Part II of III (Animals!)

Pigs, goats, dogs, lizards, chickens, crocodiles, bugs, horses, cats, bats, fishies, crabs. So this is the wildlife I’ve come in contact with so far in Ghana. Goats actually just roam free, grazing where they can; by the side of the road, in gutters – wherever. They’re big ones, little ones, grey ones, black, brown and spotty ones. So many goats! We were sitting on the beach on a Friday afternoon and all of a sudden, out of nowhere (sounds like a horror movie, right?) a really big pig comes jogging along the shoreline. No kidding. It was a good size porker too – as big if not bigger than the ones caged up in pens in good old PA. Not long after, a little one trotted after it – curly-cue tail and all. I don’t know where they came from, or where they were going, but we saw pigs on a beach. There are lizards everywhere here. Purple and orange ones, greet ones, and ones that waddle and ones that sorta hop/skip/jump from place to place. Super cute and adorable, I kid you not. Chickens, dogs and cats all roam free – most are mangy looking, kind of skinny, but generally peaceful, not scrappy at all. Some dogs are pets; I’ve yet to determine about the status of the cats. The dogs are pretty cute – I think it’s too hot for them to do much besides lay around, and they do that quite well. Crocodiles – we see them in the lagoon we pass everyday on the way to school. Just kidding. J We went to a crocodile sanctuary type place this past weekend – it was really really cool. We saw a baby croc, and then two big ones. One of the big ones was sunning itself by the path – we actually thought it was dead….and then it’s head moved, and we booked it. Craziness, I tell you. We’ve seen some pretty trippy bugs – lots of bright colors and cool wings and such. We also have mosquitoes. These are straight up pests. They carry disease and leave uncomfortable bites – think midsummer at home, except all the time here. Bleght. We have this stuff called Odomos that keeps them away better than anything you’ll find in the states. At 1GHC a tube, I’ll take orders to bring some back should anyone so desire. Horses, crabs and fish we found at the beach. Well, horses are everywhere and tend to just kind of roam – most are thin, but they seem to be happy and have the run of the place, which is nice I guess. Kind of disconcerting at first, but still neat. Fish and crabs are pretty much exclusive to the beach, as you can imagine. Hard to catch, but fun to watch; especially the crabs. They would run along the beach dodging upcoming waves – sometimes being not-so-successful. Bats are just everywhere. There’s actually a place in Accra where they all congregate for no particular reason. While bats are nocturnal and usually find dark places to roost during the day, some of these bats roost in these tall, sunny mahogany trees while others fly around. Super weird, and no one really knows why this happens. So there you go. An overview of  the animals and wildlife so far in Ghana. I’ll keep you posted. J Monkeys and elephants are on my list to see as well. Any other requests or challenges?