Written by Kimberly Liell-Cock
Professional photography by Nat Gold ZA
Jelly Bean turned up outside my clinic, which is based on a large construction site in North West Africa, on the morning of the 29th of December 2024. He had no mother or siblings to be found. He was as confused as we were.
We suspect that Jelly Bean travelled to our clinic underneath a car, perched on top of the fuel tank, from a nearby village. He demonstrated a terrifying habit of climbing up underneath cars to find safety, which had me constantly doing vehicle inspections before anyone was allowed to drive off.
Tiny but mighty
I was on nightshifts when Jelly Bean turned up; he’d hide under the office container during the day and come out to see me when I arrived at night. It was like he recognised the sound of my footsteps. We’d hang out all night, playing outside for hours, and then he’d sleep like a darling on my lap. I’d started to take him some meat from all my meals, which he’d devour with great gusto.
Jelly Bean was very small and not in a good condition. I took some advice from a friend, who’s a veterinary nurse, and we managed to get him dewormed and pooping normally after two days. We first thought he was a boy, then reverted to a girl after we did some Googling, but it turned out we were right in the beginning, and by the time I left the camp with him he had a tiny little pair of nuts still tucked up.
A construction site in Africa isn’t the best place for a kitten. The site got busy and I was worried he’d be killed by accident during the day. I began taking him back to the camp with me at the end of my shift, which wasn’t an easy task. Luckily, the project manager is also a lover of cats, and he was happy to have him at the camp as long as I took care of him.
I kept him in my room at the camp and transported him backwards and forwards from the clinic in a cardboard box so that he wouldn’t escape or disappear; he used to yell at me when we first started, but he got used to it pretty quickly. Eventually, he was calm enough that he could sit on my lap for the ride.
I couldn’t leave him behind
By the time I was scheduled to go home, I knew I couldn’t leave him behind. He was fully dependant on me, and he was still so small. Due to the nature of our work, we’re all rotational at the site and so no one could be fully relied on to take care of him in my absence.
I reached out on an expat Facebook group in the capital city and found the most amazing couple from Brazil who were able and willing to babysit him while I made export arrangements. They were also cat lovers and had already taken two cats back to Brazil previously. Without them, I would never have been able to take Jelly Bean home.
International travel for pets is a long and difficult process, especially to South Africa. Your pet requires vaccines, a microchip and two different veterinary certificates from the state vet of the exporting country. And the hardest part was that everyone wanted to be paid by cash only.
Bringing Jelly Bean home
I begged and borrowed local cash currency from friends and colleagues, and we collectively managed to get together the full veterinary fee, which was equivalent to about 500 euros.
My Brazilian friends had brought microchips back with them from Brazil, and donated one to the “Jelly Bean Cause”. They also helped me find a vet to do all the necessary vaccines, implantation of the chip (you can’t get these microchips easily in this country) and to complete the travel certificates.
The hardest part was finding an export agent. I contacted dozens of companies and airlines, but I received little or no help. By chance, I found a bird exporter on LinkedIn and tried to make contact with him. It took some time, but a few days later he got back to me and said he’d help.
Jelly Bean travelled from the construction site to the capital city asleep on my lap for five hours, to his new temporary home on the 22nd of January 2025. He left his home country on the 10th of March 2025 and travelled 36 hours in the cargo hold of an airplane to South Africa.
From living under a construction container in North West Africa, to living with a family on a farm in Cape Town. He’s Jelly Bean, the travelling cat.
