Maybe you wonder how it is to work in a reserve with monkeys.
Here is what a day look like...
Wake up in a good mood, even if it is 6 am.
If you're lucky and the group you work with is collared, then (try to) follow the bip to find it.
Try to spot the monkeys sunbathing just after sunrise to warm themselves up after a long and cold night.
Can't see them? Try again!
Meet your friends
Dublin, beautiful dominant male.
Roma, lowest female in the hierarchy. Always strategically
positioned behind us in order to get food despite her low rank.
Isn't she cute with her moustache?!
Toronto, a juvenile at a low rank as well.
Has to take more risks and then tends to come closer than the others.
Perform a corn experiment...
Set the traps for a capture
And capture, if your lucky
Or simply monitor their "natural" behaviour.
Special dedication for Fanny :-)
Try to keep them around you by throwing pieces of apples.
If it doesn't work, try to follow them in the bush without leaving your skin on the over-represented thorns.
Be aware of the tracks and faeces you encounter to know if the area it is safe of not.
Hair in the poop: caracal or leopard
.White poop: hyena (calcium from the bones)
Baby elephant! :-)
Mom! :-|
Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(
Do not freak out if you fall upon an area covered by bones
Especially when a closed burrow is full of them...
Or if you have to walk in high grass and can't see if you're about to step on a snake.
Do not run away if you encounter a black mamba (not like me...). It could react aggressively.
Enjoy the wildlife you may find on your way and resist the temptation to follow them instead of your F.... monkeys which really seem determined to give you the slip!
Do not drop off, even if the monkeys do.
Take a break in the river when it's finally getting warm without losing the monkeys
Back home in the early afternoon, muster your last energy to cook your meal.
And enjoy a comforting nap in the sun!
Go for a walk or a run with our lifeguards
especially when the smell becomes an issue...
Solve water issue
Stay calm, even if you have the impression that the bush fires are coming closer to the house.
Go for a game drive in the reserve,
hoping to spot girafes, hypo, rhino or hyenas
Find new inhabitants
Enjoy the sunset with a beer on the roof of the house
Spend a quiet evening with friends
Or succumb to the Saturday night fever.
Who said there no dance floor in the middle of the bush?
Have a look at the moon whose quarters are not so familiar....
And go to bed!
