Wandering Livestock

Lots of chickens roaming around the streets of Malawi – sometimes you see two or three of them in wooden cages, headed to market no doubt. Sometimes, as we are driving down a street, we`ll pass a man who is standing at the side of the road, waving a chicken around, wings flapping, trying to attract a buyer.

Today, as I was walking back to my hotel, from a three hour walk about town, I ended up trailing a man who was carrying a package of some sort, in one hand, and what I assumed to be a dead brown chicken, dangling beak down, in his left hand. As I drew closer, I noticed the chicken darting its head around, eyes bright and inquisitive. The man had a tight hold on its scrawny sharp feet, and the bird swayed as he walked along, paying it no mind.

In the city, you may encounter the odd chicken wandering around, but goats seem restricted to the countryside. I have noticed that often goats, unless travelling in herds with a boy or two to keep watch, seem to be tied up with ropes – to keep them from grazing on the crops which are just beginning to green, now that rainy season is here. Rainy season is a bit of an exaggeration, as aside from an initial downpour when I first got here, it`s been relatively dry. This is not good news for a country with limited irrigation methods.

I`ve also seen live goats strapped to the back of bikes – two on one bike, tied down with rope, uncomplaining as they are whisked down the road to what I suppose to be their doom. I once saw a massive boar tied down on a bike – like I said, you never know what you will encounter.

Because there isn`t much in the way of refrigeration outside Lilongwe, the butcher stalls which crop up in the countryside, are showcases for freshly slaughtered animals – you can see whole goats, skinned, dangling, as well as various slabs of dark red flesh, mottled with yellow fat, and assorted body parts – a hind here, and a leg perhaps. It`s a bit gruesome – apparently you just buy chunks of meat. It seems a bit unappealing to me, as I would wonder how long the typical cut has been hanging in the sun, fly fodder.

Of course, unlike 90% or so of the population in Malawi, I can afford to buy my meat packaged at Shoprite – money can`t buy happiness but it can reduce your risk of salmonella and e coli poisoning.

Speaking of herds, we saw a large herd of cattle yesterday, while driving back from Lake Malawi. This struck me as unusual – a visiting veterinarian, part of Vets Without Borders, who actually lives near the outskirts of London, Ontario, was telling me that most farmers own only one cow, and they milk it daily – the milk is poured into containers and then biked to a central facility, where the containers are dumped into a holding tank. I’ll admit that after talking to him, I began regarding the local milk with some suspicion, although it is pasteurized and preserved using ultraviolet rays.

View of a large herd of cattle - rather unexpected to see so many together!