Albanian Animals

Everywhere my daughter goes, she makes friends. In Albania, these are mostly animal friends because there’s nothing she loves better than furry animals, and furry animals are everywhere in Albania.

I love wildlife and there is plenty of wildlife in Albania too. We have seen waterbirds here such as flamingos, pelicans and cormorants as well as sea life such as octopus, an assortment of fish and starfish. There are also wild animals hiding in the forests that we haven’t seen such as wolves, foxes and bears. But it’s the animals that can be petted and played with that NG adores. And for an animal lover like her, Albania is a treasure trove of friendly animals.

When we visited Albania two years ago, a dog in the city of Berat befriended NG our first day in town. It followed us everywhere: through the city center, on hikes in the hills and into the castle. I imagined that if we were staying longer than a few days we would end up with a zoo waiting for us every morning outside our room. And now that we are back in Albania and living in the town of Himara, this is exactly what happened.

The cats compete for our attention, rubbing on our legs under the table while we eat breakfast. First there was just one. Now there are six or seven that rotate through, sometimes with a bit of hissing at each other as they change shifts. If we sleep in, they gather outside the door and start mewing. Wake up! It’s time for breakfast.

A brood of hens hang out in the garden of our house until someone leaves the gate open and then they sneak out for a few hours. If the gate is closed when they return, they start their clucking until someone opens it for them. They also like to hang out under our table waiting for scraps to drop. Occasionally, they quietly sneak up on our toes without us noticing and quickly try to gobble one down. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s enough of a surprise that I will jump out of my seat. Then I chase them off and they go back to the garden, clucking sullenly as if confused at how they missed the treat and then got treated unfairly.

An old shepherd also walks by our place every morning, herding his sheep along in one direction and then again in the afternoon back the other way. The rocky hills around town are full of sheep grazing on sparse greenery. The kids call to them and Tola bleats loudly at them. Sometimes they answer, but mostly they just run away.

Goats also wander the hills. These are more likely to answer our calls. Some are timid, but others come right over to visit. As much as the kids like to play with the goats, they still refuse to eat the salty goat cheese that is popular in Albania.

At first glance it seems that there are stray dogs all over the town of Himara, but after more than a month here I realize that everywhere we go in town we see the same two dogs that we met our first day here.

Blue is a starer. He looks something like a yellow lab and appears to be well-fed. We first saw him wandering the tables of a seaside Greek taverna near our house. He found a table with children and moved in on them, staring until they tossed him food. When our food arrived, he came to us, trying to make eye contact with his unblinking turquoise eyes. NG glanced down at him and he took the cue to focus on her, getting slowly closer to her plate until his nose was just inches away, his eyes locked onto her the entire time.

Waggly also showed up at the same Greek taverna. He is thinner and less bold than Blue. He hangs back, waiting for some words of encouragement before showing his appreciation in a happy display of wagging and smiling.

During the past month, I have seen these two dogs in every corner of town. One day we went to the beach and there, sleeping in the sand, was Blue. He got up and came to greet us with a happy wag. I spread our beach towel out in the sand and he promptly curled up on it as if we were there just to provide him a comfortable place to sleep.

I see Waggly all over town as well and he greets me every time with an overly enthusiastic wag. I saw his darker side the other day as I sat in a coffee shop. A man in a suit and tie (very odd dress for a small beach town like Himara, by the way) was walking along when Waggly came storming out of nowhere barking ferociously at the man. The man ran down the street with Waggly chasing him and nobody really seemed to give it a second look. Maybe he was a lawyer?

Fortunately, the animals of Albania seem to like us. And we like them.