Rural scenes in Morocco

Rural scene in mid-eastern Morocco

As we journeyed through mid-eastern Morocco I took what photographic opportunities I could manage through the window of our mini-bus. Sometimes this was not successful and occasionally I managed to get reflections from the glass, but most of the time I took reasonable shots of the rural landscape.

As we travelled in a generally south easterly direction from Fes we went through some mountainous areas as well as flat plateau farming areas. The further east we travelled the less that the land was actually cultivated. Instead we saw numerous examples of people living a semi-nomadic lifestyle, tending to their large flocks of goats and sheep.

Sometimes we saw farmhouses and shedding like those shown in the photo above. On other occasions we saw extensive dwellings which looked like tents. Frequently we saw people tending their animals like shepherds in centuries gone by. They seemed to wander far from their dwellings and certainly in some quite remote localities. Like shepherds have done for millennia, they have to wander from one food source to the next.

Rural scene in mid-eastern Morocco

Animal market in the streets of Addis Ababa

Animal market in the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

One of the features of travelling around the city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia is seeing animals everywhere. Donkeys are common beast of burden and drivers have to be especially wary of them. Cattle are found in various parts of the city and we passed several markets where they were for sale.

By far the most common animals would have to be sheep and goats. They all looked the same to me, but my daughter assures me, after talking to the locals while she was teaching there, that the tails of goats stick up and the tails of sheep hang down. I never had the opportunity to really put this to the definitive test. Had I shown more than a passing interest in the animals I would have found myself having to buy one. Not sure what I would have done with it had this occurred.

Animal market in the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Are they mountain goats?

Goats in the children's zoo, Taronga, Sydney

On our visit to Taronga Zoo last year we made a special point of seeing the children’s zoo section. This was for our grandson who was 19 months old at the time. We were amused by the goats on display in the farmyard. Several of them had climbed up on to the roof of one of the buildings there. With the goats looking down on us, I felt that we were on display – not the goats.

Goats in the children's zoo, Taronga, Sydney