Falling in love with nature

Staying in camp while everyone is out does have its perks. Kirsten, Mashatu's back-up instructor had an interesting morning:

“After working in the bush for several months as a back-up instructor, you start believing that the camp is a safe zone from the rest of the wilderness. However, we are occasionally reminded that this is not the case; whether it is elephants trumpeting next to our tents or warthogs walking by to drink from the water tank that is over flowing.

While the students were out of camp for the morning activity, I went about with my normal routine. I spent most of my time chasing troops of vervet monkeys away from the kitchen whilst trying to clean the storeroom. Just as I was done with my duties, I heard exciting shouts from Kenia, our camp cook. I hurried to her aid to find that I did not deter all the monkeys. A tiny infant monkey got separated from its mother and was now curled up between the kitchen shelves and gazed up at me helplessly.

I had to lift the baby out of its hiding place to try to return it to its mother. One part of me really wanted to adopt the cute little monkey, but I decided against it. I do not believe there is a person in this world capable of resisting falling hopelessly in love with an infant monkey clinging to your shirt.

Fortunately, its mother was waiting for me to return her baby. I placed the infant at the bottom of a tree and waited for about 10 minutes before the mother came down from the tree and scooped it up was and got lost in the foliage of a Mashatu tree in an instant.

Unfortunately we do not have pictures to share as it happened so quickly and very unexpected.”