It may sound cliched, but one of the big lessons we’ve learnt on our trip through Africa is “expect the unexpected”. Whether it be the site of a completely naked man walking through a busy village without raising an eyelid, or an old Peugeot pickup-truck with a block of wood for suspension overloaded with yams attempting to overtake an oil-tanker on a blind rise in front of you… it’s all in a days work for the African adventurer.

Standard family pet in Africa

That’s why we were surprised, but not THAT surprised when an innocent (and very kind!) offer of lunch we received from Fred in Abidjan the other day turned into a trip to an awesome zoo. Turns out Fred’s dad is a bit of an animal fanatic, and shortly after our arrival Fred took us on a tour of the family’s very large and beautiful back garden. Here we encountered 2 small leopards running around with a monkey and dog, amongst other animals in various encampments! Having grown up in South Africa I thought it kind of weird that my first sighting of such a cat would be in Abidjan suburbia!

Here kitty-kitty…

To make things more bizarre, while checking out some photo’s we were alarmed by a strange noise outside – turns out one of the little kitty’s had hit the jackpot and wangled its way into the deer enclosure. Thankfully the caretaker stepped-in before any damage was done – he is a braver man than I!

Fred’s pets weren’t the only surprise – the guy is a celebrity! Here in an international Peugeot ad-campaign…

…and showing some leopard-like speed in the June 07 issue of French surf mag ‘Surf Session’