Categories
Holidays

Birds, Baboons and Other Animals in Ethiopia

This is one of several posts about my recent trip to Ethiopia. The others, so far, are:

The Black Country | Anecdotes | Transport | Religion | Danger

The post on transport was updated recently.

I haven’t looked up statistics about animals in Ethiopia, but there are, without doubt, more than I’ve seen in any other country. Cows, goats, buffaloes. You see them on the roads. The driver gives a hoot and the animals inch away until there’s just enough room for the jeep to get past.

Camels and donkeys carry salt – for internal use only, we were told.

Camels carrying salt

We spotted a baboon

Baboon

and a monkey

Monkey

and a dik-dik.

Dik-dik

We saw vervet monkeys.

Vervet monkey

That’s right – blue.

But most of all, I remember the birds. Our guide and driver for part of the tour (Milli) was very knowledgeable about birds and knew all the names. He’d spot them while driving and stop for us to take photos. When said bird was on my side of the jeep, I’d let the window down and sit back for hubby to lean on me while photographing. The results were definitely worth the slight discomfort.

Birds
All photos in this post by David Drori
Categories
Books

2015 A to Z Challenge: Z is for ZOOLOGY

A-Z Challenge 2015Before you mention any animal in a historical novel, make sure that:

  • the animal existed at that time and in that place
  • the animal was used in the way you have described

You should know which animals were hunted and which animals helped with hunting. Were animals kept as pets?

This article provides useful information about wild animals in Britain during the Early Medieval period.

Dog sledding, Tromso, Norway
Dog sledding, Tromso, Norway

This post concludes my series about writing historical fiction. I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts. I will be back in a few days with a summary of what I’ve learned from it.