MONKEY MUMMY

Well I am officially Little Monkey's Mummy (her real name is Bobendina) After working with the drills yesterday and narrowly missing dodgy rock throwing from the baboons I was presented with her carrying case (just like a cat carrier) Well I had very heavy camera equipment and also lots of heavy bananas, so there was nothing for it but to flag down a passing bush taxi. They are always full of sweaty people and they just squash you in. Except that nobody helped me, they all just gave me dirty looks in their splendid robes. So I had to squeeze in along with my precious child, bananas and camera lenses.



After a quick dunk in the dustbin water I gave Little Monkey her evening bottle of milk, which she enjoyed. Sometimes I squeeze it slightly too hard and she jumps a mile! She is so very sweet though, and when you are feeding her she occasionally gazes up at you, just to make sure you are "all right". I do love her. When she has eaten a little fruit she then spends the rest of the evening leaping around the room just like a - monkey! She is still waiting to join the other guenons but it is not convenient at the moment.

A new volunteer arrived today, Liesbeth from Holland. She is lovely and cares passionately about animals and their welware. I emailed her a couple of times before I came away. Unfortunately the airline has mislayed her suitcase so I leant her a couple of items. I hope she gets it back soon. She was very excited that we have a dear little monkey to look after!

QUARANTINE AND BABY CHIMPS
Was placed on quarantine today (no, not in quarantine!) I started by bottle feeding three baby chimps - so sweet! Their bottles are a lot bigger than Little Monkeys and they also drink their milk so much faster! Then I helped give out bananas to them and two adult chimps with little babies. We also fed some other monkeys, tarantulas? My goodness they were vicious! They had bright blue testicals and also a red penis - very attractive. But you musn't get too close to the cage or they will grab you viciously.

Then we had no water for quite a while so cleaning was delayed. Eventually I swept and hosed down and scrubbed the cages. There is also an African eagle owl who is blind in one eye. Some of the local people believe they are associated with witchcraft and kill them. This particular bird can't be released because of its sight defect (it now has one eye smaller than the other) but is being trained to fly and catch prey for educational purposes. So all is not lost.

This afernoon I am hoping to be able to go into the baby chimp enclosure to play with them. Apparently they go through your pockets, so you have to empty them first. Watch this space...