The Cats of Lamu

the Feral Cats of an Exotic African Island
by Jack Couffer

     It was lovely to re-visit this book. I would not change one word of what I said on it eleven years ago. Delightful and intriguing account of a study on feral cats the author delved into while living as an expat on Lamu Island (off the coast of Kenya). What I found more interesting this time around, that I don't think I mentioned before: more tidbits of culture, like how the author felt he had to hire a housekeeper and then a cook, because that's simply how it was done on the island. The letter he includes that his housekeeper wrote to him when he was back living in America, is so different in syntax it takes concentration to read as if the person who wrote it thinks in different patterns.

The mention of how islanders interacted with the cats, even thought at first it was assumed most were wild and untouchable. A few would let themselves be petted, or even rub against people in greeting. One man once gave a beach cat a bath in the sea "because he looked dirty". Several people he found out sheltered dozens of cats in their homes- one old woman routinely fed about forty of them in her three-room house. Also at the village school, some fifty cats were regularly fed and hung out all the time, sitting among the children- which surprised the author when he discovered it, and a few photos showing the cats among the boys are just charming. There's mention of the island donkeys that provide nearly all transport and load-carrying, as the streets are too narrow for cars. There are bats- both insect-eaters and frugivores. 

I loved a description of kids on the beach making toys out of palm fronds that skidded across the sand, pushed by the wind, how a kitten pounced on one repeatedly. And of course, all the little observations of the cats' lives in their various groups- some claim the beach, others live at the dump, yet others in town where they get regular handouts. They fight for status, court each other, some move from one group to another. Kittens are born and raised, hierarchy shifts when an older male dies. Many hours just spent in quiet companionship, the cats sitting together, or each in its little patch of shade spaced evenly apart. They often go about their own affairs, where the author couldn't follow (through strangers' gardens and private courtyards), much of their lives remaining a mystery that he tried to piece together. Beautiful photographs. 

Though relatively brief, the book spans many years, and he mentions at the end how things have changed from when they first moved to Lamu. I can only assume it has changed even more since then. Yet it looks such a timeless place in the pictures, the ancient-looking cats strolling independent on the beaches under the bluest sky.

 

Rating: 4/5                  156 pages, 1998