Travel is not just about meeting new people and seeing new places, its also about the other living friends here on earth, the unique and beautiful animals we met along the way on our journey across Ethiopia.

I, Melody Sargent, a long time team member of Devxchange, tried to capture a unique piece of my recent trip. I couldn’t help but also take photos of the animals I met along the way, not only was it cool to see a goat, ox or camel walking by you on the road, but there were other familiar animals to Canada that I wanted to capture too.

The Travelling Herds

Throughout our trip, we saw livestock walking along the side of the road with one person, sometimes the person was in charge of just a couple animals, sometimes they were herding 50+ animals at a time all by themselves, down the shoulder of the highway. There would be nothing around for miles and you knew they must have been on a long journey. 

Goats, Donkey and Ox, walking down the road to their next destination in rural Ethiopia.

This boy was in charge of just this one lamb for his family. He was very happy to have his photo taken when I asked.

As we were driving into the desert I started to see camels, which were as common as cats and dogs in Canada in the desert. This was the very first camel I saw as we drove down the side of a massive mountain.

One keeper is in charge of 3 camels, this is the only road through the mountain that had altitudes of 8700 feet above sea level and took 6 hours to drive through.

Animals of Devxchange

There were also animals I met along the way that were crucial to our projects.

New Hope Project, microloans project, led by Sue Black. A hen and her chicks walk around the perimeter of the home of their owner. Eggs and meat will provide nourishment for villagers here.

Feru is seen here from the Forestry For Life Project. He is using Ox to till large farming areas that will soon have fruit trees planted.

Wild Animals

There were also some wild animals along the way that made me hold my breath a few times.

The baboons in the mountains were by the far the most breathtaking and intimidating creature to encounter. Luckily we were safe in our vehicle during this event, however days earlier we had just stopped on the side of the road in this exact spot and got out to stretch our legs, so we were quite lucky. This was one of the larger of the pack, strutting around with what felt like a giant lion’s mane for fur. He was giving me the side eye here, being curious and cute and half begging me for some food.

But the scariest animal of all, was found early one morning, in the bathroom, the largest spider I have ever seen(besides at the zoo). This thing had a span of 5 inches across and I was very happy to see him leave before I had to do my business. Thanks to a few team members overhearing me scream, I was saved multiple times from this type of spider.

At 5:30am me and this spider met each other. He thankfully went out that open window!

The Familiars

We also met some more familiar looking animals along the way.

I do consider myself a bit of a cat whisperer, and did my best to show this kitty I wasnt a threat. You can see him squinting a little bit at me in his photo which is how a cat smiles at you.

NOW – I must tell you about the golden eyed kitty that I was so mesmerized by, I ended up journeying back to the area randomly and made sure that I went back and took a photo of this kitty. She lived in a shop with her owner and was extremely rare amongst the other street cats. She had ran past me the day before as I was shopping for some supplies when I pointed and gasped at her beauty she ran up to the shop owner who picked her up and gave me a big smile and invited me over to pet her. She was very timid but clearly loved the man. The following day I found her staring at me through the window of the shop, lounging on the most fanciest chair that was clearly in the shop just for her. I hope when I return again to Ethiopia I can also visit this kitty. 

The golden eyed kitty, seen here with her shop keeper owner in the doorway of their shop.

There was also the cat I first met at the first lodge we stayed at. She followed me around for the three days I was there, and sat beside me every morning at breakfast. On the third day I threw her some scrambled eggs and she gobbled them up. 

Hungry kitty waiting for some more scrambled eggs.

There was also many many street dogs, very unique and some that reminded me of a dog people would pay a lot of money for back here in Canada (They looked like Shiba Inus). But the one dog that captured my heart was the timid and shy mutt that hung around the Forestry For Life complex. They had saved it from a dog fight with another dog (hence the marks on its face) and they took him in. I saw the workers leave him lots of raw meat everyday to snack on and bones, and the biggest bowl of water Ive ever seen under the shade of trees. His name was Joe Biden lol. They took good care of Joe. 

Joe Biden the dog, at the Forestry For Life complex, living his best life.

Another common animal I saw were cows that resembled the ones in Canada, the Holstein cow. Anytime our team saw one we would get oddly excited (one of us was a farmer) and ask for its photo. This was at the first lodge we stayed at, they raised their own livestock. 

The lodge’s animal keeper and cows.

Thanks for going on this journey with me again as I reminisce on my recent trip with Devxchange. If you ever would like to come on a trip with us or one of many other meaningful opportunities around the world facilitated through our partners, visit our volunteer travel website at trips.devxchange.org – you can choose a trip and fundraise for it with us too! Reach your goals of helping others and see the world.

 

And one last cute goat photo for the road.

An adorable goat watching me take his photo.

 

A little about me

Hi, my name is Melody Sargent. I am the operations manager for Devxchange. I work with our projects everyday and ensure Canadian volunteers have the opportunities they wish for to fufill their calling to help others. 

I really enjoy the work I am able to do and appreciate seeing the world and how all our projects are helping others.

Maybe you have a project you would like to start with us here at Devxchange. Send us a quick application and I will personally review it and get back to you. www.devxchange.org/start

Thanks again for reading my blog piece! 

Melody Sargent