The Cairo Gyro

SubhanAllah.

I had a dream about a ferret type creature. I dreamt it belonged to Sammer and she asked me to pet-sit for her as she went out. The ferret was soft and brown and it only wanted to be held (I was under the impression Sammer spoiled it ;). While petting it, loving it, and giving it my undivided attention, a group of people show up at the house and start partying. They were several in number, each one obnoxious and loud. In my dream I kept telling the unwanted guests to Shh! because You’ll scare Sammer’s pet! when suddenly it leaped out of my arms and ran away. The rest of my dream was me panicking and searching around the house for the darling little creature before Sammer arrived home.

I woke up and on our morning walk to catch a taxi to school I shared my dream with Sammer. SubhanAllah to my surprise she told me she TOO had a dream of a ferret type creature! We were a little weirded out by the whole thing and each of us began describing the creature exactly as we had seen it in our dreams. You’ll never guess what happened next…

SubhanAllah, right at that very moment a creature that looked EXACTLY like what we saw in our dream comes scurrying along the street next to us! We were complete disbelief and kept saying to eachother “SubhanAllah it’s the ferret! We must be dreaming! Are we dreaming?” In the whole 6 months we’ve been here not ONCE have we seen these creatures in Egypt nor did we have any prior knowledge to their presence in the country. It’s amazing how that strange occurrence was written in our destiny long before that day!

We walked faster along the road trying to keep up with the curious little creature that seemed to have leaped right out of the dream dimension we’d only just left a couple hours before. There he was, in plain sight and then suddenly, we lost him as he ran down into a garage. We were left dazed and laughing to each other hysterically wondering if it had all been a result of lack of sleep. First we couldn’t believe we both dreamt of the same thing, the we couldn’t believe such a random creature found its way into our dreams, and lastly there it was right before our very eyes. SubhanAllah is all I can say.

Later on, internet searches confirmed that what we saw might not have been a ferret after all but it appears the mysterious little guy was an Egyptian Weasel:

“Didn’t expect to find these in Egypt, did you? These are weasels, just like the ones found in North America, Europe, and Asia. They are found all over the world as they can adapt to fit any environment. Weasels will eat anything, and they do devastating damage to the domestic fowls such as chickens and ducks, eating the eggs as well as the small chicks. For many Egyptians, the weasel is a great nuisance. They are often found living in the city, even in the walls of houses like mice, stealing food wherever they can find it.” Source.

I also learned a little about Egyptian foxes. This one’s a Fennec Fox. They are known for their big ears which are sensitive enough to hear large insects, such as beetles and locusts, walk on sand. Their fur repels sunlight during the day and conserves heat at night. The soles of their feet also have a thick layer of fur that serves as protection from the hot sand. I would love to see one of them next:

You can read more about the wildlife of Egypt here.