Blogs from Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 4

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Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 26th 2010

Today was a pretty awesome day for most of the day. I woke up excited for the HIGHEST BUNGY JUMP IN THE WORLD! We left the hostel at 8 am in order to get to our 10:30 reservations at Bloukrans Bridge which was about 2 hours away. However, with Hal’s driving we reached relatively quickly. The Bungy Jumping was AMAZING!!!!! Definitely worth every penny and I am so glad I did it. I can now say that I’ve bungy jumped the highest commercial bungee jump in the world. Ask me for more details when I get home. With some more crazy fast driving from Hal we made it in time for our round of 16 game (Uruguay vs. South Korea) despite the problems we had at the Bungy jump site. My seat was pretty far up, ... read more
World's Highest
Gettin Ready
Superman!!

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 24th 2010

We had a very exciting weekend; Karen got a call to say someone had found a baby baboon and would she take him, so we jumped in the car and drove th 2 hours to George to collect him. apparently you never know what to expect as some babies are very traumatized, but when we met him he was very calm. Leanne was going to act as a suragate mother for the next week and it was hoped that he would bond with Gombo in that time. On the drive home he just sat on Liannes knee sucking on jelly beans (you would not normally feed primates lolly's, but it was the only thing he would eat and we needed to keep him calm and happy for the journey), so we ended up naming him Bean. ... read more
Needs a cuddle
Meeting the monkeys
We can still see you

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 22nd 2010

Every couple of days or so, we have wild baboons visit, the property is part of their range and they come looking to pinch some of the monkeys food. The baboons are usually lead in by a female juvanial we call Aphrodite, she is very confident and sometimes comes alone to check things out. Amazingly the monkeys and the baboons seem to get on well. We just sit in the clearing observing them while they observe us. A Couple of days ago Molly and I were sitting at the far end of the clearing bordering the forest as it is the sunniest spot. We were reading and it took a while for us to realist the baboons had arrived. We were in a real good spot to watch them as they emerged from the forest into ... read more
I can see you!
Mr No Hands sharing is food

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 20th 2010

John took us to the local township called Kurland Village, we took lolly s for the children. For some reason all the kids call John Mr Kennedy, he thinks there is an American wrestler by that name, and because John has an Canadian accent the kids associate him, anyway as we were driving into the village and all the kids start shouting “Mr Kennedy have you got anything today”, he makes them line up and then we gave out the lolly's The township has all dirt roads, it has an old section, it is rows of old corrugated iron, packing cases, cardboard etc knocked together to make shelters. The newer section is the houses that the government is building that are given to the Africans. The houses are all small, simple, single level rectangular houses on ... read more

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 19th 2010

One or two of the moneys are a bit of the problems for us, maybe the see us as intruders or new females into their troop that need putting in place, we are not sure. Monki is one of them and is always threatening us, and as soon as she starts Coco is instantly there backing her up, so we have reverted to arming ourselves; molly carry's a mop, Lianne has a stick, and I have a length of plastic piping, and if all that fails we move to be near the dogs. Karen decided to put all the top monkeys in cages while she let 2 new monkeys out to explore and bond with some of the lower status monkeys. We thought it was haven as no more Monki & Coco chasing us. The 2 ... read more

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 17th 2010

It does not take long to get into a new way of life and routine; washing the food bowls, preparing the food, and feeding the monkeys. We usually walk the dogs, then may run some errands, then spend a couple of hours just sitting in the sun observing the monkeys. Its like a soap opera; who's playing with whom, who's fighting, who's having sex, who's grooming whom etc, and there is always a naughty group who love nothing better then jumping on us, undoing our laces, trying to pinch our stuff etc. Some days we go out sight seeing, we walked the Robberg Nature Trail, and went to Storms River Reserve, and we will often go for a walk on the beach at Natures Valley. In the evening its feeding the monkeys again, then cook our ... read more
Natures Valley
Walking the dogs
Robberg Reserve

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 12th 2010

Its amazing how soon you can tell the monkeys apart, they all have their own distinct look and personality. I will introduce the top monkeys in the troop and some of the other characters, and of course my favorites. The top two males: Mr No Hands - was rescued by Karen in area of Knysna, he was the alpha male of a wild troop, but had both hands chopped off by a trap, he healed & recovered (without human intervention), but had lost his position and so left the troop. He ended up alone and was surviving by raiding residential properties, and was in danger of being shot. After he settled at the farm, he became the alpha male of Karen's troop. Jack - was rescued from a township where he was kept as a pet ... read more
Grub
Mr No Hands
Gombo

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay June 6th 2010

Karin Saks has been involved rescuing, raising, rehabilitating, and releasing primates most of her life originally with baboons. When Karen moved to this area about 2 years ago, she got orphan vervets to her and that is when she set up the charity. The farm is situated on approx. 27 hectares of native forest, at the back it borders a deep gorge with a stream at the bottom, that if you could follow would lead to the sea at Nature Valley. On all other sides of the land is farm land. The accommodation is a squat ugly ramshackled house, with no electricity and only cold running water, cooking is done on calor gas. There are 4 bedrooms, (my room is basic but comfortable) a bathroom, a large kitchen/living room, and feed room. When I first arrived ... read more

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Plettenberg Bay May 19th 2010

A good lesson in guidebooks not always being right - you see I thought that Plettenberg Bay was a horrible touristy beachside town and so opted for a three night stay in Knysna instead. Getting out the car for a little exploration, Plettenberg immediately stuck me as bright and shiny- if the towns were buildings, Knysna was would have been the Victorian terrace and Plettenberg, the Art Deco detached. Money I’m sure has something to do with it and there were a lot more bijou shops and trendy restaurants, which to our Seychelles sensibilities was a definite plus. The guidebook was spot on about recommending the ‘Lookout’ though, a large cliff top pub overlooking the beach. The guy serving us went to school where we lived in England proving that clichés often exist for a reason. ... read more


When we returned to Cape Town, we stayed at Big Blue Backpackers. It was more chill than Long Street Backpackers had been. We needed a break from the crazy nightlife. On the last full day we had the car, we invited a couple of people from the Netherlands to tag along, and headed south about an hour through Table Mountain National Park towards Cape Point. The drive was a lot like driving down pacific coast highway. The road went along the Atlantic side amongst sheer cliffs. We hiked up to Cape Point, which was an old lighthouse on the top of a small mountain. We then hiked for a few hours around the coast and made our way to the Cape of Good Hope. It was in the very southwest part of the park. Along the ... read more
Cape of Good Hope
Baboons
Table Mountain National Park




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