The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Located on Zamalek’s Taha Hussein Street right next to Pumpkin, Captin El Malah is a new, hole-in-the-wall shop that sells pets as well as exotic animals.

The first thing that you notice as you enter the shabby makeshift shop is the taxidermy at the entrance. Two stuffed foxes guard both sides leading into this dingy place; a horrible and foreboding omen.

The shop itself looks like it was thrown together overnight. The walls are lined with tent-like sheets, while cages and shelves are thrown across the property randomly, carrying a variety of animals, including pedigree puppies, chameleons, kittens (starting at 400LE), guinea pigs, rabbits and goldfish (starting at 15LE).

The owner, presumably El Malah says that collecting animals was a hobby of his, and that recently he’s decided to share his collection and help people in acquiring strange pets.

El Malah will rush around the shop, showcasing all of the animals that you ask to see while his personal pug Bo’loz trails behind him. He seemed to know how to deal with animals, disinfecting his hands after handling each animal to make sure not to transfer anything. Still, he still doesn’t seem to treat animals with much respect. Other than the paltry conditions of the shop, some animals spotted here are definitely not meant to be domesticated!

The animals found here include the ordinary and the strange, all kept in deplorable and horribly filthy cages. A line of cages near the entrance is stacked on top of each other filled with kittens and a puppy with barely enough space to move. 

Other creatures found here include a pelican (3000LE) – which is kept somewhere in the back and let out for your viewing pleasure – a variety of snakes that have been horribly subdued, an alligator, hedgehogs kept in a fishbowl, hawks, eagles and even a monkey in a depressing little cell (3500LE).

We highly doubt that this shop has a license to sell these animals, and we seriously question how these exotic animals were brought into Cairo in the first place! Can you imagine driving around the city with a monkey or a hawk in the backseat?!

We hope that some animal rights activists will take note of this shop and give the owners a piece of their mind. If you’ve got someone who can help, have them take a look at Captin El Malah. If not, you may feel inclined to buy one of these animals just to save them from this miserable hole.