Ain't No Zoo

Lizards and vultures race across my tin roof, creating noises that I assume would be heard during an avalanche. Roosters crock at all hours and hens strut across every surface, leaving behind their discretions every 10 minutes. Sheeps enter our courtyards seeking food and creating havoc. Goats scream like “kids” as children chase them through the fields. Donkeys cry out in sorrow, releasing the frustration of being the hardest working creature in village. Cows cross major roads in single file lines, followed by herder boys. Turkeys gooble and guinea hens scare (they are really quite hideous). Ducks wait on land until the rains recreate their beloved lakes. Bats fly as night fall approaches both black and white ones. And I sit watching it all, wondering how I ended up on a desert farm, not at all the wildlife I once imagined. But there are zoos (reserves) for animals like that, even in Burkina Faso.