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Published: March 9th 2010
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Headed a bit further along the coast today and we are now in Keurboomstrand. It is on a really nice sandy beach. We spent the afternoon walking along the beach,occasionally sticking a toe in the chilly sea and watching the sea snails move along the beach in search of food.
We are staying in another self-catering chalet. We don't have ocean views but it is a bargainous 470 Rand (£40) a night. It is massive with a big living/kitchen/dining area.
On the way here we stopped at Monkeyland which is a monkey sanctuary. There are around 400 monkeys and it is set in 15 hectares of forest. All the moneys were kept as pets or from zoos so can't be released into the wild. There are no cages at the sanctuary so they are all free to run around as they please. When we arrived there was a monkey in the men's toilets!
Before you go into the forest they tell you not to have anything loose on your bag or in side pockets because it is not unknown that the monkeys will steal them. Apparently one got in the shop and took 8000 rand out of the
till last year!
You have to be on a tour when you are in the forest. Luckily as it was early we were in a small group of 5. You spend an hour wandering in the forest looking for monkeys. It is obviously luck as to what you see.
We saw lots of ring tailed lemurs and cappuchins. The cappuchins are the 'organ grinder's monkey' and can be naughty, They used to trained to pick pocket people.
We also saw another type of lemur, squirrel monkeys, a howler monkey and some vervet monkeys You get vervet monkeys in the wild here (not that we have seen them) and apparently they can be quite a pest. The other people on the tour were from Durban and they regularly got them in their house stealing their food! The most bizarre thing about the vervet monkeys is that the males have luminous blue balls!
There is a gibbon there too although we did not see him. We could hear him though making were loud noises above us in the tree.
The whole place was really good and although the monkeys are not wild you do get to see
them playing in the trees and rushing right past you. It is a much better experience than visiting a zoo. Once the monkeys are released into the forest then they are on their own. There is food put out for them but no one there to protect them. Apparently quite a few end up fighting (over women mainly!) and some of them get killed as a result.
As well as the monkeys we saw some tortoises and some Knysna louries. The Knysna lourie was a good bird spot as they are not that easy to see in the wild. Needless to say I was pleased about that. I could have spent longer watching them but we had monkeys to find!
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