As I mentioned before Fuerteventura in a quite rocky and sandy island. You are not going to find any lush forests or jungles over there, but that does not mean that there aren’t any interesting flora or fauna to be found. On the contrary I was surprised to find wild goats walking around freely in the middle of the sand dunes close to Corralejo town! A whole herd of young and old goats munching away on the few straws of grass that you could find in the desert. Goats are bizarre animals because apparently they can eat almost anything and survive on some dry branches for lunch and a rusty piece of a fence for dinner…

We had picked up a friend from the airport and were returning to Corralejo when we decided to stop by the dunes to run in the soft sand and take some pictures. That’s when I saw the goats. This animal loving city girl got a bit excited and all I wanted to do was pet the cute goats…oh well, the poor goats probably got scared or annoyed because they did not seem to want to cuddle with me.

Fuerteventura is actually known for its dense wild goat population. Someone told me that there are more goats than people on the island. No wonder that you often come across various goat dishes and delicious goats cheeses being served in restaurants and tapas bars.

Another day when I was walking around the main shopping street in Corralejo on my own I had my second goat encounter. Outside a café a woman and a man and their little son were ordering something from the counter. I saw that the mom was holding a leash and looked down at the pet next to her legs. And oh my God!!! It was a tiny black baby goat! My heart skipped a beat and I sounded like a squeaky toy when I asked if I could pet the little goat.

Unfortunately there are no picture evidence of this goat encounter because I was mesmerized by all the cuteness…

By Monica Gren