From Allis, Esmeralda…

…and Amanda!
Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend!

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Two months ago, we introduced Ramatu & Abubakar, the new owners of our two goat kids Raz & Amanada.

Raz the buck has been ready to move almost a month now, but we wanted to wait until Tabita was back, so that she could be there when Abubakar came to pick up his gift.

Having lost a [...]

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Ever since I read up on the huge amount of unnecessary chemicals that are being pumped into our food only to make finished products look better and last for next to eternity, I have taken a liking to making things from scratch.

Home-made goat cheese
There is something so very refreshing about food that spoils according to [...]

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From time to time, the goats of Ishtar’s Ark have one complaint: that they don’t get to go out as much as they would want to. We would if we could (after all, they’re very photogenic and Allis LOVES to jump on the rocks!), but with a full time job, seven canine youngsters and two [...]

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On this day, last year, we decided to weigh our goat kid Allis, who was then just little over a month old.

Our sugar sweet photoshoot session ended up producing one of my favourite blog posts up to this day, entitled “The day we told Allis what really happened to her father…”

If you haven’t seen it, [...]

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Sometimes, when we’re lucky, we get a lot of milk from our two goat ladies Allis and Esmeralda,

…and no one is more pleased than the sons and daughters of Sheba!

Goat milk stands very high on Eden guard dog menu, and even though the youngsters can’t smell it through the jar, they know that white stuff [...]

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As much as we love having new goat kids around, we would not be able to keep every little buck or doe born at Ishtar’s Ark. Raz the buck had a fabulous coat, but as the offspring of one doe and the brother of the other, he would have to be castrated in order to [...]

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Our little goat princess Allis is a year old today!

Where has time gone? It was long ago that she was a little goat kid running for safety behind her courageous mother Esmeralda.

We’ve had a lot of fun with our Allis!

She’s the most docile goat I’ve ever known,

…which in turn makes her very cuddly friendly! [...]

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Skywatching in Niger is often a very peaceful happening.

The rocks, the trees and the sun make for a stunning combination.

Enter a pair of goats, and you have it all.

A dancing goat

A stunning sunset

Allis the rock formation princess takes it all in

Whether pink or orange, the Zinder bush sunset never leaves us empty handed.

And after the [...]

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After weeks of severe neglect in the hands of Ali during our stay in Sweden, our pregnant does Allis and Esmeralda were just starting to look better, although still in the works of fattening up. A few weeks ago, Allis didn’t even look pregnant, but this past weekend, our vet confirmed that she was still [...]

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Ever since Isolde was just a little filly, she has always appreciated the company of humans and seemed intuitively drawn to these two-legged individuals. Horses interested her just as much, but unlike Kalahari, I never saw Isolde take any interest at all in communicating with animals of other species.

Last month, I saw the first signs [...]

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A few weeks ago, we noticed a lump on Allis’ leg. At that time, she had recently been on a walk outdoors, where she met other goats whom she fought with, so we figured it the lump might just be a bruise from another goat’s horn. It didn’t take long before the lump grew sideways, [...]

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Our Nigerien doe Esmeralda with newborn Allis (October 2008)
Ever since we sent away Allis’ father Amadeus to the market, Anette and I had been talking about borrowing a buck for a a couple of weeks, in order to have a new goat baby (or two!) in Autumn. Although neither of us are particularly fond [...]

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The first rain of the season offered a comfortable break from the humid heat that had been going on for the past two weeks, as well as a garden full of naturally showered animals!

The critters themselves were happy with the change of temperature, but some of them (Dennis Mugu in particular) voiced their protest against [...]

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