Monkeyland and Birds of Eden

  Storms River, South Africa
Monday, January 30, 2006

We checked out of the backpackers the next day and stopped at two attractions on the way to our next destination. One was called Monkeyland! It was a large treed nature reserve that has high electric fencing to keep the monkies inside. The monkies that are here are mostly from unfortunate past situations. A lot of them were lab test animals. Some are rescued organ grinders that were forced to dance and wear clothing. Others were trained by criminals to be pickpockets. Some are dumped off because ignorant people decide a monkey would make a good pet then realized they were wrong. They all look like they are doing well though and enjoying their surroundings now. They are learning how to be proper monkeys for the first time.



The center tries to rehabilitate as many of them back into the wild as they can. It is very difficult though since these monkies were never in their natural environment and did not learn how to climb trees and how to find food for themselves. As well some just would not survive because of the mental trauma they have experienced. When you go through the trails you have to go as a group with a guide. Some of the monkeys can be dangerous, having 2 to 3 times the strength of one man. We saw all kinds of monkeys. Some very small ones that had yellow legs, they were really cute. Also a large one called the Brown Howler, it was like a small bear, and made a terrible noise. There were some called the Cappicino monkeys, brown like coffee, these were the ones you would see used as the organ grinders dressed in clothing. As well they had many Lemers. These are only found in Madagascar, and no where else in the world. They are endangered because that country is so poor they are killing them for meat.



Next door to Monkeyland is another attraction called the Birds of Eden. This place was incredible and we highly recommend it. It is very large and the entire area is covered in fine green netting. Inside it is just a huge natural forest. When you walk around you cant even see the netting and would think you were just walking around in a normal forest. They have many varieties of birds. Cockatoos, cockatiels, grey african parrots, a blue parrot, a bright yellow parrot and so many other species we don't even know what the names were. It also had a wetland area with Uganda's national crane. Some strange looking ducks, and to our surprise even a couple of Canadian Geese. We had a few experiences of birds trying to land on us. A pigeon kept attacking my head as well as an african grey parrot that just wouldn't leave us alone. Near the entrance to the walkway inside we were greeted by 3 of the tiny marmoset monkeys. They were not shy at all and tried climbing onto our pant legs and nibbling at our shoes.



See you in Plettenberg Bay