Monkey madness!

I’d already had a wonderful experience seeing various species of monkeys at Monkeyworld on my second day of my visit. 

However, there were two more experiences with monkeys (one which I was lucky to capture on camera), and the other which I unfortunately was not there to witness but heard about from our volunteer liaison, Sharon. 

On my first day, I had been warned that there were vervet monkeys very close by which were often seen in the garden and were relaxed around humans, but we were of course advised not to approach them. I had been desperate to see them up close, as I wouldn’t have believed it unless I had seen them. (The whole being in Africa thing still hadn’t sunk in!) But fortunately, I did get to see them. 

I’m not sure what day this was exactly, but we had just returned from somewhere and were bringing some things in from the car (as far as I can recall). The door had been left open, but this all happened within the space of less than a minute. There was half a loaf of stale bread on our table, which one of the volunteers had intended to put out for the birds and other wildlife. I wish I could have seen this moment, but a monkey suddenly came in through the front door, jumped up on the table and ran off back outside with the loaf of bread! 

The volunteers shouted for me to come and look and we went outside the front door of the volunteer house and there was a whole family of monkeys sitting on the roof helping themselves to the loaf of bread. I don’t know a lot about the species, but either they have an incredible sense of smell and intelligence, or they were lurking very close by. 

The monkeys were not intimidated by our presence at all, and it was such an experience getting to see them close up in my environment is the thing that made it the most magical. They hung around for a little while longer, lurking in the trees and watching us and we soon left them to it. Such a great sight though, and so glad I got to witness during my time in South Africa! It was a lesson to us not to leave the door open – we were lucky they only went for the bread, that’s all I’m saying! 

Here’s two photos I managed to take! 

 

 

The second run in we had with monkeys was whilst I was working at the school, so sadly I missed it. The volunteer liaison officer, Sharon, was quietly working away in her office which is located in the volunteer house I was staying in. She heard rustling behind her several times, and when she turned to look, she saw the face of a huge baboon staring back at her! There were several all crowded at the side of our house, and it was such a rare sight as Sharon said she had never seen baboons at the house in all her years of working here. 

It is clear that baboons do live in Knysna, and it seems as if they can be quite a problem. Our house is not too far from the town and if the baboons had found their way down to the town, it could have caused a lot of damage to not only buildings but baboons can be incredibly dangerous and violent. There are many reports of dogs being attacked by baboons in the area. 

Any sightings of baboons particularly in such close proximity to homes needs to be reported to the relevant group. In Knysna, there is an action group. Their website is: http://baboons.myknysna.co.za/safety-tips/ It proves an interesting read, and it is also quite astounding just how big their presence is in the town, which is quite surprising to someone oblivious like me. 

I do not know the entire circumstances of this situation; for example, which authority is deemed responsible for dealing with baboon incidents however it does seem that civilians are taking the increasing problems with baboons into their hands, which of course is not acceptable. 

However, this post was not intended to end with doom and gloom, however from an outsiders point of view, it provides yet more insight into this country, their culture and everyday problems they might encounter (such as baboons!) Coming from the UK, this all just seems worlds away, which is why I had to post it as it really was another significant moment on my trip, seeing and understanding different aspects of the wildlife and how it is integrated with the country’s lifestyle!

My final post is coming soon!

Thanks for reading,

Jasmine 🙂