Lights, Camera, Action!

A little bit of Hollywood comes to Kefalonia! 
First of all - welcome to Donkey Trekking Kefalonia (DTK).

Me at DTK

The business is owned and run by Katharina Kallivoka who established it in 2013. 
It's located in the heart of Grizata, just 2 miles from Sami, in a valley of olive groves with a lush mountainous back drop of pine trees. Perfect for donkey trekking! 

Location of Donkey Trekking Kefalonia

There are 5 female donkeys altogether each with their own personality. The donkeys are VERY well cared for and not allowed to carry more than 8 stone in weight. In this respect, most of the riders are therefore children but adults can lead the donkeys on treks too, which is just as much fun and great exercise.

From the left - Louise, Dixie, Dora, Wiolatta and Grisella.

For more specific information about DTK including opening hours and treks etc, you can visit Donkey Trekking Kefalonia (website) or Donkey Trekking Kefalonia (Facebook)

Being close neighbours of Donkey Trekking Kefalonia (DTK) comes with great responsibilities! Back in July this year we were asked by Katharina to help out by acting as "customers" when a Greek TV crew came to film the donkeys and interview Katharina . It was all to do with non Greeks setting up businesses on Kefalonia.
How could we say no?!

The donkeys were stars for the day on 17th July 2017 when the camera crew from ERT3 Productions came to visit. Katharina was interviewed by the presenter Thalia Kambouropoulou who then went on to take a ride around the village on Dixie. She really enjoyed it!

Lights, Camera, Action! Dixie and Louise were stars for the day. Katharina in black.

Louise the donkey in the foreground

Katharina talking to the presenter Thalia (in pink)

Katharina getting Dixie ready for Thalia to ride

Katharina leading Dixie with Thalia. 

So when the cameras were rolling and Katharina was talking to the presenter we went about brushing the donkeys and cleaning their hooves, (as customers would normally do), in the background under an olive tree.

Lisa (our friend visiting at the time), me, and Mark in our support roles for the TV. 

Mark, Lisa and Anne (volunteer at DTK for the summer) with Grisella

Lisa with Wiolatta and Freda the resident dog

Sami  - The final video produced shows Sami and the surrounding area. It's obviously all in Greek but DTK is from 37 minutes. You can see us standing under the olive tree in the background while Katharina is being interviewed.

As a thank you for helping out - Mark, Lisa and myself went on a trek a few days later with Anne leading the trek, and some real customers! A lovely start to the day and great fun. We went on a one hour trek which took us further down into the valley, past olive groves and eventually to the stone bridge and ruins of mills.

Before departure - Anne explaining everything about donkeys!


The track leading down into the valley (just outside DTK)

Lush valley


Olive grove just outside DTK


The stone bridge

Mill ruins

Me with Dixie

Mark's turn with Dixie

Lisa with Grisella

Anne keeping an eye on everyone

 

Me and Lisa ploughing ahead. Have hat will travel!

Dried up river bed

Lisa with Grisella

We've also helped out at DTK in August for a couple of weeks when Katharina went into hospital to have her baby daughter.
While Mark was cleaning out the stable, I fed and watered the resident cats. Cats play an important part in stables where there is foodstuff as they are great at catching mice! One day I opened the stable door to be greeted with the remains of a mouse whose innards were strewn across the floor. Lovely!
Once Mark had cleaned the stable out, it was breakfast time. We led Dora in from the paddock first, put her halter on and the rest of the donkeys followed. They know exactly where to stand, each having their own halter at their position at the trough. The positions were - from right to left - Dora, Louise, Wiolatta, Grisella and Dixie. So we worked right to left always ending with Dixie. Simple.
In order for this process to go smoothly, we obviously had to get to know each of the donkeys and to be able to recognise who was who. Being neighbours, we see the donkeys from a distance on a daily basis and have done so for the past 18 months but we still struggled with who was who. (I did suggest to Katharina, tongue in cheek, that they should all wear bandanas with their names on.)
For the most part it all went well. On one occasion, the donkeys trooped in to the stable and we started putting their halters on. When it came to the last donkey - Dixie, she wasn't there. We looked outside and there was Dora standing outside, obviously confused as Dixie was in her place inside and she didn't want to stand in Dixie's position. A quick reshuffle and all was well and the donkeys proceeded to contentedly chomp their way through the hay in the trough.
While Mark was then cleaning the paddock, my next job was to clean their hooves (all 20 of them!) as they were eating their breakfast. They are so used to having this done and will present their hooves on demand to have them picked and brushed. As the donkeys go on treks over rough ground, it's important to keep their hooves clear of stones. I have to admit to be being slightly nervous at this task, but it all seemed to go well.
The donkeys were so well behaved and although we've known them for 18 months, it took working alongside them to find they each had their own quirky characteristics.

Dora 

The oldest (35)

Louise

The tallest

Wiolatta 

The smallest 

Grisella
The daintiest

Dixie 

The newbie 

 

Grisella, Wiolatta, Louise and Dora having their breakfast. 

We also had a new temporary addition to DTK to contend with - a five year old horse called Dayan. Dayan has restricted vision in one eye and so was named after an Israeli military leader (Moshe Dayan) who wore a black eye patch. Being partially blind and also acclimatising to his new home at DTK - he was a little nervous and so when it came to feeding him, Katharina suggested throwing his hay over the fence so as not to have to go into the paddock with him.
This was my job and for the most part that went fine apart from one occasion when he must have been hiding around the corner of the stable. I shouted his name as I was ready to throw the hay over the fence and he came storming round the corner to see me with my hands in the air. He must have got a fright as he reared up. I got a fright and let go of the hay which then landed on his face. So he wore his breakfast that day! No harm done.

Dayan

We also helped out just recently in October for a few days.

 Feeding time for the cats

Mark between Wiolatta and Louise. 

Anne has finished her volunteer summer stint at DTK now. She really enjoyed it and as a thank you to Katharina for the experience she put on a picnic at the centre for everyone. Katharina's husband Kristos and friend Ellen were there too. The sun was just going down as we made our way through some delicious food. Chilli, rice, greek salad, tzatziki and humous, all washed down with wine or beer, followed by cheesecake. Mmmmm......all homemade by Anne of course! A spot of archery, courtesy of Ellen, just finished off the evening nicely.

From the left: Ellen, Mark, Achilleas with Kristos, Katharina and Anne

and with me......From the left: Katharina, Ellen, me, Mark, Achilleas with Kristos
(photo courtesy of Anne)

Ellen with her homemade archery equipment!


Mark getting some tips from Ellen!


Anne presented Katharina with a bottle of red wine called Nefele (Katharina's baby's name)

Donkey Trekking Kefalonia is open all year round.  Give them a visit - you won't be disappointed!