Who’s in the garden this morning?
- 9 warthogs – inc. Little, Tiny, Lonely Boy, Lonely Girl, One Wart, and others
- 8 bushbucks – inc. Thick Neck, Bad Leg, Spikey, and others
- 4 kudus – inc. Bossy, Baby Daddy, Medium Daddy, two youngsters, and others
- 3 wildebeest – inc Crooked Face, Hal, and another
- 7 Vervet monkeys
- 36 helmeted guinea-fowl
- 2 Frank and The Misses
When we first came to Africa, we thought monkeys were the cutest animals. But, after our first month here, we felt otherwise. They may be adorable to the newbie, but it doesn’t take long for the more experienced African resident or traveler to find out how awful they are.
No, we don’t blame them for being the scavengers they are. It’s in their nature to scavenge for food. The problem is they are too clever and can figure out how to drive humans crazy with their tactics and destructive behavior,
The biggest fear for residents in bush areas where they live and propagate is that they will cleverly figure out how to enter the house of an unsuspecting resident and wreak havoc with everything in the house, tearing everything apart, pooping everywhere.
In record time, a house can be destroyed by baboons and monkeys, leaving a mess unlike anything you’ve ever seen. When we were here in 2018/2019, we heard of many monkeys entering houses when residents/guests were home or away.
They open refrigerators, cupboards, and freezers, eating everything in sight and then pooping accordingly. They open drawers, cabinets and tear apart anything they can get their nasty little mitts on. It’s a fiasco.
They tear apart pillows and furnishing, often resulting in horrible sums of money to repair and replace. And yet, it continues to transpire even after guests have been warned. Residents are less likely to experience this disaster when taking many precautions to avoid costly and time-consuming disasters.
As is evident in many homes, here in Marloth Park, most windows and doors have iron or metal security bars, not only to prevent thefts and home invasions, which do happen but even more so, to keep monkeys and baboons from “breaking in.”
We are extra careful. We never leave doors and windows open and unattended, although many do. While living in the Orange house for 15 months in 2018/2019, which had no screened door, we experienced a few minor invasions.
The double front door had to be left open during the day when it was so hot in the summer to allow for some airflow in the house. So we were either on the veranda or in the kitchen when we were able to keep a watchful eye on the doorway.
One day, I cut carrots and apples for the animals, and a Vervet monkey ran into the kitchen and grabbed an apple and a carrot off the kitchen countertop. I was so startled I screamed and scared it out the door. Here’s the link to that story from three years ago, almost to the day.
On another similar occasion, a baboon blasted into the house and grabbed two or three whole eggs from an egg crate container of 60 eggs we kept out for the mongoose. He ran upstairs with the eggs to the second story of the house and started eating the eggs.
Tom chased the baboon with a broom handle, hoping to send him outdoors before he did too much damage. But, alas, he ate the eggs and pooped everywhere. What a mess!
So today, when we saw the seven monkeys in the garden, Tom turned on the garden hose and chased them all away. Monkeys don’t like being sprayed with water.
So, today, a little warmer and pleasant, we’re sitting outdoors, enjoying the constant stream of wildlife, now monkey-free.
It will be a good day. We hope the same for you.
Photo from one year ago today, June 10, 2020:
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| Beautiful colors and scenery at high tide from our vacation villa in Bali. For more, please click here. |
