Animals of Goa

An account of our rather lethargic stay in Palolem would be incomplete without some mention of the animals we encountered there, namely stray dogs and wild pigs. Now these may not sound very exciting, but they added a whole extra dimension to our stay there!

Stray dogs are a bit of a problem in India, but in Palolem they're so well fed, and hang around the restaurants on the beach so much that they're very healthy and friendly. Most of the restaurants have adopted at least one or two dogs, who politely sit and wait expectantly while you're eating your dinner. Ellen insisted on giving some of these dogs ridiculous names (bruce for a girl dog, bruce II for her daughter), while i came up with some good ones (or at least more sexually appropriate). They would even come and lie under your sun bed in the day to get out of the heat, or dig themselves a pit under your table in the evening to sit in and keep you company.

The wild Goan Black Pigs are amazing. They're really small, standing about a foot off the ground, and quite scared of people (they grunt and squeal and run away when you approach!). They lived in the sandy palm forest behind the beach, eating the rubbish (and no doubt providing bacon for breakfast in the restaurants). They were very cute, especially when they squealed and ran into each other in an effort to escape from us. On the last day we saw some new piglets who were even funnier and even more scared- they would run around in circles and hide under bushes. Definitely a highlight of our stay on the beach!

Also worth a mention are the cows. They mainly live in the village (also eating rubbish) but every evening a few ceremonial cows with bells would be herded across the beach, with painted horns. Didn't manage to get any pictures so you'll just have to take my word that it was very picturesque!