the business. You also need to entertain criticism not letting emotions get in the way of what could be a learning experience or even an opportunity. www.cookieskin.com www.freshnfitworld.com

74

Philip Green, CBE, at the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup in Cape Town, 2015 (Credit Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

POLO PEOPLE

Philip Green A businessman with a big heart, improving lives in southern Africa Yasemen Kaner-White

D

uring a three month job placement in southern Africa, whilst a student in the summer of 1976, Green took a few days off and visited Lesotho for the first time.

Little did he know then, that in the future, he would be heading a royally supported charity; changing the lives of multitudes of disadvantaged local children. The charity Sentebale, founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, was established in 2006. Five years ago, the charity was experiencing some operational and financial challenges and Green, who had already established his own charity in South Africa, was the obvious choice for a new chairman.

By then, the successful English businessman with affection for South Africa had already had a home there for ten years, so knew the area well.

“The opportunity of working with Prince Harry, helping these disadvantaged kids in Lesotho, was an offer I couldn’t refuse”, said Green. When he began with Sentebale, he quickly changed the Chief Executive and hired Cathy Ferrier, previously Oxfam’s Fundraising Director, as CEO, as well as four new trustees to the board. Since then Sentebale has gone from strength to strength. Most people, until now, hadn’t heard of Lesotho. It is a small country, inhabited by around twomillion people and totally landlocked by South Africa. Whenever the UN or World Bank drew up a list of the poorest countries, Lesotho always featured. It is a beautiful mountainous location, lived in by remarkably kind people, but it is a tough life. The lack of funds to help Lesotho, combined with the attitude of the Basotho people, displaying

joy in the face of adversity, are what inspired Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso to set up Sentebale. “One of the original motivations was to go somewhere where no one else works, because it is just too hard, but we did it and have succeeded”, says Green. “Lesotho has the second highest rate of HIV in the world. We provide psychosocial support to young people with HIV, who are on medication”. Sentebale is on hand to encourage the affected to stick to their medication and importantly, to reassure them that they can live a normal life. “Four years ago, when Cathy and I joined, Sentebale was delivering around 30,000 hours of psychosocial support per year. Over the past four years, we have doubled this. Our objective is that in five years time, we can take that 60,000 and make it over a million hours per year” declares Green. Sentebale’s scale up in Lesotho is helped by the opening of the ‘Mamohato Children’s Centre in November 2015. In order to continue to increase their level of support and reach more children, Sentebale is now looking at expansion into other southern African countries.

Sentebale operate with a small team in London and a larger local team in Lesotho. In order to relate to the people in need, they pride themselves on working with locals on the ground. Having two Princes as patrons, who are so genuinely passionate helps the charity enormously. “Authenticity is a key element of effective leadership, and I think those guys are very authentic,” says Green. Having personally heard Prince Harry speak after the Sentebale polo match in Val de Vie last November, where Fifth Chukker founder Adamu Atta played

Philip Green, CBE, meets with school children supported by Sentebale during a visit to Lesothoin April 2011 (© Sentebale)

Philip Green, CBE, meets with children on a visit to Lesotho in April 2011 (© Sentebale) Wild to the Left

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

75

POLO PEOPLE

alongside the Prince, I have to concur, his sincerity shone out of every word. Similarly, Nacho Figueras, ambassador of the charity, gave a heartfelt speech, likening his love of the charity’s children to the love of his own. Along with Figueras, acclaimed actress Laura Main and sought-after singer Joss Stone also play the role of ambassadors. Drawing on their skills, it means not only does polo provide funds for the charity’s upkeep, but also concerts. Annually Sentebale raises three to four million in revenue, which in charity terms is not huge, but they are on the increase. To reach their one million hours of psychosocial support, the charity, now in it’s tenth year, needs to double its revenue. If they carry on in the same vein, they clearly have a good chance of doing so.

Aside from Sentebale, Green still has his own charity in South Africa; ‘Hope Through Action’.

The charity works in some of the smaller disadvantaged townships in and around Cape Town, using sport to help children improve life skills.

Interns, who can live locally within the community for six months to a year, have the opportunity to help all facets of the charity. The charity built an indoor community sports centre, which cost two million dollars. Soccer, netball, cricket and other games are available for the children. “Sport is the carrot but the real objective is to teach life skills,” says Green. Invaluable skills such as health, leadership, communication and teamwork are delivered.

“We have two big centres, each week 500 children come through them in structured programmes.

We are transforming hundreds of lives”, states Green.

Amazingly Green, on top of being a husband and father of two grown up daughters, also chairs four companies, one being a FTSE 250 company called Carillion, which employs 45,000 people around the world, headquartered in London. Another is Baker Corporation in California, which deals with rental equipment. Williams & Glyn, part of RBS, also benefit from his chairing, which with his help will be reviving their brand. Lastly, he is on the board of Saga, the holiday and insurance company for the over 50’s.

He lives between London, Berkshire and South Africa, where he bought the first plot at Val de Vie – very apt, as he is a polo and wine lover. Having asked him what he would want his personal legacy to be, he exclaims, “you know I have done hundreds of press interviews and no-one has ever asked me what my personal legacy would be – problem is I am getting old If it is the same question – what I would like my epitaph to be, excluding family and private concerns, would be ‘made a difference’. I think no single individual is going to transform a country or society but I think if a number of people all make an effort, then together they can make an impact”. So whether it is Sentebale or his own charity, he certainly is making a difference to the lives of disadvantaged people. “If at the end the day I have made a difference to hundreds or thousands of people’s lives, then I have done well. In my own life I have been so privileged, so blessed, it is so nice to give something back – that is what motivates me,” he says.

76

Philip Green, CBE, visits Lesotho in April 2011 (© Sentebale)

Carol Concert © John Phillips Getty Images

Philip Green, CBE, on the Hope In Vulnerability Garden at the 2015 RHS Chelsea Flower Show with garden designer Matt Keightley and David Brownlow © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

POLO PEOPLE

Polo Player Spotlight

Tom de Bruin Yasemen Kaner-White

28 year old, South African, de Bruin, has played for Zacara, El Remanso, Black Bears, Salkeld, Clarita and of course Fifth Chukker. He first got on a horse at 3 years old and has since played professional polo in Britain, South Africa, Nigeria, America, New Zealand, Singapore and India, to name but a few.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

77

POLO PEOPLE

When did you first fall in love with polo?

I first really fell in love with the sport playing country polo at my home club in Swartberg, South Africa. In polo there so many different influences and aspects, some you can control others you can’t, I found it all very fascinating.

At what point in your life did you realise it could become your career?

I had a chance with Black Bears polo team at 18 years old, which was a great opportunity, but only once I had played a few seasons in England did I fully decide that this was the path I was going to follow.

How do you think professional polo has changed over the years, from experience?

Polo has changed a lot at the high goal level, with teams getting so well mounted they’re very hard to beat, players have developed more skill with the ball, and are always improving by training better.

While playing in India

If you could change any rule, what would it be?

I would try somehow to make a rule that stops the excessive blocking we see in modern-day polo.

For someone who has never watched a match, how would you describe it to them to enthuse them to come?

Polo is a fun game to come watch, the ‘Game of Kings’ a combination of a rider and his team fighting for possession of a ball and trying to score, whilst on a 500kg super athletic horse running at speeds of up to 45 kilometers an hour!!!

Tell us a little about what you do asides from play polo, for work/pleasure…

At heart I’m a farm boy, so spending time with family and being on the farm, and spending time outdoors.

What has polo exposed you to/taught you, that you don’t think you would have learnt elsewhere?

Polo has given me the opportunity to travel to many different countries, learn new cultures, and make many friends. It has taught me to be humble, because sport can be a roller-coaster ride.

What advice would you give a budding professional polo player?

I would say concentrate on getting yourself really well mounted.

What has been your most satisfying moment thus far in your career?

Winning the Royal Windsor and captaining my country.

What are the most enjoyable aspects of being a polo player and what are the most challenging?

Most enjoyable are all the great people you meet and spend time with. Challenging is definitely the travel, and logistics required to play and organise a team.

Is there anywhere in the world you haven’t played yet but would like to and why?

I haven’t played in Spain before, it looks an amazing place to go and the fields I hear are really good.

Who would be in your dream polo team?

Adolfo Cambioso, Fucundo Pieres, Marcos Heguy and I would play back.

What differences are there playing in Africa compared to the UK? Climate; in Africa the fields are different, different style of horse, the fields have a lot more polo played on them sometimes 25 games on one field, not as many facilities. There are more fields in UK. Fifth Chukker is one of the nicest facilities to play polo in Africa; a great asset to African polo, producing more and more young African players.

Who has inspired you the most?

My friend Gareth Evans who is so positive, a great teammate and fun to play with.

78

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

POLO PEOPLE

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

79

ART IN FOCUS

Khadijah Iyabo Tijani O Bring Back Our Girls

Openspace Exhibition African Patrons Cup Polo Tournament 20th October - 31st October 2015 Terri Brennan

80

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ART IN FOCUS

Lawal Suleiman The Rest

OPENSPACE

Ayo Aina Discovery

The Openspace Project, founded by Aisha sa’idu Bala (who also founded ilmihouse, a library in Kaduna), is a collective of artists, writers, painters, musicians, fashion designers, sculptors, architects, graphic designers, foodies, photographers, performers, content/ concept creators and developers, readers, film makers, techies, thinkers and entrepreneurs‌ that share ideas and work on personal and collaborative projects. The strategy is to provide a platform for creative minds to meet and collaborate on the newest and most innovative approaches to effect a positive impact on society. A fresh new movement that seeks to develop the arts in Nigeria and turn it into a vibrant international concern.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

81

ART IN FOCUS

JOS

Intricately beautiful she still is Her eyes are filled with untold tales Her curves just perfectly placed Seducing all from every corner Loved for she’s not fat, she possesses Tin Raped, maimed, beaten, bombed Who’d have thought she’d be an overcomer Arms wide open to all, she’s Jositified And she’s my Nigerian Independence City.

Cyril Gege

A PLEA

There were seventeen billions of us That began eating the sun until our feet became fire, real fire? Even the many zillion years we walked upon this earth Was not enough to wash the small stain on our garments.

Was it fire? Fire, was it you?

Who taught us unhappiness? Who polished our craft in sin?

Say it, Not to us, Not to them, Not to the Gods, who had become weaklings too like our forefathers who let those gangsters ransack the shrine Say it to the day these billions of people Broke down that door and walked into it to do shameful things with themselves Say it out, Fire, say it.

Or, do you not understand?

Leila Yusufu

Lasisi Lamidi Blue Dance

YOU

I hear the ogene or is it the cymbal The piccolo pierce my ear no it is the khakhaki Everything fit correctly then am I confused?

Not at all ‘cause only one person spurs up such orchestra only one occasion elicits such gyration An exhibition of love a celebration of bliss fertile conjugal harvest...

Eternity.

Jude-Souza Akwo

THIS IS MY JOY

When the flames of madness engulf me, you ignite yours so we both burn in Our laughter.

And when the flames die down, you allow me into your solitude, where I bare my Mind, soul and heart.

Every so oftern ou tell me I am beautiful.

And when I would rather ignore it, you insist that I stop and own the truth that I See in your eyes.

Talatu Onkala Adiwu Phoenix

82

Maryam Aliko Mohammed Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ART IN FOCUS

THE EXHIBITION

The term ‘African Art’ immediately evokes an image of tribal forms and depictions of traditional village settings. In its first ever exhibition, Openspace completely turns that image on its head by showcasing ten artists based in northern Nigeria who produce work that is bold and original, under the theme ‘Openspace’.

The collection of artists brings to the exhibition works that are not only diverse in thematic approach but also show great strength in stylistic confidence. The majority of the artists, who are at different stages of their careers, studied at what is rightly considered the premier Arts School in the country, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

As Openspace seeks to provide a platform for the arts, The Exhibition Catalogue also features works from selected writers to complement the visual display.

The Fifth Chukker Clubhouse provided a dramatic backdrop to showcase the works, with the sculptures striking distinctive poses through to the expansive terrace and outdoor space. The Exhibition was celebrated during the African Patrons Cup Tournament with an opening night reception that included entertainment by the Tiv Nassarawa traditional dance troupe on the lawn in front of the Clubhouse. The troupe closed the night inviting the attendees to learn the Adendem step and dance to the beat of the drums under a beautiful night sky.

The Exhibition continued on after the Tournament until the New Year providing an inspiring welcome in the clubhouse for guests.

Local primary schools took advantage as well bringing art classes on field trips to view the exhibition and meet the artists.

Johnson Olarinde Oladesu Pothole Reflections I & II

Yusuf Olayinka Umar Dogari

Lasisi Lamidi Festive Mood

THE ARTISTS

The Artists include acclaimed contemporary artists; Ayo Aina who has exhibited widely, sculptor Ken Okoli who uses his immediate environment as his source of inspiration and Lasisi Lamidi who produces work on canvas as well as sculptures using discarded items including auto parts. Established Artists Johnson Olarinde Oladesu and Khadijah Iyabo Tijani displayed side by side with emerging young talent Shalom Fidelis who produced vibrant pieces using bold colours and Anna Waziri who was on her first major exhibition. Talatu Onkala Adiwu produced striking pieces of very expressive works and Yusuf Olayinka Umar uses the veining pattern from leaves to produce some show stealers.

The most traditional pieces were produced by selftaught artist Lawal Suleiman whose work evokes African heritage and culture especially that of the Hausa Fulani, of northern Nigeria.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Ken Okoli We are Still Watching

83

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

The pastime that’s strides ahead!

Clive Tully explains what’s afoot

Austerdal Valley, Norway - Clive Tully

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

Clive Tully

T

he general perception of walking as a pastime used to be that you had to be slightly cranky to do it. But lifestyle surveys over recent years rank walking as the most popular pastime in many countries, including the UK, Ireland, Hungary, Slovakia and Australia. Of course, what they reveal is that participation covers everything from a short stroll to the full-blown mountain hike.

When the Outdoors Industries Association published a survey last year in partnership with Sport England, a modest increase in outdoors activities participation was partly attributed to people spending less on overseas holidays post the 2008 financial crisis. At its most basic, the one appealing factor about walking is that it keeps you fit, gets you into the fresh air, lets you experience nature, and it’s free!

I discovered the pleasure of walking at an early age. I lived at the very edge of Baden, in Switzerland. My brother and I would cross the road from our apartment, heading straight into miles of tracks across forested hills.

We’d wander endlessly in the summer, and in winter, wrapped up warm and shod in wellington boots, we’d drag our Davos sledge on mini expeditions – towing it on the uphill stretches, and letting gravity take over downhill.

Since then, I’ve escaped the crowds on every continent bar Antarctica!

For many, the first attempt at something not involving tarmac or concrete underfoot might be a nature trail. Waymarked trails abound in forests, on nature reserves, in National Parks.

By far the most favourite are those in gentler surroundings – pleasant footpaths beside canals, through woods or across rolling fields.

From the colour-coded child-friendly routes you’re likely to find radiating from a forestry

86

visitor centre, you may develop the urge to progress. If you live in a country with an established footpath network, you simply have to take your choice. The UK’s 19 National Trails offer upland hikes, such as the oldest – the Pennine Way. There’s more than a smattering of coastal walking, too, with the UK’s longest National Trail – the South West Peninsula Coast Path, the Norfolk and Pembrokeshire Coast Paths, and part of Yorkshire’s Cleveland Way. The USA’s oldest long-distance path is the Long Trail, 272 miles through the Green Mountains of Vermont. Constructed between 1910 and 1930, it shares around 100 miles with the Appalachian Trail. The first long-distance route in Europe was the National Blue Trail of Hungary, established in 1938, while Britain’s 268 mile Pennine Way launched in 1965. The Wales Coast Path opened in 2012, making Wales the first country in the world to have a dedicated path close to most of its coastline.

Encouraged by its success, the UK Government committed to doing the same with England.

There are already many existing coastal paths, so it’s all about filling in the spaces. Happening in stages, it’s expected to be complete by 2020.

The 500 mile Carian Trail in Turkey is a coastal route from the Mediterranean to the Aegean, opened in 2014. Waymarked and maintained by the European Ramblers Association, the 12 transnational European “E” paths follow existing national or regional trails. The latest, E12, following the Mediterranean coasts of Italy, France and Spain, is still in development.

Possibilities abound for walks not far removed from civilisation, but as you pick up experience, you may become more adventurous. With a packed lunch in your rucksack, a four to six hour circular walk from any National Park Centre will guarantee you breathtaking views, which you’d never experience if you stayed with the car. Before that, consider first your fitness level (and anyone accompanying you), the time of year, and the nature of the route. You might be perfectly at ease with a summer lowland stroll, but find a mountain route in bad weather rather more intimidating. When you’re following an established trail across upland terrain, what looks like a path on the map isn’t always so easy to distinguish on the ground. So take it in stages – learn how to navigate, and plan your routes so you have an escape option in case the weather turns, or you find yourself getting tired.

You can mix walking with other activities on holiday, perhaps an important consideration with a family. Walking festivals held in tourist areas often combine with other cultural activities, so you don’t have to stride out every day.

Festivals may promote walks around a particular town – Haltwhistle and Ross-on-Wye in the UK, Whidbey in the USA, and Rotorua in

Dynjandi waterfall in Iceland’s West Fjords - Clive Tully

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

New Zealand. Or they may be aimed at a larger area – Dartmoor and the Isle of Wight in the UK, Portugal’s Madeira islands or the Festival de la Randonnée en Cévennes in France.

TREKKING Wherever hiking trails abound, specialist holiday companies offer to show you the way and transport your luggage, leaving you to carry what you need for the day in a small rucksack.

This may be walking from one guest house or hotel to another – in the Alps and Scandinavia, you may do a multi-day walk from one mountain hut to another. Facilities may vary, but could involve dormitory-style sleeping. In more remote locations, trekking involves camping in sturdy tents, with all equipment and luggage carried by mules or porters.

Popular locations for treks include the Everest and Annapurna regions of Nepal, but for something a little different, try Ladakh in Northern India, or Bhutan. In Europe, longdistance trails are everywhere, but one classic through three countries is the Tour de Mont Blanc.

Or for something rather more challenging, try the GR20 in Corsica. I still have the Torres del Paine in Patagonia and the Drakensberg in South Africa on my checklist.

BACKPACKING If you prefer your own company and don’t want to adhere to a trekking schedule, try backpacking – taking a tent, sleeping bag, cooking equipment and food in a rucksack.

You can decrease grams off your pack weight – ultra light tent, stove and so on – but ultimately the heaviest component is always your food.

Getting used to extra weight on your back also means accepting that you won’t cover as many miles per day as you would on a single day walk.

Don’t do as Reece Witherspoon’s portrayal of Cheryl Strayed did, in the movie “Wild”, turning up at the start of the Pacific Crest Trail with a heap of untried kit, having never backpacked before.

People spend months doing the 2,659 mile Pacific Crest, 3,100 mile Continental Divide or 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail. You really need to think through the logistics of ultra-long walks – choosing your maps, and deciding where to resupply with food. You also have to consider what to do if you encounter a bear or other potentially troublesome wildlife.

But whether you spend all summer or just a weekend backpacking through the wilds, the plus side is choosing where you pitch your tent each night, and making sure you really do have a room with a view. Above all, don’t forget to leave the countryside as you would like to find it. The corny American maxim about leaving nothing but footprints, and taking nothing but photographs is still a good rule of thumb.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Off the beaten track stroll to see King Penguins on the beach at Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands - Clive Tully

87

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

FOOTWEAR What you wear on your feet depends largely on where you’re going to walk. Trainers will suffice on low-level paths in good weather. Rougher ground and wet conditions dictate something a little more supportive, such as walking shoes or lightweight boots, with loopstitch socks underneath.

Young boys in Nepalese village interact with daft photographer - Clive Tully John Muir Way at Longniddry Bents, Scotland Becky Duncan Photography, Scottish Natural Heritage

CLOTHING Next to your skin, cotton absorbs perspiration, and when you stop moving, cools you down much faster, so your favourite rock band T-shirt is out. A base layer of wicking polyester, silk or Merino wool will be much more comfortable. The answer to the pullover can be found in fleece, a cosy brushed polyester available in mind-boggling bright colours and styles. But for all that, good old wool, whether for underwear, shirts or pullovers, is as popular as ever. Jeans are uncomfortable and inefficient for walking.

Lightweight poly/cotton trousers are much better, and smart enough for casual wear too.

WATERPROOFS For longer trips, you need a jacket with a hood, and waterproof trousers. Coated fabrics have varying degrees of breathability – generally, the more you spend, the better the level of comfort.

The main zip should be either water-resistant, or have a single or double storm flap to prevent leaks.

Even in British hills, it’s possible for the family to experience the wonder of a cloud inversion - Clive Tully

NAVIGATION Many low-level walks in popular areas are sign-posted, but you have to fend for yourself once you get up into the hills. Buy the appropriate topographical map with a 1:50,000 or 1:25,000 scale, and familiarise yourself with translating features on the ground to features on the map, orienting yourself with a walker’s baseplate compass – it isn’t difficult. Upland paths have a tendency to disappear, and if you’re crossing featureless terrain, or are on the hill when the mist rolls in, you should know how to find your way down.

Standalone Satnavs may simply display your position as coordinates to transfer onto a map. Others have high-res screens displaying a map and your position on it. And of course, most modern mobiles include GPS, although you shouldn’t rely on that alone. Putting all your technological eggs in one basket is asking for trouble – what do you do if you drop your mobile on a rock, or the battery dies? The standard mapping provided by Google and Bing is fine for street navigation, but useless in wild country. Companies such as Viewranger provide suitable digital topographical maps.

TREKKING POLES Telescopic trekking poles are brilliant. One in each hand helps you maintain your balance, preventing slips. They also take stress off your hips and knees, and by allowing your arms and upper body to get involved, they’re the nearest thing to four-wheel drive for walkers! Great for crossing small streams, and invaluable extra security if you ever wade through a river.

Walkers heading for An Sgurr on the isle of Eigg, Scotland - Clive Tully

88

WEATHER Getting caught in a rain shower on a lowland walk might be inconvenient, but add altitude or remoteness to the situation, and problems multiply. Check the weather before you head off – many mountain areas will have forecasts specific for hikers and mountaineers.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

Hiker in Val Trupchun, Swiss National Park, Graubunden, Switzerland - Clive Tully

BACKUP Leave a note with someone outlining your intended route, and when you expect to finish. If the worst happens, there’s someone who will miss you and initiate a search that might just save your life.

EMERGENCIES Even the most experienced get caught out. If you’re on a day walk in wild country, pack a 500 gauge polythene survival bag and torch (handy for that last mile in the dark, or for finding your car keys) in your rucksack. Snip an inch or so off one corner of the closed end, pull it over your head, and sit on your rucksack. Don’t slide into it like a sleeping bag – lying on the ground makes you colder quicker.

Better still, a longlife candle provides enough warmth to keep hypothermia at bay, and an orange glow to make you visible in the dark. If your mobile has a signal, dial 112 throughout Europe and beyond, and ask for police, then mountain rescue. Don’t ask directly for an ambulance, even with a medical emergency. A piercing whistle is useful for attracting attention.

CLUBS Expand your knowledge and meet like-minded people. In the UK, the Ramblers Association isn’t just a club but an organisation which campaigns for improved access. Then there’s the Long Distance Walkers Association – lots of useful information, and they supply certificates for all UK National Trails. Go to a Backpackers Club meet, and learn the fiendish tricks experts use to reduce their pack weight. In the USA there’s the Sierra Club (founded by John Muir), the National Parks Conservation Association and American Hiking Society.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Signpost at the junction of the Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail, Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk - Clive Tully

Clive Tully In over 30 years, Clive has been Equipment Editor or Technical Consultant to all the UK’s leading walking magazines, and has contributed walking features to most UK national newspapers.

He has also lead a number of treks and walking holidays, including in Nepal for British Everest legend Doug Scott CBE, and walking/ photographic tours in Iceland and Norway.

89

Cimitero Monumentale

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

Training at Fifth Chukker

Introducing the man running for Africa

Joe Labuschagne Yasemen Kaner-White

‘

Altruistic’ and ‘adventurous’, pretty much sums up Joe Labuschagne.

He began his travelling when he moved to England from his native South African home in 2011. Since then, he has been the head of an international school for two years in Kyrgyzstan and set up a school sports department in Baku; Azerbaijan, after which he returned to South Africa. It was then that he had to plan his next move, “I didn’t know where to go, two options came up, one Ukraine, where war was happening, the other was Nigeria, affected by Ebola”. Having to choose between a ‘rock and a hard place’ as it were, Labuschagne chose Nigeria and hasn’t looked back since. “I have been working at Kaduna International School for two years now and I love it, I think Nigeria is a very nice place, it is Africa – home, being South African, I love Africa”.

A place where the people are noticeably friendly and open, along with the perfect environment for sporting activities, have helped him stay Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

put. He has also developed a strong relationship and partnership with the Fifth Chukker Equestrian Academy, promoting the ‘Riding through School Class Term’ Programme.

Labuschagne’s first charitable contribution was at the age of 17.

Whilst in church, listening to a sermon mentioning the closure of an orphanage due to a lack of funds, he was immediately prompted to help somehow. He decided the best route would be to raise funds via a sponsored run. With his grandfather driving behind him, the adolescent Labuschagne ran 275km, over five days. “It was then that I realised these things are not just a walk in the park, you really have to put some effort in”. Next he ran 200km over four days, for the Association of The aged – a South African charity, which provides food and accommodation for the elderly. Whilst he was running along the coast for the aged, he caught wind of a holiday home for orphans in need of cash, he decided on the

91

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

Swimming with the school kids

spot he had to help and would run for them next, which he did.

Another bow to Labuschagne’s sporty arrow is swimming. He swam across the English Channel – England to France in 2010, again for charity.

“It was a long, horrid swim”. He started in the pitch black at 3 a.m, recalling it was “stinky water and freezing cold”. This time his efforts were to benefit by an Ethiopian charity, the Lera Town Project, which distributes water throughout Ethiopia, as well as TACT (The Adolescent and Childrens’ Trust), which finds homes for disabled children.

Labuschagne’s latest charitable endeavour will be a run across Africa, hotfooting it through ten countries; Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.

One evening, whilst catching up with friends in a pub, Labuschagne aired his plans to cycle across Africa for charity, but his thoughts were met with ‘everyone cycles for charity’, thus he decided then and there, he would run! Preparations for the yearlong undertaking, with a start date of 1st of August 2016 and a planned end date of 14th July 2017, have begun. Inclement internet in Nigeria and the sheer distance from the UK based charities have not stopped him; he has the determined help of his dear friend Andrea Godfrey, who is based in England. She liaises with the charities and working for & Young, she has also managed NewErnst Year´s Eve Party on Copacabana Beach to raise much-needed funds. Three major charities will be reaping the

92

rewards of Labuschagne’s lengthy run. Each carefully chosen by him.

As he is a teacher, education is close to his heart. He approached Patrick Dunn, the chairman of Warick in Africa, which provides teachers on a voluntary basis for African schools. They train the teachers to teach, and also teach the children themselves for one month to three months at a time. “They get the children enthused about learning, giving them a different slant on things, aside from the South African way”. Having lived in Nigeria for a while, and seeing first hand the scarcity of clean water, which is not readily available to everyone, Labuschagne looked for an appropriate charity and chose, therefore, Water Aid. Being associated with such a heavyweight charity, he hopes, will no doubt raise the profile of his endeavour. The third charity was chosen after watching children walking for hours from the village to educate themselves. “African children walk seven to ten miles just to get to school, for one hour of school, schools are so oversubscribed, there is only a morning session or an afternoon session, I wanted to find a charity which offered support to reduce transport time to increase education time”. World Bicycle Relief provides bikes for African children, a bike designed specifically for the African terrain, with a different tyre thread and stronger brakes. World Bicycle Relief operates in six countries so far, with £95 being enough to secure the purchase of one bike. Friends he has made in Nigeria have been an immense support, notably Shiju Sasi, Managing Director of Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

Barbedos Cars Limited. “Shiju has been a great help, he is trying to get Mercedes on board, has already got Golf Stream on board and set me up with personal trainer Mayo Okunnu from BodyRox Fitness Studios in Abuja – through Mayo I’ve got Sketchers on board, who will be my running shoe supplier”. Although in excellent shape, Labuschagne, who will be running 40-50km per day for a year, with the guidance of Okunnu, needs to drop another 10kg, to ease off the stress on his joints. A rigorous food diary so Okunnu can monitor his bio-rhythms, yoga to keep his muscles supple and meditation to keep his mental strength in check, are important stepping stones.

At 43, Labuschagne is aware how strenuous the run will be but feels it could be one of the last chances he has to undergo such a huge venture. “I am looking forward to it, it is going to be an adventure that I am not doing for myself but for others.” He is most looking forward to seeing all of Africa, this way he will “see every bit of it on foot” but the things that scare him are injuries, which could prohibit him completing. To pre-empt the general safety concerns whilst running through Africa, he has been making contacts with local authorities, alerting them to his route. “I’m on foot, I move slowly, so would be an easier target than someone on a bicycle”. The unknown clearly scares him. He aims to raise at least £100,000 for each charity.

To help him realise this, please donate directly through his website: www.joelabuschagne.com Joe and his support driver Joe training at Fifth Chukker Joe’s 6 hour qualifying swim in Malta

Joe competing for Triuk as a sponsored triathlete

Joe organising the first Kaduna International School fun run

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

93

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

English Football not owned by the English Ross Biddiscombe

T

he biggest clubs in today’s football world are usually owned and controlled in one of two ways – either by a very rich single individual or via a membership system that gives power to the fans.

A generation ago, a local businessman with a love of the sport and a bit of extra cash in his pocket would be the one man in charge, someone like Lancashire meat packager Louis Edwards who owned Manchester United until 1980.

But nowadays, the key men in the football boardrooms are no longer native millionaires – instead, they are foreign billionaires with a global sporting vision. This is particularly true in the English Premier League (EPL). At the end of this season (2015-16), more than two thirds (14 of 20), of EPL teams were either wholly, or partially, owned by nonFifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

British investors including Americans, Russians, Thais, Arabs, Swiss, South Africans, Chinese and Icelanders.

Roman Abramovich is one of the best-known and longest serving of the new-style owners. The Russian’s involvement with Chelsea began in June 2003 when he took over the companies controlling the club.

He had no history of sports ownership, but his love for the London club has grown with their success.

However, like so many of his fellow foreign owners, Abramovich has his critics. They describe him as a disreputable oligarch who made his money from dubious oil investments because of links with the country’s post-communist leaders such as Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin.

Most Chelsea fans think differently – they saw the benefit of Abramovich’s initial huge cash injection that helped bring the club

95

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

its first league title in 50 years, within two seasons of him becoming the boss.

Another controversial ownership story has developed at Manchester United. This one is both different and deepseated. The Florida-based Glazer family completed a £790m takeover of the Old Trafford club between 2003 and 2005 after gradually buying out club shareholders. Led by patrician Malcolm Glazer, the family already owned American football’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and saw United as another moneymaking sports business.

But what stood out about the Glazer purchase was how it turned into such a battle between the family and a large number of fans who feared that the deal had left the club too far in debt.

The Glazers had somehow enabled the takeover using much of United’s own cash reserves for the deal rather than all their own money – the Manchester club had moved overnight from a position of being a cash-rich club to the one with the most debt, more than £500 million.

The ill-feeling was so intense that thousands of protesting United fans decided to start their own club. FC United of Manchester was born in 2005 and is still going strong as a semi-pro team in England’s sixth tier of football.

Despite the Glazer’s problems, other NFL-owners soon followed their lead, although none of their stories have been without issues: Stan Kroenke (Arsenal and LA Rams) is known as Silent Stan, rarely visits his London team and labeled by some fans as an absent owner; Randy Lerner (Aston Villa and Cleveland Browns) has just overseen Villa’s first relegation from the top division since 1987; and Shahid Khan (Fulham and Jacksonville Jaguars) saw his team drop to The Championhip after his first season in control.

The most admired American owner is John W Henry who bought Liverpool in 2010 after also purchasing the storied Boston RedSox baseball team eight years earlier. His steadying influence on Merseyside and recent appointment of Jurgen Klopp as manager has given him the status of a saviour.

American billionaires may be plentiful in the EPL, but the man with the most money is Manchester City’s owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Abu Dhabi-born deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. He not only purchased the Sky Blues (bought for an estimated £200 million), but his company also either owns or co-owns New York City in America’s Major Soccer League, Melbourne FC in Australia and Yokohama Marinos in Japan. Sheikh Mansour’s plan is that linking several successful clubs together brings more profitability.

Among the British owners of EPL clubs, the most colourful is David Sullivan who is in charge at West Ham United with his friend and business partner David Gold. The two men are riding high after negotiating the club’s move to the London Olympic Stadium built especially for the 2012 Games, the Hammers’ new home from next season.

The EPL and Serie A in Italy are good examples of where owners utilise their own cash reserves to galvanise a club along with the vast sums of money that have been ploughed into the game since the early 1990s from digital television stations like Sky Sports in Britain and Mediaset in Italy.

TV money is huge because the European leagues are so popular worldwide. EPL games, for example, are broadcast in up to 200 countries to over 640 million homes with a potential audience of 4.7 billion people. The 20 EPL teams will share around £8 billion in global television income over the next three

96

Shad Khan & Boris Johnson – Photo courtesy of the National Football League

Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke

English Premier League stadiums are always packed, just like Stamford Bridge where Chelsea take on Aston Villa. Picture: Charles Briscoe-Knight, CBKfoto.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

ADVENTURES IN SPORT

Leicester-City-2016 Champions

years as well as many millions more from sponsorship, merchandising, executive box sales and ticketing.

In Italy, the amounts of TV money are almost as large and have led to a crosstown rivalry of the owners of the two Milan clubs. Silvio Berlusconi has run AC Milan for most of the last 30 years while at the same time being one of the world’s biggest media barons as well as being prime minister of his country on four occasions.

For many years, Massimo Moratti, president of Inter Milan, rivaled Berlusconi for football notoriety in Italy. The petroleum tycoon is said to have spent €1.5 billion of his own money on player transfers and fired a list of coaches that would fill a football hall of fame including Roberto Mancini, Rafael Benítez Maudes and Jose Mourinho. However, while Berlusconi remains in charge at AC, Moratti is now merely honorary chairman at Inter.

Things are different both in Germany and Spain, however, where the fan ownership system is in place. Almost every Bundesliga club has a rule whereby the club’s own members will always have the controlling stake vs commercial investors.

So, for example Bayern Munich, Audi and Adidas are restricted to owning 9% of the club, members oversee the rest.

In Spain, clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona are owned by their supporters (known as socios or socis), through shareholder-style membership systems; Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Madrid has over 60,000 fan-members while Barcelona boasts the most with around 140,000. Each group of fans elects a president, usually every four years, and he then makes all the key decisions both in terms of finances and personnel. The president’s own wealth is not supposed to be a factor in the election, but that is not always the case.

For example, Real Madrid’s president Florentino Pérez Rodríguez, a civil engineer by trade and also a master politician, is in his fourth term and was elected partly because he could act as a guarantor against the club’s debts at the start of the millennium. As de facto owner, he then went on to create the team known as the Galácticos (including Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham) and subsequently made Los Blancos into the world’s richest football club.

So, while some teams find on-field success with a single person as the boss, others have tens of thousands of owners.

And, because teams using both systems have won most of the important team trophies in recent years, there is no perfect formula. As the saying goes, ‘you pay your money and you take your choice.’

Vichai-Srivaddhanaprabha-Leicester-City

Roman-Abramovich

Ross Biddiscombe is a long-time sports journalist and author of books including The Official Encyclopedia of Manchester United and Ryder Cup Revealed: Tales of the Unexpected. Follow him on Twitter @golf_onthe_edge.

97

FEATURE DESTINATION

Eco tourism Can a holiday be about giving and not just taking?

Helen Truszkowski

I

f you’re anything like me, you don’t go on holiday to save the world: you go to have a good time. But bear in mind, even if you are considering two weeks of fly and flop, on some level your trip is sure to be about discovery – about what happens when you encounter different people, different landscapes, or something as simple as a new climate. But consider this; what if your trip is actually impoverishing those very people, degrading the landscape and even altering the climate? Tourism is an enormous global industry and, like any big business, it brings problems as well as benefits. Well there is another way: Ecotourism. With eco-friendly resorts on the rise, it’s becoming much easier to support saving the Earth while exploring it.

Back in the 70’s, no one cared a jot about ecotourism.

The idea of ‘Going Green’ was still in its earliest stages when a clutch of affordable tent-cottages broke all the rules on the largely unknown Caribbean island of St. John. Maho Bay Camps, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, became the pioneer in eco-tourism, opening up its screen doors in 1976. On the very edges of the Virgin Islands National Park on St John, new-land owner, New Yorker Stanley Selengut, was faced with the challenge of developing a financially viable facility that complied with National Park mandates. Selengut constructed an attitude-free, pedestrian community with elevated walkways between the trees so nothing would be destroyed. The project slowly grew into the 114-unit Maho Bay Camps, dubbed the world’s first eco-resort. The ‘father’ of eco-conscious resort development, Selengut has since pioneered innovative techniques and exposed generation after generation to a lower-impact way of life. Over time the original resort has evolved into Concordia, a family-friendly collection of 25 wooden framed, canvas eco-tents and 17

98

eco studios set in the south-facing hillside among fruit trees, bushes, cacti, and native wildlife. The accommodation ranges from rugged to comfortable. All offering some level of sustainability, mostly through use of the campus-wide water collection and filtrations system. A photovoltaic power system is the primary source of electricity; there are no air conditioners or televisions.

Since those pioneering days the sustainable tourism community has exploded. For anyone planning a holiday today, the buzz word is ‘ecotourism’ – and it has a simple message. It is about tourism that doesn’t scar and pollute the places we come looking for, it might even help them.

It’s about going on holiday in a way that’s fulfilling for you, but also makes sure your trip is good for the people and places you visit. In short, a holiday win-win. And if you are scoffing at the thought of a shed for a room and a hole for a toilet, think again. A clearer conscience doesn’t have to mean cold showers. With every comfort to hand, ‘tourism’s gone mainstream.

Two resorts in South Africa stand out. The first, Sanbona is a Wildlife Reserve with game. While today the safari circuit has become a soft option for adventure goers, choosing which game reserve to visit is not so straightforward. So many can either feel like zoos or are even covert cannedhunting operations. By contrast Sanbona is all about wildlife conservation, community and habitat preservation. It is home to three beautifully appointed, high-end eco lodges just three hours drive from Cape Town. Situated in the heart of the malaria-free little Karoo, in the Western Cape; Sanbona is surrounded by towering mountains, spectacular indigenous San rock art and an expanse of great plains. Restoring a natural ecological regime to a once disturbed ecosystem, Sanbona has been expanding a vital wilderness area for over Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

CONCORDIA ECO-RESORT St John, US Virgin Islands. www.concordiaeco-resort.com SANBONA WILDLIFE RESERVE Little Karoo, Montagu, South Africa. www.sanbona.com GROOTBOS Gansbaai, Walker Bay, South Africa. www.grootbos.com ARIANA SUSTAINABLE LUXURY LODGE Uรงhisar, Turkey. www.arianalodge.com LEFAY RESORT & SPA Gargnano, Italy. www.lefayresorts.com/eng/resort-spa-garda-lake/ ALILA VILLAS ULUWATU Pecatu, South Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. www.alilahotels.com/uluwatu HOSHINOYA KARUIZAWA Kitasaku District, Nagano, Japan. http://hoshinoyakaruizawa.com/en/ HOSHINOYA KYOTO Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, Japan. hhttp://www.hoshinoresorts.com/en/ resortsandhotels/hoshinoya/kyoto.html BAY OF FIRES LODGE Mt William National Park, East Coast Tasmania, Australia. www.bayoffires.com.au/ FAIRMONT WATERFRONT Vancouver, Canada. www.fairmont.com PIKAIA LODGE Galรกpagos Islands.

Ecuador. http://www.pikaialodgegalapagos.com/ Alila Villas Uluwatu Lobby

FEATURE DESTINATION

a decade by reclaiming old farmland. Busy conserving critically endangered fauna and indigenous wildlife, Sanbona is also reintroducing big game such as rhino, locally extinct hippo, cheetah, elephant and the world’s only truly wild, free roaming white lions. Declared extinct back in the 1990s – Sanbona is part of a conservation project to bring them back to the wild. Sanbona keeps an eye on reducing water and energy consumption too. With no mains water, the resort uses a mix of rain and borehole water and treats the wastewater on site. Sanbona also has excellent community outreach. A major employer in this deprived rural area where unemployment is quoted at around 80%, locals make up the majority of staff. Fresh, local produce graces the menu to benefit the community, local handicrafts fill the gift shop, and the reserve even sponsors local students.

Anchored between mountain and sea, Grootbos Private Nature Reserve is a striking, five-star eco-sanctuary that positively engulfs you in the incredible flora and marine life of Africa’s southern tip. It is home to the ‘Marine Big 5’ – whales, sharks, dolphins, seals and penguins and unparalleled floral diversity, in the midst of rare fybnos and milkwood trees (up to 800 years old). As if that isn’t enough, stay in one of a trio of deluxe lodges and you will play your own part in supporting the reserve’s sustainable tourism practices. Grootbos’ Foundation efforts towards ecotourism through conservation, reforestation and social up-liftment are hard to beat. Michael Lutzeyer (dynamic owner of Grootbos) established a fynbos nursery and training school to provide employment to members of neighbouring impoverished communities. This initiative gave rise to the acclaimed Green Futures and Growing the Future projects which train unskilled young people from local communities and finds work for them. As well as funding the education of underprivileged children, the Foundation trains eight local women annually to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

This organic produce is then used in the Grootbos’ kitchen.

With conservation paramount at Grootbos, the Foundation’s Future Trees reforestation project has planted over 1500 indigenous trees.

Perched atop Turkey’s Uchisar Valley, Ariana Sustainable Luxury Lodge offers a unique perspective over Cappadocia; a land that lies at the very the heart of ancient Anatolia, one of the cradles of human civilisation. It is right here that the world’s earliest cities appeared, about 5000 BC. Under broad Turkish skies the unobtrusive resort features five ultra-deluxe suites converted from caves on the side of a hill, as well as six modern suites. Infusing history into luxury living, Byzantine mosaics and Ottoman style frescoes adorn the walls. Stay here and you will be both stepping back into an ancient Anatolian myth and unwinding in latter-day comfort. Still much less about ego tourism and more about ecotourism, advanced green practices tick all the boxes here too, minimising the impact of the hotel on the fragile local environment. In spite of its spectacular film-star setting there is a true commitment to the happy marriage of ecology and tourism: including recycled materials, energy efficient practices, rainwater harvesting, and self-sufficient vertical gardens in the form of living walls.

As green as it is gorgeous, the five-star Lefay Resort & Spa drizzles luxury and eco-consciousness. Located in Brescia, Italy – swathed by 11-hectares of parkland – the resort

100

Alila Villas Uluwatu – Three Bedroom Pool Villa

Bay of Fires Lodge

Grootbos

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

FEATURE DESTINATION

Bay of Fires Lodge at sunset

blends seamlessly into a hillside terraced with olive groves, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Garda. The hotel’s list of lavish features is as extensive as its green virtues.

Lefay leads the way in cutting carbon emissions in Italian hotels. The 93-suite resort has cut its carbon by 1,130 tons a year. Lefay even uses a portion of the room rates to purchase carbon credits, so guests can have a direct hand in efforts to lower CO2. To keep emissions low, Lefay uses a biomass plant fueled by wood chips, optimising the use of local wood and reducing environmental impact. The thermal energy created here heats pools, rooms, and produces warm water. While the state-of-the-art architecture allows for a high level of thermal insulation, the hotel has made a real effort to cut toxic chemicals in everything from paints to bedding, helping keep the resort green and clean for its guests. The hotel even has its own line of organic, herbal toiletries. Plus the food is as good and as local as you’d expect, much of it is straight from the hotel grounds.

A welcome antidote to so many of the gluttonous and homogenised resorts that typify Bali, Alila Villas Uluwatu is so much more. Straddling a striking white limestone cliff and an arid savanna on the island’s Bukit Peninsula, each of the 61 stylish villas boast a personal butler on-call twenty four hours a day. Astounding design blends with luscious interiors you’d expect to see in an issue of Vogue Living.

But besides the top-notch service and facilities, Alila Villas do ‘green things’ well too. Built using reclaimed materials, Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

this cliff-hanger hotel was designed to blend into the surrounding hilltops, in-keeping with the natural flora and fauna. It’s the first resort in Indonesia to obtain the highest level of certification from Green Globe for Environmentally Sustainable Design as well as a prestigious Gold Certification from EarthCheck for its unswerving commitment to eco management. Besides using recycled and local materials the resort embraces sustainable design features such as water recycling, renewable energy and passive solar design. Power is currently provided by biodiesel generators powered by organic waste from the resort. Clever eco features include flat roofs topped with lava rocks that act as a natural cooling system, sun cabanas made out of reclaimed railway sleepers and the resort’s very own range of locally produced, organic in-room toiletries. Plus the resort supports charities that address poverty and encourage environmental protection, the most pressing issues facing Indonesia today.

Set in the mountains at the foot of an active volcano, Japan’s serene Hoshinoya Karuizawa resort is a collection of low-rise, minimalist villas offering the charm of a traditional Japanese ryokan inn with all the luxuries of a modern hotel. Zen-like, quintessentially Japanese design includes shoji screens, amati lounges and delightful hinoki baths with mineral-rich hot spring water. The hot springs, or as locally termed ‘Onsen’, are treasured by the Japanese for their healing benefits, backed-up by the resort’s luxurious, award-winning spa. But so much more than a pretty face,

101

FEATURE DESTINATION

Sanbona

behind the scenes Japan’s first eco resort generates as much as 70% of its own energy, much of it from the hot spring’s geothermal heat and hydroelectricity from fast flowing mountain streams. The staff strive to be green in all areas, they sort rubbish into 33 recyclable categories, have banned the use of styrofoam coffee cups, even switching to long lasting LED bulbs in a push to obtain zero waste. The kitchen sources seasonal, local produce from the Nagano community and brew and sell their own beer with a share of profits going to the Japanese National Trust. Guests are offered award-winning eco-tours on foot and on bike; exploring bird wildlife sanctuaries by day and flying squirrels by night, all of which helps to support the hotel’s own non-profit, Black Bear Conservation Programme.

This tranquil mix of traditional ryokan and the latest 21st-century architecture extends to the Hoshinoya Karuizawa’s sister hotel, the minimalist Hoshinoya Kyoto.

Nestled on the steep banks of the Hozugawa River upstream from Arashiyama, reached by private riverboat, guests catch their first glimpse of this magical retreat midst soaring cedar trees and cherry blossoms.

Truly off-the-grid, Tasmania’s restrained Bay of Fires Lodge is the sole structure on 20 km of outstanding coastal wilderness. In fact it is so remote, you cannot help but

102

wonder how it got there. Set on a hilltop, 40 m above the pounding ocean, it is surrounded by National Park in an area sacred to the Aboriginal community. Ken Latona, the lodge’s designer, envisioned his edge-of-the-earth beach lodge as a wholly sustainable shelter in which every element, from the rainwater-collecting tanks to the massive picture windows, hinged on protecting the landscape and making guests feel at one with the dramatic environment. The result is a reminder of a time when holidays meant stripped down pleasures - home grown food, an expanse of sand sheltered by sculpted cliffs. Simple pleasures but nonetheless sublime.

All the building materials – Tasmanian hardwood and plantation pine – were lifted in by helicopter or hand carried to the site. Using local produce for mealtimes, sustainable materials and non-polluting services; such as roof water collection, grey water treatment systems, composting toilets and energy-efficient solar power, the Bay of Fires Lodge was placed ever so discreetly in this ancient landscape. The overall effect is of a place so inoffensive, it seems to have sneaked right out of the bush.

Fixed images spring to mind when you read the words ‘five star’: pristine accommodation, swish dining, click of the fingers service. What makes the Fairmont hotel chain special is all this plus something far less tangible. It has led the Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

FEATURE DESTINATION

Lefay Resort & Spa

Grootbos

Hoshinoya Karuizawa

Ariana-Sustainable Luxury Lodge

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

industry in sustainability for over 25 years, incorporating sustainable design features such as energy efficient lighting and appliances, enzyme waste systems, furnishings and guest rooms armed with recycled, organic and sustainable materials. Now Vancouver Canada’s Fairmont Waterfront has really gone the extra mile. An early eco pioneer, the hotel’s organic rooftop gardens host honeybees, pollinator bees and mason bees in an effort to build up local bee populations. The 2015 honey harvest brought in just over 600 pounds of honey from the nearly quarter million bees that call the rooftop home. The hotel also has a partnership with Hives4Humanity to teach beekeeping to the lowerincome downtown residents. Guests get to taste the benefits of these hives, join tours and support the cause, with crafted pollinator menus and signature drinks. With bees on the decline and Fairmont’s bee hotels on the rise (now counting more than 20 around the world), small wonder the Fairmont Waterfront is creating such a buzz.

The Ecuadorean government is understandably tough on development in the ecologically fragile Galápagos Islands 600 miles west of the mainland. While it’s hard enough to get here, the main draw is a chance to tread (ever so lightly) in Darwin’s footsteps. The recently launched Pikaia Lodge is set on a private island in the crater of an extinct volcano, within a giant-tortoise reserve. What’s more, the boutique eco resort is ringed by a marine reserve that happens to be one of the seven underwater wonders of the world.

The first design-led, carbon neutral accommodation in the Galapagos boasts solar panels, recycling and a wind turbine that allows it to generate up to a third of its own power and to make the best use of water, the most precious resource on Galápagos. Even the bio-diesel that part-powers the generators is derived from passion fruit. Not that Pikaia scrimps on comfort, with its infinity pool, spa and bespoke furniture hand crafted from sustainably managed Ecuadorian teak. Guests get to hop aboard the hotel’s eight-cabin luxury yacht and visit Darwin’s old stomping ground for an intimate encounter with marine iguanas, sea lions, flamingos, pelicans, lava gulls and yellow warblers.

Back at the sustainable modernist base the lodge keeps it real, employing local staff and both supporting and sourcing much of its produce exclusively from the surrounding El Cascajo community. The result is a win-win for everyone, striking a perfect balance between the indulgence of visitors and a determined attempt to gain the goodwill of local people and wildlife.

As for the future of ecotourism, ever more ingenious resorts are emerging where beauty is much more than skin deep: from Dutch Docklands – working with the Maldives Government to create a series of ten self-sustaining floating islands forming the Amillarah initiative to include the world’s first floating 18-hole golf course, to Leonardo DiCaprio’s project to unveil a groundbreaking 2018 ‘restorative’ eco resort in Belize. Putting his money where his mouth is, well-known environmentalist DiCaprio bought 104 acres of wild, unpopulated land in Belize a decade ago and plans to consciously heal Blackadore Caye’s overfished, eroding coastline.

All of which go to show luxury hospitality doesn’t need to leave a hefty carbon footprint. Now all you have to do is get there. Easy does it.

103

WORLDWIDE SPORTS DIRECTORY

GO WHERE THE ACTION IS Twelve Months of Sports Around the World Terri Brennan

As we move into the summer months, at least in the northern hemisphere, we find some sporting events wrapping up their seasons, while others are just beginning. Come join us, as we explore the world of sports, the expected and the unexpected…

MAY Kentucky Derby, United States Billed as the ‘Greatest Two Minutes in Sports’ this iconic horse race has been run every year since 1875. This year the 142nd ‘Run for the Roses’ will head to the post on May 7th, the first race in the bid for the American Triple Crown.

Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix William Grover-Willams won the first Grand Prix on this; the slowest and most difficult of all the circuits, in the most glamorous of settings, even today this prestigious race continues to challenge the world’s top Formula 1 drivers on it’s high risk, narrow course, including racing’s most famous ‘Hairpin’. The 2016 edition will commence the 26th of May, ending on the 29th of May. French Open, Roland-Garros, France Named after the aviator Roland-Garros, the first man to fly over the Mediterranean, the Open is one of tennis’ four Grand Slam events and has become one of the greatest clay-court championships to be played. On everyone’s mind will be whether Novak Djokovic will finally win his first French Open title, will Serena Williams win her 22nd Grand Slam title to tie Steffi Graf record? Come watch beginning May 22nd to find out!

UCI BMX World Championships, Medellin, Colombia The 2016 World Championship will be held on a brand new track built in the existing cycling complex in Medellin, the ‘City of the Eternal Spring’ and home to one of the world’s top female riders – Mariano Pajon, set high in the Andes mountains. Here the best of the world’s cyclists will meet before moving on to the Olympics in Rio, in August.

JUNE The 24 Hours of Le Mans, France First held in 1923, it is run at the Circuit del la Sarthe, one of the two oldest circuit races held in the world. The race begins at 4pm, on June 18th and runs for 24 hours; the winner is the car driven by a team of three drivers, which Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

covers the greatest distance in that time. For the first time since 1955, the race will see a 60-car grid. The cars come from a diversified mix of high-performance vehicles to dedicated race cars to streetcars. With all four factory Ford GTs accepted, Ford hopes to repeat on the 50th anniversary their famous win over Ferrari.

Stanley Cup Finals, North Americal With play-offs that began in April, the fourth and final round will be held in early June. And for only the second time, none of the Canadian teams have made it into the playoffs. The Cup itself dates back to the 1890’s and is the oldest professional sports trophy in North America; the symbol of ice hockey’s champion pitting the Eastern and Western Conferences against each other.

Royal Ascot, England Since 1711 this five-day event attracts the top thoroughbred racehorses from around the world and is unparalleled in terms of pageantry, elegance and style. The most prestigious flat meeting of the year gets under way on the 14th of June, starting with the Queen Anne Stakes, with more than 6.58 million pounds in prize money on the line.

National Basketball Association Finals, United States The 70th season of the NBA, which began on October 15th, will come to a conclusion with the finals beginning June 2nd, when it takes just four games in the finals to become the world champion. This season’s playoffs will see the Golden State Warriors entering with the best single-season record in NBA history having won 73 games, breaking the Chicago Bulls 95-96 season record of 72 wins.

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, England Starting on the 27th of June and running through to July 10th this Grand Slam event is held at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in southwest London. It is the oldest tennis tournament in the world having first been played in 1877 and is the only major, still played on grass. Strawberries, cream and the best tennis has to offer as one of the four Grand Slam events…

Beach Volleyball World Championships, Brazil From June 26th to July 5th the FIVB World Championships will be played on the sands of Copacabana beaches of Rio, bringing together 192 of the top global athletes, to vie for the men and women’s world championship titles as well as secure berths for their countries in the upcoming Olympics.

Henley Royal Regatta, England First held in 1839, this five day regatta begins on the 29th of June with over 200 races of international standard. The course is 2,112 m, 112 m longer than the standard international distance. Taking approximately 7 minutes to cover, it is not only one of the best-known regattas in the world, with over 107 crews entered, it is also one of the highlights of the British social season – Pimms anyone?!

JULY Tour de France, France The 103rd Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages, running from the 2nd to the 24th of July, and will start for the first time in the history of the tour in the French department of Manche.

From the gruelling hill and mountain stages to flat stages and individual time trials, it will have covered a distance of 3,519km by the time the cyclists reach the streets of Paris.

The British Open, Scotland For the 145th Open, will return to the Royal Troon from July 14th-17th for the ninth time, having first hosted the open in 1923.

Here the world’s greatest golfers will compete for the famous Claret Jug on Scotland’s West Coast over some of the most amazing links anywhere in the world.

Running of the Bulls, Spain The highlight of the San Fermin Festival, held every year from the 6th to the 14th of July in the region of Navarra, the Pamplona Running of the Bulls attracts people from all over the world, an adrenaline rush for runners and spectators alike.

105

WORLDWIDE SPORTS DIRECTORY

AUGUST The Games of the XXXI Olympiad, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil The 2016 Summer Olympics runs from the 5th to 21st August. More than 10,000 athletes from around the world, including South Sudan and Kosovo for the first time, will travel to Rio to compete in 306 events in 28 Olympic sports.

‘Live your passion’ – an apt motto for Rio 2016!

Palio, Siena Italy A horse race like no other, the Palio is a twice a year, bareback race going back to medieval times that combines danger, passion, ‘no rules’, and chaos…thousands crowd in narrow streets, as the horses are paraded through with their bodyguards, fight songs are sung, the Corteo Storico flag throwers perform, the horses are blessed in the church of their contrade (neighbourhood), and only a rope marks the starting line of the 90 second race.

World Rowing Championships, Rotterdam, Netherlands As this is an Olympic year, the programme running from the 21st – 28th August, will depart from the usual line-up and be limited to nonOlympic events and will include the World Junior Championships as well as the World U23 (under 23 years of age) Championships.

SEPTEMBER The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, Stamford, England First held in 1961 this annual event at Burghley House brings top riders from around the world to compete in the three-day CCI**** level international event. It is considered to be one of the six leading three-day events in the world, a combination of dressage, show jumping and cross-country.

Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore The inaugural F1 night race. Action this year begins on the 16th , with the race run on the Marian Bay Street Circuit, a circuit length of 5.065 km with 61 laps until the Podium.

OCTOBER FIFA Women’s World Cup, Papua New Guinea The 8th edition of the tournament will see 16 teams qualify from 6 separate continental competitions. Beginning the 28th of October and running through the 16th of November.

Ironman World Championship Kaiu-Kona, Hawaii October 10th will see over 2,000 elite athletes descend on the Big Island of Hawaii to compete in one of the most gruelling one day sporting events in the world. Beginning in 1978; both men and women have tested not only their bodies but also their minds by swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and finishing with a marathon run of 26.2 miles.

106

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp, France The world’s richest turf race was first run in 1920.

Often referred to as the ‘Arc’, the first weekend in October boasts 17 thoroughbred races of which 13 have Group 1 status as well as the Arabian World Cup, the world’s richest race for purebred Arabian horses.

World Series, United States The 2016 World Series will be the 111th edition ending of baseball’s 162 game season, which culminates in the best team from the National League going head to head with the top team in the American League in a best-of seven game series for the title of World Champion.

NOVEMBER New York City Marathon, United States With the world’s top long distance runners vying for the crown, there are over 50,000 entrants from over 50 different countries, running through the streets of New York City, the first Sunday in November.

Brazilian Grand Prix, Sao Paulo, Brazil Beginning with practice on the 11th, qualifying the 12th , the race on the 13th; the drivers will be put to the challenge with an anti-clockwise mix of bumps, long straights and undulating corners. The fanatic fans of Sao Paulo turn this F1 weekend into a festival and carnival atmosphere.

DP World Tour Championship, Dubai Running from the 17th to the 20th the Tour’s 60 leading players contest the season ending tournament of the European Tour, the ‘Race to Dubai’. It is played at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, on the ‘Earth’ course, designed by the legendary Australian golfer Greg Norman.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER The Argentine Polo Open at Palermo, Argentina The tournament, first held in 1893, was known as the River Plata Polo Championship until 1923. Arguably the most important international polo championship, it takes place between late November and early December. For any true polo fan’s ‘bucket list’ the Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo should be at the top.

DECEMBER King George VI Chase, Kempton Park, England First held in 1937 and named in honour of King George VI, this Grade 1 National Hunt chase, held on Boxing Day, is run over 3 miles and includes 18 jumps and is one of the most prestigious races of the season.

JANUARY Australia Open, Melbourne, Australia Played in Mebourne, in the intense heat of the Down Under summer, the Australia Open is one of tennis’ Grand Slam Tournaments and sets the stage for whom to watch for in the following three Grand Slam tournaments.

Snow Polo World Cup, St. Moritz, Switzerland St. Moritz is the birthplace of Snow Polo. In 1985, the very first snow polo tournament was played. The Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz is played the last weekend in January and is the world’s most important Snow Polo tournament.

Four High Goal teams of world-class players offer a unique spectacle on the frozen lake of St. Moritz, a true winter highlight for both sports and social life.

FEBRUARY The Super Bowl, United States One of the most celebrated one-game professional championships, the 2017 Super Bowl 51 will return for the third time to Houston, Texas, the wrap-up of the 16 game regular season plus 3 post-season playoff rounds. A Sunday afternoon when everything, not football, in the US is put on hold.

MARCH FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, Switzerland The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season , which kicked off in October ’15 in Solden, Austria, will see the best test their skills for the championship on the slopes of St. Moritz, Switzerland and marks the fifth time the slopes have hosted the event, the first time being in 1934.

APRIL U.S. Open Polo Championship, United States Considered one of the three great polo tournaments, the 113th Open begins early April.

The U.S. Open was first played in 1904 at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City and now is played at the International Polo Club in Palm Beach, the winter home of polo on the east coast of the US. The Grand National, England Stamina and speed make the Grand National’s steeplechase the world’s most renowned horse race. First run in 1839, the 3-day event is held at England’s Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool.

The Masters, United States Played at one of the world’s finest golf courses, the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, it was first held in 1934 and is the first of golf’s four major championships to be played. The scene of some of the most famous wins by golfing legends such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan to name a few.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

THE CRYSTAL TOWER Modern Premium Office Accommodation in Lagos Equipped with the latest communication and data technology, Crystal Tower showcases impressive cutting-edge systems compliant with the latest international requirements

CONTACT: Crystal Tower | Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria Tel: 08121121112 E-mail: r.chidiac@rmckconstruction.com

in Patara

CUISINE SCENE

TREAT YOUR PALATE

Yasemen Kaner-White

Kaş

B

eing half Turkish Cypriot, I have a vested interest in learning as much as I can about the Turkish culture, that’s why the ‘Patara’ stand, at the recent ‘Destinations’ event held in London, caught my eye. I’d never heard of the town Patara before. Little did I know, that the birthplace of the real Santa Claus – St Nicholas, home to only nomads up until 25 years ago and the longest, most stunning white-sandy beach in the entire Mediterranean, would leave such an impression on me. Having flown into Dalaman airport (about 1½ hr drive from Patara), en-route, Nadi Otlu; one of my hosts, owner of Golden Lighthouse Hotel and Golden Pension, and I, stopped for a leisurely Turkish tea. Traditional milk-free Turkish tea (çay), is an intrinsic part of the culture, a visit to Turkey without sipping it from a dainty tulip shaped glass (tulip being the national flower) is almost a crime. We walked along Çalış beach, waves lapping in the background, to a cute bar nestled among many. It is clear to see why this famed beach

108

is so popular within the Fethiye region, the beachfront bars are almost touching the clear blue sea.

A believer that the optimum route to explore any new culture is via my taste buds – my mission was to taste as much as possible of the authentic Patara, and I had a week to do it. Hotel Dardanos, a quaint and convenient town-centre establishment, with rooms featuring traditional Turkish trappings, a gorgeous garden to dine in, laid-back Ottoman style seats to lounge in – whilst listening to melodic beats from the bar, was to be my residence. I arrived on the 16th of March a week or so before the official season started, so the place was pretty much my own. This meant Arif Kılıcan, the owner, was to be my breakfast Chef, as his usual lady, cooking home-made delicacies for guests, hadn’t started for the season yet. The first full day began with a locally sourced breakfast of eggs, toast, assorted jams, olives, cheese and tomatoes and cucumbers with a squeeze of lemon, which Arif casually picked from his prized lemon Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 8

CUISINE SCENE

tree proudly standing outside the hotel entrance. Within minutes I had company, not unusual in a friendly village like Patara. Arif, Nadi and Nadi’s cousin Süha joined me for a Turkish coffee – the predictable sociable beverage to polish off any Turkish meal. As we were chatting a man wielding a large bucket lined with kitchen paper full to the brim of pişi (fried doughnut-like rolls filled with white cheese and parsley) offered us a few. He was the grandson of an elderly man who had passed away, so traditionally he was sharing out the savoury treats from his late grandfather’s mevlit (remembrance service), though perhaps a little morbid, they sure tasted good. Talk turned to the history of Patara, to a time when Dardanos didn’t exist and one could only see vast land dotted with nomads and their cattle. The government, due to wanting an end to roaming people and to establish permanent settlements, promised the nomads that if they stayed on the land and farmed it, after a number of years, they would own it, and so they did. Then, during the early 1990’s the holiday provider – SunMed came to Patara and the locals saw an opportunity. They gradually left behind their nomadic ways and began to build for the expected holidaymakers.

Not used to having to request planning permission, the property ventures almost got out of hand, and the government had to clamp down, hence why there are so many unfinished buildings to be seen. However those who did get permission, such as Nadi’s Golden Pension (first hotel in Patara), and Lighthouse Hotel, continue to thrive. As an alternative to building new premises, many merely converted their homes into B&B’s and small eateries; to capture some of the tourists spending power. The most renowned restaurants in Patara serve only gözleme (Turkish pancakes), and mantı (minced lamb filled ravioli), which makes sense, as both require little financial investment – inexpensive ingredients, and can be frozen if not used, that said, both are remarkably delicious and worth a try. Greenhouses were also built, aiding all-yearround planting, where once cold weather and insects prevented it, now tomatoes are the biggest export of Patara. Generally, locals are agrarian in winter and focus on tourism in summer. Whilst living conditions modernised, eating habits have largely remained entrenched in nomadic customs. Still today, locals eat seasonally and use produce picked locally, which they dry (in keeping with the old need of preservation before acquiring fridges) or use fresh, in herb teas, and cooking. Most indigenous herbs serve medicinal purposes too, not least is sage, found growing wild in abundance – to calm the nervous system and alleviate coughs and sore throats among a host of other ailments. After breakfast, I’m quickly invited to Süha’s bar ‘Simbar’ to try this sage tea for myself, mixed with fresh mint and a dollop of local mountain honey – it was refreshingly delish. As we sat in the sun perched on typical wooden chairs with reed woven seats, surrounded by orange trees interlaced with freely walking clucking chickens, Ali Pehlivan, the Patara Beach Cafe manager, popped in, and to my delight, he is the village foodie.

Armed with recent purchases of cezerye (yummy shredded carrot sweets dipped in desiccated coconut) and a paper bag of in-season kuzu göbeği (morchella – edible wild mushroom). I was fascinated, as I had never seen morchella’s before. Locally, as abroad, they are rather expensive, around 1kg would cost £100, the smart ones try and locate them for free in nearby mountains, though Ali had bought his. Without hesitation, he emptied half the bag and gave them to me, prompted only by my shared interest in food. The ingrained ‘sharing’ philosophy of the Turkish people never ceases to amaze me. After a glass of insanely red and sickeningly sweet tarçın karanfil çayı (granulated clove & cinnamon tea), Nadi, Süha and I headed to Patara beach, a mere 20 minute walk from town, Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Neptune Hotel

Dardanos Hotel

Nomadic walk event

Keşkek

109

CUISINE SCENE

but as we were going to forage en-route we took the car. What could easily be mistaken for weeds, are God sends for locals, who incorporate the wild herbs into many tasty meals. We gathered gurseyk, the leaves of which are cooked up with onion, tomato and bulgur; broad beans; gelencik – leaves of the poppy flower, again cooked with bulgur or mixed with lentils or black-eyed peas; wild dill and lastly sari ot (yellow grass) which is cooked in a milky soup – Otlu çorbası. We finally made it to the beach, 18km worth of clean sand and blue sea – arguably the most unspoilt beach in the Med, backed by sand dunes and the Taurus mountains. One more Turkish coffee and a few carobs (good for weight loss) picked from close by trees and eaten raw, before we left for a bite to eat. The common southern Turkey street food – Tantuni was to be lunch. One of my favourite ‘fast-food’ dishes in Turkey, thinly sliced beef with spices, fresh tomato and onion, squeeze of lemon and all wrapped up in a soft thin flatbread (dürüm), washed down with the acquired taste of a cold salty spicy drink – şalgam (juice of red pickled carrots), can’t say I’m a fan – but give it a shot!

Dinner was to be at Nadi’s house and made by his mother.

She first starts to ‘prepare’ the bread by sprinkling drops of water over dried flatbreads (yufka) to rehydrate them, and then wrapped them in a tea towel. This was my first experience of nomadic traditions still in full flow, after all, now everyone has fridges, and a trip to a bakery in the nearby village Kınık for example, isn’t too difficult, yet they prefer it. I help her ‘top and tail’ and shell the fresh peas (bezelia) that we picked from their greenhouse earlier in the day and watched as she cooked a range of dishes. First up was a simple yet divine homemade pasta (allowed to dry so it keeps) mixed with a generous amount of butter. Next was a medley of onion, fresh dill picked today with the morchellas, wild asparagus and egg; another dish of onion and peeled tomato cooked down with olive oil and mixed with the peas and broad beans, pinch of salt, sweet red pepper flakes; and lastly, broad beans (bakla) fried in lots of butter and mixed with fresh dill and yogurt – wow! As we finished up, AnneLouise came for coffee, she originally hails from England but has now settled in Patara and runs the hotel Patara Viewpoint with her partner Muzaffer. She tells me of the famed nomadic walk, which takes place annually the third weekend in April. Originally each village had to organise a tourist friendly event, and Patara, due to having a nomadic heritage and being lucky enough to sit along the famed Lycian Way (best weather to hike being March to May) decided to host a walk from the well preserved Delikemer Roman aqueduct back to Patara. Hosts are dressed in national costume and serve lots and lots of traditional foods.

Around 700 hundred people join the excursion, both locals and tourists alike, unsurprising, as according to the Sunday Times the Lycian Way is one of the ten most beautiful long distance hikes in the world. Just as I was going to bid them goodnight, their neighbour Fatima who owns Neptune Hotel, came round, and started to cook un helvasi (flour helva), which is a hot sweet buttery paste dotted with pine-nuts, dense but delicious, freshly squeezed juice from oranges growing in their garden mixed with home-made nar suyu (pomegranate molasses), made a perfect pairing. The secret to their pomegranate molasses tasting so good is sticking to the old technique – they are cut in half and beaten with a stick to release the seeds and then pressed with their feet, whereas a machine would include the bitter white seeds altering the taste. Along with the helva, I received a breakfast invitation from Fatima. Molasses is common in Patara, again, a good way

110

Morchella

Gelincik

Gurşeyk

Lycian beehive at the hotel Patara Viewpoint

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

CUISINE SCENE

Fried local cheese in Islamlir

Tilkimenli, gobek mantarli koy yumurtasi

Nadi Otlu’s mum, Hanife Otlu rehydrating the dried yufka bread to eat

Karniyarik

Kabuklu fasulye

to use and preserve fruits when they are in season, they come in all forms, from grape, mulberry, pomegranate to carob. Before sugar was readily available (very pricey for the nomads and hard to obtain), grape molasses was used as an alternative sweetener in tea and cooking, as even honey was scarce. Molasses is often mixed with yogurt, tops fruit salad and is also mixed with lemon water for a refreshing drink.

Tucked away, with fantastic views is the petite Neptune Hotel, all of the food is cooked on order by owner Fatima. The most impressive part of my breakfast had to be the vast array of home-made jams, all using fruits (mulberry, quince, orange) from her garden. Often the jams are far more liquid in Turkey than the usual jam consistency, this is because traditionally people would dip their bread into it, as opposed to spreading. After a breakfast fit for a king, out comes the keşkek for me to try, literally – wheat germs soaked in water overnight, boiled in water/milk, and topped with a lot of melted butter. Keşkek is something normally eaten at religious ceremonies, funerals or weddings – eaten with salad and meat on top, or alone. To complete our breakfast, Fatima offered to do a ‘fal’, these are quite common and an enjoyed pastime of Turkish people. After one finishes their cup of coffee, they turn the cup upside down, facing the saucer, when cooled, the ‘fortune reader’ will analyse the shapes that the coffee has left behind in the cup, and sometimes the saucer too, as Turkish coffee leaves thick gloopy granules behind, the shapes it produces are vast and can be interpreted in many a way. As it was a Thursday, that meant market day in Kalkan, a short drive away, where I found myself in the midst of a bustling market, full of clothes, lace tablecloths, bed linen, shoes, tobacco and of course, a multitude of local foods; dried fruits, nuts, cheese, meats, olives, molasses, eggs, spices, fresh herbs, with a gözleme (Turkish pancake) stand, in the centre. I meandered down to the seaside town centre, an 8 minute stroll Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Bezelye

Local homemade dried pasta

and sat by the sea on a wooden bench to relax. Kalkan attracts a different tourist to Patara which is more of the off-the-beaten-track visitor who wants to assimilate with the locals, whereas Kalkan promises great beaches but also a soya cappuccino to hand. The only noise was the nearby hammering and drilling of yet more flats going up where olive groves used to be, drowning out the breeze rustling through the tree branches and two motorbikes mounted by 4 youths, tooting to draw attention to themselves as they passed their time on a lazy Thursday afternoon – out of season. Far quieter and beautifully peaceful is nearby Kaputaş beach, so stunning it donned the Lonely Planet Turkish Guide’s front cover. When the nomads roamed they used to retreat to a ‘yayla’, a high plateau of land, in the summer to escape the unbearable heat and give new pastures for their cattle. Even now, most people have a residence in a yayla for summer. Bezirgan is one of the closest to Patara, there is a noticeable change in air as you drive up – clean, crisp, cool, ear-popping, but you can see why it was a haven for the nomads. Only a man wielding a stick with his goats could be seen. Farmers used to keep their wheat in ‘ambers’ up in their yayla, although ambers can still be spotted in villages, they are not used so much now, because turnover is quicker; less need for storage.

Patara Viewpoint hotel is a good place to see artifacts such as ambers, molasses makers and Lycian beehives. Anne-Louise of Patara Viewpoint has made a book of local traditions which is displayed in her hotel. If you are interested in seeing historic objets d’art then head to Elmali, where there is a museum full of them. After market day, I returned to Patara for a tour around the best garden in Patara, tended to by Nadi, found in Golden Lighthouse Hotel. His tranquil garden is full of delicious fruits, all featured on his menu when in season, including kumquats, oranges, quince, pears, lemons, dates, almonds, plums and mandarins.

I was tempted to lay in one of the hammocks and munch on the green

111

CUISINE SCENE

Kalkan market Dinner in Hunker, clockwise Nadi Otlu, Süha Ekizoğlu, Arif Kılıcan & Yasemen Kaner-White

Ladies serving food at a sünnet celebration Hünkar kebab

almonds I picked, sharp and traditionally eaten dipped in salt. All I could hear were birds tweeting. Dinner was to be had in Kalkan, in a restaurant called Hünkar (Sultan). The starter was deri peyniri (goat cheese) with piping hot-out-the-stone oven flatbread. Even in the restaurant nomadic traditions lingered, the cheese is matured in the cleaned and salted skin casing of a whole young goat, tied tightly at the top and can be kept up to a year, often eaten in a dürüm (flatbread) with walnuts (found in the wild). After tender lamb kebabs – so stereotypically Turkish, I went home satiated.

Friday means market day in Kinik, never one to miss a market abroad, knowing new foods are likely to be discovered, I went along and was glad I did, for I discovered and bought a bag of what the locals call – çitlembik, which is indeed the name of the tree they come from, but the bright blue unique tasting berries are called terebinth berries, dried and eaten as a snack, they are known to ease kidney and urethra ailments.

I also picked up some leblebi (roasted chickpeas) another popular snack.

Upon return to the village, I noticed huge crowds congregating and eating together, men and women separated (usual for large events), they were gathered to celebrate the sünnet (circumcision) of a little boy.

Traditionally, the parents provide a grand feast for the entire village, the female counterparts do the cooking, just imagine how much work that is – literally everyone is welcome to celebrate their son’s big day! Still full from lunch, dinner was to be had at Nadi’s house, courtesy of his mum.

Tonight began with soup – Tarhana soup, again a reflection of nomadic days. To make this soup – finely, finely diced fresh peppers, tomatoes, and onions are mixed with thyme, yogurt, flour, and mint and kneaded to form a dough, this dough is made into small pieces by rubbing it between your palms, and left out to dry in the sun for one week. The mixture lasts up to a year and when you are ready to eat it, you simply boil it with

112

Piyaz

Terebinth berries

some chicken stock to form a soup. More dishes came, including a very simple tasty cauliflower fritter – par-boiled cauliflower, dipped in egg and fried in olive oil and mince stuffed aubergine called Karnıyarık. We didn’t need to consider pudding, as a call from a neighbour came just in time, their grandparents carer’s birthday was today, so we were invited to share the chocolate cake.

The next day breakfast included one of my favourite Turkish breads – simit, Turkey’s answer to a pretzel, rounds of sesame-coated almost bagel-textured beautiful bread, eaten alone or stuffed with cheese. So popular, that Simit Sarayi, a franchise specialising in the breads opened in Oxford St, London. Today was the day to make the glorious gözleme (Turkish pancakes) with the local ladies. Gözleme is essentially the same as yufka (flatbread) but then filled with various fillings. The ladies gather and make hundreds of them, some become yufka to be left to dry, as explained earlier, and others into gözleme to eat whilst making the stock-pile of yufka. Normally gözleme are filled with potato and spinach or cheese and herbs, but more recently and probably bending towards tourist expectations, banana and Nutella has become a winning formula.

The ladies, all mature, and on the whole with excellent English (they have to, to serve tourism), recount the nomadic days and how they survived them. They tell me they used to fry the meat of animals in its fat so as to preserve it to last up to three months, whilst on the move. If they didn’t have yeast they would soak raw chickpeas in water for two days and the water was a yeast substitute. Yet, having few ingredients didn’t stop them indulging; höşmerim was a special pudding served when guests came, it involved kaymak (Turkish clotted cream) fried for five minutes, flour is added and heated again, sugar is added in another pan with hot water, when the flour and kaymak mixture browns, the water and sugar mix are added and cooked together; when the fat rises to the top, it’s ready.

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

CUISINE SCENE

To make butter, they would boil the kaymak until it separates and produces butter, the remaining liquid would be boiled until thick and left to dry in the sun, this dried cheese substance would last a year and be used, just as cheese would be. Nomads didn’t normally have money, so they took wheat to the Greek mills to be turned into flour and as payment the Greeks kept some of the wheat. They did the same with olives in the olive oil factories. Most vegetables were dried for preservation, including aubergine, okra, bell peppers, tomatoes and even broad beans.

I tried most of these reconstituted in various stews and actually the flavour is rather intense and tasty, different to fresh but just as good. One of my favourite nomadic tales was how they used to make ‘ice-cream’. In the caves high up in the mountains, you could find snow, even in July, as the caves were totally untouched by sunlight, July – perfect ice-cream weather, so they simply mixed the snow with molasses and made kar şerbeti (snow sherbet), still today in ode to it, an artificial alternative is made and called karlarmar, flavoured with cinnamon.

It was a perfect afternoon for a drive, so I visited Islamlar, this mountainous village full of old Greek mills and entrenched by pine trees is famous for its fresh mountain-spring-water trout farms, which can be seen interspersed in the village. I stopped off at a restaurant to eat some tasty fried local cheese and then some trout overlooking the crystal blue sea. Although not a yayla as such, due to the altitude, the air is crisper and feels a lot cooler, so it is a popular place in the summer months. To walk off an early dinner, I decided to hike some of the Lycian Way. I started from the Delikemer Roman aqueduct. Red crosses on stones tell you you’re on the right path. Along the way, I saw wild sage growing which not only makes tea but also elma yağı (translated as apple oil) which nomads would boil to extract the oil and use to treat colds. Wild thyme would be used for tea, and scattered everywhere is sevket-i bostan, a wild thistle, dipped in egg made into a fritter, or added to a lamb stew. There were crocus plants, the tubers of which are made into powder and used to make a fantastic indulgent drink called salep, enjoyed in the winter.

To scare away snakes, I would suggest you take a stick, or indeed rent a horse from Patara Horse Riding and go for a leisurely ride to take in the views instead. A ride to the sand dunes at sunset was truly magical and the perfect way to end the day.

The last day was to be a day spent in the biggest Ottoman town in southwest Turkey; Elmali, meaning ‘apple town’, due to its abundance of apples. The artificial lake collects water in winter which is kept and distributed to feed the apple trees in summer. A visit here is not complete without testing and buying a batch of susamlı çörek helva, little disks of sesame sweets, if you are lucky you can find the village men making them and try a hot dollop of it before it hardens into a crispy disk, as sold. Don’t forget to get some of the local handmade rose Turkish delight too. On the way home I passed through Gömbe and stopped off for some dinner, here, where the goats eat fresh thyme in the mountains, the meatballs are famous, as is the tasty white bean dish with a tahini dressing, called Piyaz. Though I was sad to say goodbye, I knew I could re-live my foodie ventures at home, armed with the likes of dried beans, aubergine and okra, coffee, sumac and terebinth berries. www.pataragoldenlighthouse.com – Golden Lighthouse Hotel www.pataragoldenpension.com – Patara Golden Pension www.pataradardanoshotel.com – Dardanos Hotel www.pataraviewpoint.com – Patara Viewpoint Hotel

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Local ladies making gözleme

Patara Beach

You can join in the experience and make this easy peasy pudding too: KABAK TATLISI (PUMPKIN PUDDING)

Cut a deseeded peeled pumpkin into chunks, place in an oven tray, cover with sugar and cook in a hot oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool, serve, making sure you dollop over a bit of the syrup that has formed around the pumpkin, over each pumpkin piece, spoon over some tahini and crushed walnuts. Done.

113

GOOD BOOKS – BOOK REVIEW

The Forty Rules of Love Elif Shafak

by Frances K White

If Sufi’ism; the sage words of the 13th century Persian Islamic poet, Rumi, and the mystic Whirling Dervish, Shams (‘sun’ in Arabic) of Tabriz, for whom Rumi was his most willing pupil, are topics that interest you, this book has your name on it. Should you have no prior knowledge of the aforementioned, but want to embark on a spiritual journey to find your true ‘self’ – again, this book will set you on that path, due in large part, to Shams ‘Forty Rules of Love’. These are referenced throughout the book, being the accepted doctrines of Sufi’ism, embodied by the ascetic Rumi and his teacher, the oftentimes polemical Shams. Love being the core of Sufi’ism was the ideology Shams both lived and taught, resulting in both he and Rumi being revered as iconic, historical contributors to the Faith.

Shafak’s novel within a novel, is a work of fiction, yet inspired by truth, highlighting two relationships (the four main characters) whilst employing a multi-voiced narrative. One ’story’ describes an unhappily married American Jew, the middle-aged Ella, taking up employment to read manuscripts, alongside Aziz, the Scottish author of the first manuscript Ella was tasked to read, about Rumi; Rumi and Shams being the overarching theme of the other ‘story’. The duel novel within a novel, whilst being set seven centuries apart, embodies characteristics of the medieval Islamic world in Konya, contrasting contemporary Western paradigms of the United States. Notably, one senses Shafak’s perceived wisdom is that a woman’s place in both cultures, then and now, was/is grounded in patriarchy.

Ella initially had no interest in reading a novel covering such a wide time span, and two such diverse cultures, fearing she would find no

114

points of reference or interest in the subject matter, yet, against her better judgement, Ella becomes intrigued, both with the topic and remarkably, the author. She found herself questioning why she had not examined before, her unsatisfying life with an unfaithful husband, her curiosity leading her to start a flirtatious e.mail correspondence with the Sufi convert, Aziz, culminating in a love affair. Stepping out of her ‘comfort zone’ of family, security, and social constructs to embrace her heart’s desire, a passion paralleled in Rumi craving to follow Shams teachings, this plays into the first part of one of my favourite Rumi sayings, which is: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there... “.

Whilst Shafak’s characters’ occasional use of modern colloquialisms, such as “bowled over” negates the vernacular of medieval Islam, overall, the central theme of this book celebrates the bottomless well of divine love, aiding and abetting Ella to leave her suffocating marriage, and Rumi to ignore cautious words from concerned others, about putting total faith in Shams teachings, whilst ultimately reminding us of the risk of leaving the safety-net of predictable relationships, for one that carries no set promise of an everlasting union.

It is said, that whatever can be spoken of, is not Sufi’ism. One takes that to mean, Sufi’ism is not an intellectual journey to enlightenment, through reading or discourse; but a personal journey along a spiritual road to a pure heart.

Maybe the resurging interest in Rumi’s sayings are because they are universally applicable, are all-embracing in an oftentimes unstable, fluid world, this being born out in the final sentence of the book: Rule 40 “A life without love, is of no account…

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

GOOD BOOKS – BOOK REVIEW

Me Before You Jojo Moyes

by Frances K White

shows us Lou helping Will through each predictable day in any way she can, whilst he motivates her to critically analyse her personal and familial relationships. The ebb and flow of their relationship, at once problematic, yet over time, morphing into a complex kinship, they discover unknown facets of each other’s personalities, which is engaging. That said, one feels Will’s comparatively limited narrative compared to say, Lou’s omnipotent one, and to a lesser degree, learning of the quirks and foibles of their respective family members and erstwhile lovers, reinforces a common viewpoint that when one is physically dependent one can also become ‘invisible’ and unheard. Moyes’ description of the tedium, monotony and sameness of every day is well presented, causing one to sympathise with Will’s position.

Please set aside time to read this book as there is good reason why it is the UK’s current No. 1 bestseller, the film of which, is due out in the summer.

I say this because it is a compassionate insightful handling of the sensitive subject of a life that in a heartbeat is permanently damaged. The story is an emotionally charged roller-coaster of darkness and light, the main thread throughout , the determination of Will, a hedonistic, privileged man in his thirties, wanting to abandon this mortal coil, enraged at the ‘hand’ now dealt him. Will was left quadriplegic due to a catastrophic road accident. He decided it wasn’t safe to use his motorbike to get to work one day, so planned to go by taxi instead. Crossing the road to hail one, distracted by his mobile at the same time, he realised too late he was directly in the path of something going too fast for him to get out the way; as he turned to see what it was, it skidded straight into him; the last thing he remembered, was the leather glove and flying helmet, of a motorbike rider…

But, then we switch to other secondary characters, such as his mum; initially appearing cold and distant, until one realises it’s her coping mechanism, so our emotions take a volte face, then again, other family members want to support Will’s wishes, but don’t want to lose him – these emotionally charged variables are beautifully drawn by Moyes.

Once the verdict of permanent paralysis has sunk in, Will immediately realises he is facing a lifelong loss of dignity and privacy; relying on others to perform every intimate act, his anger testing the patience of friends and family.

Then, into his damaged life, comes the much younger, unworldly, Louisa, hired “for six months” by Will’s mother; her duties to be his carer/companion, working in tandem with his nurse, Nathan. As the relationship of Lou and Will progresses, their bond becomes romantic, with Lou continually trying to inspire Will not to lose hope. Their symbiotic dependency

The unspoken backdrop of this story must be the controversial questioning of current legislation surrounding assisted suicide or euthanasia, prompting the thought “what would I feel/do in similar circumstances” ?

One can’t help but form a personal stance regarding legalised euthanasia, and/or whether the particular function of ‘Dignitas’ be allowed worldwide. As you near the final chapters of this book, may I suggest you do so, with a box of tissues to hand…

São Paulo

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

115

Jean Gough

Look who’s reading Fifth Chukker...

With an ever-growing distributing network spanning international hotels and polo clubs to private jets, Fifth Chukker Magazine reaches more than 500,000 readers. Its pages reveal the lifestyle and spending habits of international polo players and provide an unparallel opportunity for brands to connect with this elite world.

For further information on how to promote your brand and become part of the Fifth Chukker story please contact us directly on info@fifthchukker.com Advertise in Fifth Chukker magazine – West Africa’s leading polo and lifestyle publication, produced bi-annually (May & October) with an ever growing distribution network of local and international reach – spanning leading hotels, polo clubs, commercial and private jets. The Fifth Chukker Magazine Copacabana Palace Beachfront Hotel, Copacabana beach reaches more than 500,000 readers and has a prominent and increasing online following via the Fifth Chukker Website, Facebook and Instagram pages.

Contact – Onyeka Udechukwu info@fifthchukker.com

116

Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

HRH Emir of Kano and wife Rekya

High Commissioner William Awinador-Kanyirige of Ghana (right) and friend

Shiju Sasi, Barbados Cars

Bala Bantex

Jamie Simmons

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State Sayyu Dantata

Junaid Dikko

Senator Ahmed Makarfi

Neil Hobday, General Manager, Guards Polo Club Gbenga Oyebode

Magajin Garin Zazzau Nuhu Bamali

Ahmed Dasuki

Saudi Arabian Ambassador Khaled Abed Rabbo and Alhaji Abdulsalam Gashash

Niger State First Lady Dr. Amina Abubakar Bello

Ambassador and Mrs Gustavo Dzugala

Tajudeen Dantata

Governor Bello Masari of Katsina State

Aliko Dangote

Kashim Bukar

Hadiza El-Rufai

Hon. Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation

High Commissioner Tom Amolo of Kenya

Kebbi State First Lady Aisha Atiku Bagudu

Rashid Albwardy Geoffrey Kent, CEO Abercrombie & Kent

Rashid Habtoor

Col. Sani Bello Ezequiel Martinez

Hilton General Manager

Adamu Atta

Norberto Pinheiro, Chairman, Pine Bank, Brasil

Vice President Namadi Sambo Femi Otedola

Ex Federation of International Polo President and Mrs Richard T. Caleel

Nwankwo Kanu

Evelyn Oputu Ferrari South Africa’s Fay (right) Martin Jauregi and Aleandro Traveso Orlando His Excellency Ramallan Yero

Juan Martin Nero & Pablo Mcdonough Federation of International Polo President and Mrs Nicholas Colqhoun-Denvers

Walter Schreb

Mohammed Habtoor Ambassador Ashraf Salama of Egypt

Rico Chagoury

Muftau Baba-Ahmed, Adamu Atta and Tunde Folawiyo

Abdulsamad Rabiu

Farouk Saleh

Uteal Moitra

Babangida Hassan and Atiku Abubakar

Adolfo Cambiaso Ibrahim Boyi and Jean Gough

Agustin Merlos

HH Sheika Maitha Al-Rashid Al- Makhtoum

Mr. & Mrs Cristian Braconi Joe Mayer, President of USPA

Ali Albwardy

Pau Vilanova Vila-Abadal.

Vice President FC Barcelona Roderick Vere Nicoll Heidenarie Kluge

Adamu Atta & Gabriel Batistuta Rashid Albwardy

Fans at Palermo

Mohammad Babangida

SUJI

Facundo Pieres

Anna Marie Benedict

William Tankard

UK High Commissioner Andrew and Julie Pockock The Salamas of Egypt

FIFTH CHUKKER POLO & COUNTRY CLUB

Experience the

MAGIC Luxury Accommodation

l

Fine Dining

Polo. Live it. Love it. www.fifthchukker.com

l

info@fifthchukker.com

KM2, Kaduna to Jos Road, after Maraban-Jos, Kaduna, Nigeria

l

Events

INTERNATIONAL POLO DIRECTORY

THE INTERNATIONAL POLO CLUB DIRECTORY No matter where your travels may take you around the globe, be sure to pack your polo mallets. There is always a good chance of finding a club to play at nearby... or indeed a game to watch!

ARGENTINA 1. Campo Argentino de Polo, Palermo www.aapolo.com 2. Coronel Suarez Polo Club www.coronelsuarezpoloclub.com poloclubcoronelsuarez@speedy.com.ar +54 29 26 431538 3. Ellerstina Polo Club www.ellerstina.com.ar poloweek@ellerstina.com.ar 4. Hurlingham Club, Buenos Aires 4662-5510 al 14 www.hurlinghamclub.org.ar secretaria@hurlinghamclub.com.ar 5. La Alegria Polo Club www.alegriapolo.com patricio@alegriapolo.com 6. La Dolfina Polo Ranch www.ladolfinapoloranch.com 7. Tortugas Country Club, Tortugas www.tortugascountryclub.com.ar AUSTRIALIA 1. Sydney Polo Club, Richmond 61 2 4588 5000 www.sydneypolo.com admin@sydneypolo.com 2. Victorian Polo Club, Armadale, Vic (03) 9576 0391 www.vicpolo.com deb@vicpolo.com AUSTRIA 1. Union Polo Club, Laundorf Ebreichsdorf Tel: 43 4213 32140 Email: office@dienstgut.com; www.dienstlgut.com 2. Schlog Polo Club Tel: 445 2254 72368; Email: secretariat.drasche@aon.at BARBADOS 1. Apes Hill Polo Club (246) 262-3282 www.apeshillclub.com info@apeshillpolobarbados.com BELGIUM 1. La Chatta Polo Club, Koningshooikt Tel: 32 478 88 1091 Email: info@lachatta.be; www.lachatta.be 2. Antwerp Polo Club Tel: 32 3665 1675; Email: Turnhout antwerppoloclub@hotmail.be 3. Bossenstein Golf & Polo, Broeckem Tel: 32 03 485 6446. www.bossenstein.be BRAZIL 1. Helvetia Polo Club, Sao Paulo 55 (019) 3875 4566 www.helvetiapolo.com.br CANADA 1. Toronto Polo Club, Markham, ON 905-888-7656 www.torontopoloclub.com

122

CHINA 1. Tang Polo Club, Beijing 86 (010) 8051 9200 www.tangpolo.com service@tangpolo.com COSTA RICA 1. Los Reyes Polo Club, La Guacima 506 2290 2525 www.losreyescr.com fmpos@hotmail.com CHILE 1. Club de Polo Las Mercedes, Rancagua 56 (72) 5421.740 ENGLAND 1. Ascot Park Polo Club, Surrey Tel: +44 1276858545; email: www.polo.co.uk 2. Beaufort Polo Club, Gloucestershire Tel: + 441666 880510; email: enquiries@beaufortpoloclub.co.uk, www.beaufortpoloclub.co.uk 3. Beverly Polo Club, East Yorkshire Tel: + 44 1964 544455; email: info@beverlypoloclub.co.uk, www. beverlypoloclub.co.uk 4. Binfield Heath Polo Club, Oxon Tel: 07792 211259 / 07817 05871; email: bhpcmanager@gmail.com 5. Cambridge & Newmarket Polo Club, Cambridgeshire Tel: + 44 1638 572030; email: aes3@cam.ac.uk; www.cnpc.org.uk6.

Cheshire Polo Club, Cheshire Tel: 01270 611100; email: info@cheshirepoloclub.co.uk 7. Cirencester Park Polo, Gloucestershire Tel: +44 1885 65 3225; email: info@cirencester.co.uk; www.cirencesterpolo.co.uk 8. Cowdary Park Polo Club, West Essex Tel: 01730 813257; email: enquiries@cowdraypolo.co.uk 9. Coworth Park Polo Club, Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire Tel: 01344875155; email: enquiiries@thepolocentree.com 10. Edgeworth Polo Club, Gloucestershire Tel: + 44 1285 821 695; email: edgeworthpolo@gmail.com 11. Epsom Polo Club, Surrey Tel: +44 1372 749 490; email: epsompoloclub@hotmail.com; www.epsompoloclub.co.uk 12. FHM Polo Club, West Essex Tel: + 44 7778 436 468; email: francis@fhmpolo.co.uk; www.Fhmpolo.co.uk 13. Guards Polo Club, Surrey Tel: +44 1748 434 212; email: administration@guardspoloclub.com; www.Guardspoloclub.com 14. Ham Polo Club, Surrey Tel: +44 20 8334 0000; email: administrator@hampoloclub.com; www.hampoloclub.com 15. Heathfield Polo Club, Oxon Tel: 01869351111; email: info@heathfiueldpark.com 16. Hurtwood Park Polo Club, Surrey Tel: +44 1438 272 828; Hurtwood Park@btconnect.com; www.HurtwoodParkpolo.co.uk Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

INTERNATIONAL POLO DIRECTORY 17. Inglesham Polo, Centre Wiltshire Tel: +44 1367 253939; email: polo@Inglesham-Polo-demon.co.uk; www.Inglesham-Polo-demon.co.uk 18. Kirtlington Park Polo Club, Oxon Tel: +44 1869 350138; email: kirtlington@aol.com; www.kirtlingtonpolo.com 19. Knepp Castle Polo Club, Sussex Tel: 07920 023639; email: info@aspectpolo.co.uk; www. aspectpolo.co.uk20. Light Dragoons Polo Club, Norfolk Tel:01362 627852; www.lightdragoons.com 21. New Forest Polo Club, Hampshire Tel: +44 1425 473359; email: derekval@waitrose.com; www.newforestpoloclub.co.uk 22. Orchard Polo Club, Dorset Tel: 01258 471000; www.orchardpoloclub.com 23. Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Tel: +44 1344 890060; email: info@rcbpoloclub.com; www.rcbpoloclub.com 24. Royal Leamington, Spa, Warwickshire Tel: 01926 812409; email: info@rtspoloclub.com; www.rtspoloclub.com 25. RMA Sandhurst Polo Club, Surrey Tel: 01276 412276; email: dentonsyard@maspolo.com; www.maspolo.com 26. Rugby Polo Club, Warwickshire Tel: +44 1788 817724; email: rugbypoloclub@btconnect.com; www.rugbypoloclub.com27.

27. Rutland Polo Club, Leicestershire Tel: +44 1572 770747; email: bls400@hotmail.com; www.rutlandpoloclub.co.uk 28. Sussex Polo Club, West Sussex Tel: +44 1342 714920; email: info@sussexpolo.co.uk 29. Taunton Vale Polo Club, Somerset Tel: +44 1823 480460; email: nhs@nhs.supanet.com; www.tauntonvalepolo.co.uk 30. Tidworth Polo Club, Hampshire Tel: +44 1980 846705; email: tidpolo@aol.com; www.tidworthpolo.com 31. Toulston Polo Club, Yorkshire Tel: 01422 372529; INFO@TOULSTONPOLOCLUB.COM 32. West Somerset Polo Club, Somerset Tel: 01398 341515; email: anne@eswoprthycottage.orangehome.co.uk 33. West Wycombe Park Polo Club Buckinghamshire Tel: +44 1494 449 187; email: WestWycombeParkPoloClub.freeserve.co.uk 34. Hertfordshire Polo Club, Woolmers Park Tel: + 44 01707 256023; email:polo@herts.co.uk FINLAND 1. Hyvinkaa Polo Club, Hyyppara Tel: 358 19 485 521; email: mika.lindroos@finnishpolo.org FRANCE 1. Aix-Pertuis Polo Club, Pertuis Tel: 06 67 73 37 53;. email: joelle.eynard.yahh.fr. www.polo-france-aixpert.com 2. Alpilles Polo Club, Saint Andiol Tel: 06 86 58 83 58 / 06 89 60 32 7; Mail: polosud@orange.fr www.alpillespoloclub.fr 3. Armor Polo Club, La Foret Fouesnant Tel: 0689989236; www.polo-chefdubois.fr 4. Brennus Polo Club, Thorigne Sur Oreuse Tel: 06 23 85 83 51; Mail: contact@brennus-polo-club.fr www.brennus-polo-club.fr 5. Brittany Polo Club, Guerande Tel: 02-40-62-02-64; Mail: info@brittanypoloclub.com www.brittanypoloclub.com 6. Calvados Polo Club, Calvados Tel : 02 31 31 19 85; 06 08 30 76 10; (mobile) E-mail : calvadospoloclub@f ree.fr Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

7. Congor Polo Club, Guerande Tel: 33 [0]2 40 62 02 64; mob: 068142 Email: mfdarritchon@fibertel.com.ar 8. Deauville International Polo Club Tel: 33 0 231 88 26 68; Mail: Deauville@pololine.com; www.deauvillepoloclub.com 9. Doyac Polo Club, Saint Seurin de Cardoune Tél. : 05 56 59 34 49; Mail: chateau.doyac@wanadoo.fr; www.chateaudoyac.fr/news/7/news.html 10. La Grange-Martin Polo Club Tel: 01-69-07-51-10; Mail: lagrangemartin@aol.com www.grangemartin.com 11. Latino Polo Club, Vauville Tel: 02 31 39 20 85; Mail: latinopoloclub@yahoo.fr12.

Le Chateau Polo Club, Brinay Tél. : 02-48-51-39-47; Mail: chateaudelabrosse@sfr.fr www.chateaudelabrosse.unblog.fr 13. Mariana Polo Club, Morsang, Président Paul Pinto; Tel: 06 12 38 17 86; Email: contact@lamariana.org 14. Medoc Polo Club, Vendays-Montalivet Tél. : 06-77-81-88-71; Mail : medocpolo@gmail.com www.medocpoloclub.com 15.Morsang Polo Club, Longvilliers, Tel: 0164 59 15 06 16. Passion Polo Club, Montigne Les Raines Tél. : 02-41-90-14-80; Mail: alibert.nc49@gmail.com; www.passionpoloclub.fr 17. Polo Club Biarritz Pays-Basque, Arbonne Tel: 06-64-19-82-82; Mail: contact@biarritzpoloclub.com www.biarritzpoloclub.com 18. Polo Club de La Moinerie, Saint Arnoult Enyvelines Tel: 01-42-21-11-80; Mail : poloclublamoinerie@gmail.com www.poloclublamoinerie.com 19. Polo Club de Plaisance, Villemurlin Tel: 02-38-36-43-69; Mail: reine. jpierre@wanadoo.fr http://plaisancepoloclub.free.fr 20. Polo Club de Touraine Tel: 02-47-92-77-65; Mail: secretariat@polo-touraine.com www.polo-touraine.com 21. Polo Club des Tostes, Bonneville La Louvet Tel: 06 88 18 14 63; Mail: bastien.mestrallet@morsangliere.fr www.fermedestostes.com 22. Polo Club du Bouloy, Villemurlin Tel: 02-38-36-48-70; Mail: lebouloy@orange.fr www.poloclubdubouloy.fr 23. Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly Tel: 03-44-64-04-3; Mail: secretariat@poloclubchantilly.com; www.poloclubchantilly.com 24. Polo Club du Pays de Fontainebleau Tel: 01 64 78 34 76; Mail: anelise.reinbold@live.fr www.polodefontainebleau.blogspirit.com 25. Polo de Paris Tel: 01-44-14-10-00; Mail: @polodeparis.com 26. Polo Porte des Sables, Calais Tel: 06-14-01-90-99; Mail: th.vasseur@wanadoo.fr; www.poloportedessables.fr/ 27. Riviera Polo Club, Montauroux Domaine de Pijaubert Tel: +33(0)668660547 Mail: info@riviera-polo-club.fr Alexia Pike 28. Saint-Tropez Polo Club Tel: 04-94-55-22-12; Mail: contact@polo-st-tropez.com www.polo-st-tropez.com 29. San Marco Polo Club, Montpellier San marco Tel: 06 99 65 42 40; Mail: contact@montpellierpolo.com www.montpellierpolo.com 30. Touquet Polo Club, Le Touquet Paris Plage.

Tel: 06-07-52-18-09; email:contact@touquetpolo.com; www.touquetpolo.com 31. Chantilly Polo Club, Chantilly www.poloclubchantilly.com

123

INTERNATIONAL POLO DIRECTORY GERMANY 1. Berlin Brandenburg Polo Club Tel 030 - 802 70 68 email: info@berlin-polo.de; www.berlin-polo.de2.

Berliner Polo Club Bergmannstr. 3, 14163 Berlin, Tel. 030 - 84 10 87 20; Mobil 0172 - 393 91 78; Email: info@berliner-polo-club.de 3. Mecklenburger Polo club Tel. 039957 – 21177; email: hamaltzahn@aol.com 4. Polo Club Heiligendamm Tel: 038203 – 77439; Fax: 038203 – 77004; email: horst.schuessler@t-online.de 5. Norddeutscher Polo Club, Hamburg Tel. 040 511 64 41; Fax 040 511 34 86; www.hamburgerpologestuet.de email: thomas.winter@pologestuet.de 6. Hamburg Polo Club Tel: 040 82 06 81; email: secretariat@hamburger-polo-club-de 7. Timmendorfer Polo Club Tel. 0160-93 38 67 06; email: as@polo-timmendorfer-strand.de; www.polo-timmendorfer-strand.de 8. Schleswig-Holstein Polo Club Tel: 04123 - 92 29 0; Fax: 04123 - 92 29 20; email: info@Polo-Academy.de 9. Sylt Polo Club Tel. 040 830 38 70; Fax 040 830 38 30; email: info@polosylt.de; info@PoloMasters.de 10. Niederrheinischer Polo-Club Tel. 02801-2091; email: kontakt@gestuet-ullenboomshof.de 11. Frankfurt Polo Club Tel: 0611 - 52 28 41; e-mail: FrankfurterPoloclub@t-online.de www.frankfurterpoloclub.de; twitter: www.twitter.com/frankfurterpolo 12. Stuttgart Polo Club Tel. 0711 - 60 86 37 & 0711 - 649 24 54; email: info@polo-club-stuttgart.de, www.polo-club-stuttgart.de 13. Chiemsee Polo Club, Ising Tel. 08667/ 79-0 email: w.niederberger@murschhauser.de; www.chiemseepolo.de 14. Polo Club Bayern Tel. 089/ 361 58 87; Fax 089 36 31 81; email: info@poloclub-bayern.de www.poloclub-bayern.de 15. Bavaria Polo Club Tel: 089 384 760 29; Fax 089 384 760 31; email: wolf.jage@gmx.de; www.bavaria-polo-club.de 16. Landsberg-Ammersee Polo Club Tel. 0173 - 36 55 325; Fax: 08194 - 93 20 82; email: info@polo-landsberg.de 17. Franken Polo Club Tel. 0911 230 820; Fax 0911 204 370; email: dr.huehnlein@t-online.de GHANA 1.Accra Polo Club, Accra 233 (0) 244 358 922 accrapoloclub@yahoo.com GREECE 1. Athens Biding Polo Club Tel: 30 1940 90000; email; papan180@aol.com 2. Pegasus Polo Club, Koropi Tel: 30 291 22067; email: pegasuspolo@hotmail.com HOLLAND 1. DTZ Polo Club, Bergseweg 28, 3633 AK Vreeland, dtz@polo.nl 2. Polo Club Deuverden, Donkeresteeg Tel: 070 3249650 3. The Dutch Polo and Country Club Tel: 31 343 52 1795; email: dpcc@polo.nl; 4. Wassenaar Polo Club, Waalsdorperlaan Tel: 070 3249650; www.poloclubwaenaar.nl 5. Deuverden Polo Club, Putten Tel: 06-23054348; email: info@poloclubdeuverden.nl Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

HUNGARY 1. La Estancia Polo Club, Budapest Tel: 36 209 914 121; email u.zimmermann@interware.hu 2. Budapest Polo Club Tel: 36 30 941 6679, email: u.zimmermann@interware.hu INDIA 1. Jaipur Riding & Polo Club www.jaipurpolo.com kgarcha@jaipurpolo.com IRELAND 1. All Ireland Polo Club, Phoenix Park, Dublin Tel: 00 353 1 677 6248; email: polo@allirelandpoloclub.com 2. Wicklow Polo Club Tel: 00 353 404 67164; Mobile: 00 353 87 2869691; Fax: 00 353 404 67363, Email: siobhan@polowicklow.com 3. Moyne Polo Club, County Laois Tel: 00 353 502 36135; Fax: 00 353 502 36282 4. Waterford Polo Club Tel: 00353 51 647908; Fax: 00 353 51 647477; Email: eurocabs@indigo.ie 5. Limerick Equestrian and Polo Centre Tel: +353 61 320292 or 087 2254734; Email: limerickpolo@eircom.net 6. Northern Ireland Polo Club, Tandragee Castle, County Armagh, Tel/Fax: 028 3884 1100; Email: shutchinson@tayto.com 7. Brannockstown Polo Club, County Kildare Phone: 00 353 (0)45 483 708; Email: polo@brannockstownpoloclub.com 8. Bunclody Polo Club, County Wexfrod Tel/Fax: 087 6605917; Email: rhogg@eircom.net 9. Border Reivers Polo Club, Pittlesheugh, Berwickshire.

Tel: 01890 840 777 or 07764 960 054 ITALY 1. La Fiorina Polo Club, Verona Tel: +39 348 883 4324; + 39 348 883 4323; email: info@lafiorina.com; www.lafiorina.com 2. La Ginevra Polo Club Tel: +39 0690 85320; Email: laginevrapoloclub@tiscalinet.it 3. Ambrosiano Polo Club :Poncia, Tel: +39 342 0574772 /email: info@lanuovaponcia.it; www.lanuovaponcia.it 4. Argentario Polo Club: Tuscany, Tel: 00 39 331 7910101; email: info@argentariopoloclub; www.argentariopoloclub.com 5. Acquedetto Polo Club Rome: Tel: 06.9476830 or 335.372427; email: max@acquedottoromanopoloclub.com www.acquedottoromanopoloclub.com 5. Asso.Punta Ala Equitazione: Tel +39 0577 33392 6. Firenze Polo Club: Tel: 00 39 3487 82 19 18; email: segretaria@firenzepoloclub.it; www.firenzepoloclub.it 7. Ginevra Polo Club, Riano Tel: 00 39 0690 85 320;email: laginevrapoloclub@tiscali.it 8. Milano Polo Club Mesero Tel: 00 39 0297 28 92 92; email:milanopolo@tiscali.it; http://www.milanopolo.com/ 9. Roma Polo Club: Tel: 00 39 06 807 09 07; email: romapolo@tin.it; http://www.romapoloclub.it/index.html 10. Villa Sesta Polo Club: Tel: 00 39 055 99 82 42; email: info@villasestapoloclub.com; www.poloclubvillaasesta.com/demo/index.php JAMAICA 1. Kingston Polo Club (876)926-2916 www.kingstonpoloclub.com info@kingstonpoloclub.com

125

INTERNATIONAL POLO DIRECTORY KENYA 1. Nairobi Polo Club, Nairobi 0722 264217 www.polokenya.com

11. Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro, www.rcphierro.com

MONGOLIA 1. Genghis Khan Polo Club, Orkhan National Park 97688114014 www.genghiskhanpolo.com genghiskhanpoloclub.gmail.com

SWEDEN

12. Soto Mozanaque Polo Club, Madrid, Tel: 91 350 16 62 - 28.036

13. Santa Maria Polo Club, Sotogrande MALTA Tel. +34 956 610 012 - Fax +34 956 610 132; 1. Malta Polo Club, San Guam, Tel: 356 79 476 491; info@maltapolo.com Mail; info@santamariapoloclub.com

NEW ZEALAND 1. Auckland Polo Club www.aucklandpolo.co.nz openmanager@aucklandpolo.co.nz PHILIPPINES 1. Manila Polo Club 63 2 817 0951 www.manilapolo.com ogm@manilapolo.com.ph PORTUGAL 1. Polo Estancia Santo Estavao Tel: 351 63 949 634 info@poloestancia.com; www.poloestancia.comt RUSSIA 1. “Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club”, Tseleevo Village, 56th kilometer of Dmitrovskoe Shosse, Dmitrovskij Area, Moscow Region +7 (916) 018-87-88 info@moscowpoloclub.com SAN MARINO 1. Titano Polo Club, Tel: 378 990 454 email:editano@omniway.sm SCOTLAND 1. Dundee and Pert Polo Club, Pertshire, Tel: 07831 365 194 2. Edinburgh Polo Club, Mid Lothiam Tel: 131 449 66965, jdpolo@tinyonline.co.uk, www.eteamz.com/edinburghpolo SINGAPORE 1. Singapore Polo Club, Singapore (65) 6854 3999 www.singaporepoloclub.org enquiry@singaporepoloclub.org SOUTH AFRICA 1. Kurland Polo Club, Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape 27 (44) 534 8082 www.kurland .co.za info@kurland.co.za 2. Val de Vie 27 21 863 6100 www.valdevie.co.za info@valdevie.co.za 3. Jurassic Park Polo Club 27 39 747 4401 www.jurassicparkpolo.co.za mail@jurassicparkpolo.co.za SPAIN 1. Andés Polo Club, Tel: 34 676097374; Email, Andés Navia 33700, 2. Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Tel: 357.21.32, Tel: 91 550 20 10; Fax: 915 50 20 31; www.clubvillademadrid.com 3. Club de Polo Cal Picasal-- Barcelona, Tel: 93-478.23.46.

4. Club de Polo de Mallorca y Baleares, Email: info@poloclubmallorca.com; www.poloclubmallorca.com 5. Club de Polo Santa Antoni De Viladrau, Barcelona.

Tel. +34 607 557 288 Email: info@santantonipoloclub.com 6. Club de Polo Soto Mozanaque, Tel: 91 350 16 62 - 28.036 7. Polo del Sol, Finca Burlanguilla, Cádiz, Spain, Tel: +34 856030042 Mobile: +34 60003694, 8. Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, Tel: 93-402.93.00.

9. Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro, Madrid, Tel: 316 - 17 45 28 035 10. Ampurdan Polo Club, Tel. +34 639 548 69; www.clubdepoloampurdan.com

126

1. Almare Starket Polo and Country Club, Kungsangem Tel: 0708 583 530 email: irene.seth@almare.se SWITZERLAND 1. Geneva Polo Club, Tél: +41 791019638 Mail : info@genevapoloclub.com; www.genevapoloclub.com 2. Bern Polo Club, Rubigen Tel: + 41 31 721 36 30 Mobile: +41 79 946 55 44 mail;info@polobern.ch 3. Gstaad Polo Cub, Tel: +41 33 744 07 40 Mail info@pologstaad.ch 4. St. Moritz Polo, Tel. +41 81 839 92 92 · Fax +4181 839 92 00; E-Mail: info@polostmoritz.ch THAILAND 1. Thai Polo and Equestrian Club 66 81 61 74 744 www.thai-polo-club.com santithaipoloclub@yahoo.com UAE 1. Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club, Dubai, UAE 971 4 3617111 www.poloclubdubai.com info@poloclubdubai.com 2. Dubai Polo Club, Desert Palm, Dubai, UAE 971 50 3434557 www.dubaipoloclub.com martin.dubaipolo@gmail.com UNITED STATES 1. Aiken Polo Club, Aiken SC (803) 270-6195 www.aikenpoloclub.org aikenpoloclub@bellsouth.net 2. Country Farms Polo Club, Medford, NY (631) 345-9585 www.country-farms.com bob@country-farms.com 3. Eldorado Polo Club, Indio, CA (760) 342-2223 www.eldoradopoloclub.com eldorado@eldoradopoloclub.com 4. Gulfstream Polo Club, Lake Worth, FL (562) 965-2057 www.gulfstreampolo.com seemaria@bellsouth.com 5. Greenwich Polo Club, Greenwich, CT (203) 561-5821 www.greenwichpoloclub.com leightonjordan@whitebirchpaper.com 6. International Polo Club Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, FL (561) 204-5648 www.internationalpoloclub.com jnewman@internationalpoloclub.com 7. Santa Barbara Polo Club, Carpinteria, CA (805) 684-6683 www.sbpolo.com melanjaj@gmail.com 8. Saratoga Polo Association, LLC; Saratoga Springs, NY (518) 584-8108 www.saratogapolo.com jrossi@saratogapolo.com 9. Southampton Polo Club, Water Mill, NY (561) 848-1650 www.southamptonpolo.com shamptonpolo@yahoo.com 10. Aspen Valley Polo Club, Aspen, CO (970) 710-1663 www.worldsnowpolo.net aspenvalleypolo@bellsouth.net 11. Meadowbrook Polo Club, Old Westbury, NY (631) 345-9585 www.meadowbrookpolo.com 12. Myopia Polo Club, Hamilton, MA (978)468-7656 www.myopiapolo.org info@myopiapolo.org WALES 1. Monmouthshire Polo Club, Lower Machen, Tel: 01633 441322 Fifth Chukker Magazine | Vol 2 Issue 10

Fill your holiday with sea and sunshine From breathtaking coastlines to endless blue horizons, find the perfect place to soak up the fun. Emirates Holidays has amazing experiences designed just for you.

Call 0700 0700 0700 to book now.

emiratesholidays.ng For bookings, call Emirates Holidays on 0700 0700 0700; e-mail:info@emiratesholidays.ng or contact your travel agent and ask for Emirates Holidays.

U O Y E K A T O T ALLOW US ATE SHOPPING SPREE indulgent – ON THE ULTIM y that much more

lida to make your ho ational brands. r rn e g te a e in d ll n a a s g n a in ic p shop outh Afr h fashion, luxury ig h With 54 million S f o y a d a y jo you to en we can’t wait for am holiday

Visit ww

book yo to t e .n a ic fr a w.south

10019720JB/E

ur dre

Inspiring new ways

COMMAND the FIELD Gulfstream aircraft are prized for record-breaking speed and distance, allowing you to set the pace for all your travel needs. Make the most of your play time, your work time and every hour in between when you fly Gulfstream.

NICOLAS ROBINSON | +65 9650 9286 | nicolas.robinson@gulfstream.com | GULFSTREAM.COM