Oftentimes an animal from the rainforest couldn’t fathom the concept of a desert. They are polar opposites, one abundant, lush, and teeming with life. The other barren, desolate, and unsupportive of inhabitants. Usually animals born in one seldom experience the other. This common sense does not apply to Nala the cat, who has traversed both these environments in just over two years on this earth.
Nala, originally from Monteverde, Costa Rica, has traveled more in her short time than some humans have in their lifetimes. Her story begins in Monteverde where she traveled to the Cloud Forest School in search of food and shelter. Monteverde is famous for its cloud forest, which are very rare rain-forests at high-elevations. Although incredible biomes with rich biodiversity, the cloud forest also would present many dangers for a small cat like Nala. Nala would find refuge in the first-grade classroom at the school, where after a few days, she would be taken home with two teachers from the school. These teachers- Dan and Niki, would go on to become Nala’s guardians.
They all would live happily together until the following summer, when it would be time to return to the United States. Nala would of course, be joining them, and made the journey to Chicago, Illinois. Nala would stay here with Niki and the gracious Neumann family for the time being. Dan and Niki would be moving to Europe for their next teaching positions, and much to their heartbreak, would not be able to bring Nala with them.
Nala however, is resilient and makes the best of any situation. She would thrive in Chicago, and after their European adventures, Dan and Niki would return. All the sudden, Nala was back in the car and after three days of driving, arrived in an environment unlike any she had ever been in. This is where our story begins as Nala arrives in her new desert home.
It would only be right to begin with this photo. Nala genuinely believes everything in our new apartment is her property. The camera bag and equipment was no exception. Fortunately she did not damage anything and was only curious to perform an inspection. The equipment passed the test and I was able to carry on with tracking Nala’s adjustment to life here.
Having moved with Nala a few times now I find this is always her initial reaction. She usually gets pretty overwhelmed with the travel so it makes sense that she needs time to just relax and recover. I can’t imagine what it must be like for her to be in such vastly different environments.
One of the first of Nala’s items we set up in the apartment was this little lion jungle house. Nala recieved this from her grandma Mariani for her first Christmas and has had it in each of her homes. She is very protective of the space and doesn’t like it when people get too close while she inside. Not only does the lion theme match the color of her coat, but Nala’s personality is very lion-like. She was also named for Nala the character from the Lion King, so there is a lot of symbolism with this house.
When she hasn’t been sleeping, another great way to adjust is of course to mark your territory. Nala has not failed to scratch every piece of new furniture or generally any object we’ve brought into the apartment. Fortunately, this lesson has already been learned the hard way in the past, so we intentionally did not get anything extraordinarily nice. The stool pictured we thrifted for $7 anticipating this.
Although Nala claims all of our possessions, she does have her own belongings too. One of her favorites that we were sure to bring was this white sox hat. While in Chicago, Niki’s dad acquired this hat for Niki’s mom. Naturally the hat somehow ended up belonging to Nala and out of all her toys she became obsessed with this. She will constantly be hugging it and scratching it with her hind legs as shown in the photo. Having these objects that she is familiar with and really loves have been key in helping Nala feel at home and safe here in the desert.
Although our apartment in Reno is smaller than Nala’s previous homes, that has not stopped her from exploring every inch of it. It is for this reason Nala has her collar-bell, a genius idea originally implemented by the Neumann family. You will quite literally never know where she may be trying to get into, so the bell has been revolutionary in locating her. Nala is already full-grown yet still very small so she has the ability to get into all sorts of nooks and crannies. She is also an amazing climber and extremely agile as the picture illustrates.
Nala has also been leaning heavily into us to help with the adjustment period. Nala, I sometimes describe as a dog, as she is very personable and people-oriented. However, sometimes she can be a little excessive in her attention-seeking. Sometimes she just believes that she has the better judgement of when its time to start the day, and has no problem informing you of this.
A big element of Nala adjusting to this new environment is that she is also reunited with us. Although the Neumann’s took excellent care of her, it has felt like the family is back together again. Although Nala is usually loving and expressive, she has been even more so than in the past. I like to think that she is extra happy to be back together with us. It is interesting to think about how animals view people, particularly if they think of anyone as “parents”. All I know is that her habits which usually are frustrating, like that pictured here, have been more tolerable since our move to Reno.
Ultimately, there’s not many places on earth Nala couldn’t thrive in. She adapts, adjusts, and establishes her proven routines. Whether the cloud forest of Costa Rica or the high desert of Reno, Nala finds a way. I’m just happy to be back living in her house.