Brandy Update

After various airport delays and an incredibly long flight, I arrived home on Monday afternoon. Since then, I've been unpacking, sorting through pictures, and doing all those other things that come  after a long trip. I still have posts to write about Kruger and the Sudwalla Caves but they will probably be posted directly to Wandering Fi.

I do want to share some wonderful news that I received this morning. You may remember Brandy, who arrived at IPR during my stay. Brandy had been kept on a very short leash for some time by her owners; the more unmanageable she became, the shorter the leash. We were busy building her a large new enclosure, but sadly, it was not finished before I left.

This morning I received an email, telling me that not only is she doing well in her enclosure and enjoying making friends with her new neighbors, Chino and Willow, she is even allowing people to groom her. In a very short time, that is a huge and very positive leap forward for a capuchin who was terrified of people and had never had other primate company. Grooming is an important part of monkey life, and very relaxing for them. To have developed enough trust to allow others to groom her is a step towards a wonderful future for Brandy at IPR.

I've Been to Eden...

Chimp Eden that is, and it was every bit as rewarding as I expected.

And sorry to be a tease but this is the only photo you get to see; I need to do a little editing work to get rid of wires.

Since I was on a 10am tour with 35 French people and our guide Jason has to pause to allow the translator to do his thing, the tour lasted beyond the usual hour, giving me more time to observe the chimps. Obviously Nina and her baby are off limits, and the top enclosure, where the chimps have the least human contact, is also not included in the tour. But we had plenty of time to see the lower and middle enclosures. I got to finally see several chimps that I recognized from the show that used to be on Animal Planet, including the elderly Joao (60-something years old) and Cozy. Poor old Cozy. A life that has included being born in a lab and experimented on multiple times, and then being taken to Italy where he was castrated and forced to wear tight jeans, has left him with brain damage, some hip displacement, and a lack of status within chimp society. (Having been castrated, he is no threat to the males and ranks below everyone). Nevertheless, he has plenty of character as he attempts to make up for his defaults. To their credit, the other chimps sort of take him as he is, leaving him to his own devices but stepping in when he gets hard to handle.

After the tour, I was met by Executive Director David Devo Oosthuizen, who started his career as a wildlife photographer and now has a job I envy greatly. He then introduced me to Gill, in charge of planning the Sanctuary's new volunteer program. I was thrilled when she asked if she could pick my brain, since I had just come from a volunteer program, and so we chatted about her ideas (which sound great) over lunch.

As I drove down to the main road, I found the road blocked by a troop of baboons. It seemed an excellent end to the day that I had been looking forward to for months.

Pilgrim's Rest to God's Window

As I enter my final few days of a month in South Africa, I am having a few days of R&R in the Nelspruit area, which is at the lower edge of Kruger National Park.

Today I picked up my rental car, and drove north to the little town of Pilgrim's Rest. Originally a gold mining settlement, Pilgrim's Rest is now a designated historical village, where the buildings have all been preserved to reflect a way of life from days gone by. It's not all rosy and happy though. Pilgrim's Rest hit the headlines last year when several white tenants were evicted to make room for black tenants, a controversial move that is part of a nationwide plan by the ruling ANC party. But we'll skip the racial politics for now, and focus on what there is to see and do as a tourist.

Scott's Cafe

My first stop was Scott's Cafe, where I met a rather elderly couple who were on their honeymoon. After wishing them the best, I sat down to enjoy some of the cafe's apparently famous stuffed pancakes. Options ranged from peri peri chicken to ground beef and jalapenos. I settled for a vegetarian option: pancakes stuffed with spinach and feta, topped with an olive and sundried tomato tapenade, and sprinkled with poppy seeds.

I can in all honestly say that these were the best pancakes I have ever eaten. They even top the nutella ones I enjoyed in Innsbruck many years ago. I foresee a definite attempt to recreate them once I get back to Kentucky.

Stomach now satisfied, it was time to explore the town, and that meant braving the row of vendors. I hate high-pressure sales and I hate haggling, so I can't decide if I got some good bargains or if they saw me coming. At the end of the day, though, I am happy with my purchases, and despite having parted with a good many rand, I reminded myself that the amount was still relatively small for me, but relatively big for them. In retrospect, I think my hesitation and silence may have worked in my favor as the women reduced the prices further each time I said nothing.

After an hour or so of browsing, taking photos, and insisting that I could not spend any more money, I decided to escape the pressure of Pilgrim's Rest and flee to the hills. Hence, I hit the road again and drove to nearby God's Window, a gorgeous spot offering incredible views over the entire valley.

With time ticking on and 29 Celsius on the thermometer, I decided to head back to Nelspruit, but now before being stopped by a polite but stern policewoman, who informed me I had been speeding. She sent me on my way with a reminder to obey the rules of the road. And so I leave you for today with a promise that I shall observe posted speed limits and not do anything to get arrested!

Farewell IPR, Hello Nelspruit

And so, like all good things, my time at IPR came to an end. Early Saturday morning, I bid a fond farewell and boarded a bus to Nelspruit.

One thing that caught me completely by surprise was just how much I would miss IPR - the people and the monkeys. I knew I would to some degree but by Sunday, I felt completely lost without Chino and co. I found myself looking through my pictures but honestly, none of them truly capture the place for me.

But back to the trip...

After a brief stop at a motorway service station, complete with rhino in a small preserve (take that British services!), we drove through an increasingly beautiful area of gorges, tiny historic towns, and greenery on our way to Nelspruit. Apparently this area is quite full of history - steam trains, gold mines, rumored lost gold, and so on.

I checked into the Old Vic, met by a woman named Happiness, who seemed anything but at the time. To be fair, I later found out that she is due to give birth any time now and she was much friendlier the next day. Saturday was incredibly hot, as I discovered during the 40 minute (each way) walk to the supermarket. However, despite warnings of the higher temperatures, the weather has actually been much cooler here. Yesterday and today are comfortably warm but overcast, tropical perhaps.

Yesterday, I was going to walk to the nature preserve but lodge owner Dave warned me that as a single woman, it might be a little risky. Instead he suggested the Botanic Gardens so I took a taxi and spent a gorgeous day there, enjoying spectacular scenery of the waterfalls and the Crocodile River, lots of South African flora, and even a little wildlife (one mongoose and a group of vervet monkeys).

Nelspruit Cascades

Crocodile River

I'm not sure what my plans are for the next couple of days. On Wednesday, I will pick up my rental car and so will spend the latter part of the week exploring Kruger, Chimp Eden, some local caves, and whatever else strikes my fancy before I fly back on Sunday. Until then, I am limited to foot and taxi.

As a quick postscript, I should mention how much fun the taxi rides are, for the simple fact that you never know who else you'll be riding with or quite how long it will take you to get anywhere. Yesterday, when Ben came to pick me up at a prearranged time from the Botanic Gardens, he already had one other passenger. We then did a detour to a local school, where there had been some sort of picnic, to pick up a mother and child. The more the merrier!

Last Monkey Time

Thursday is always a fairly short day because the afternoons are put by for house cleaning and monkey time so there is not much to report from today. For my last monkey time, I chose to go in with some of the squirrel monkeys, but they were much more interested in hunting for crickets and wrestling each other than they were in me or my handful of peanuts. 

The last few days have been unbearably hot, easily the hottest we’ve had since I’ve been here, so today’s slight breeze was very welcome. Sue’s mother is visiting and she says it has been much hotter (!) in Polokwane, which makes me wonder just how hot it might be up in Nelspruit next week.

A New Arrival

It’s not necessarily that amazing how much the atmosphere of a place can change as people come and go, but it is always surprising. Four short term volunteers left yesterday and the IPR seems so quiet now, with only six short termers left. Last night, instead of struggling to find somewhere to sit and then listening to the noise of people coming back from the pub, long- and short-termers alike gathered for a game night. Even today at work, things were noticeably quiet; during obs, I went for several hours without seeing anyone else. And the dorm (10 beds but only 2 occupied) carries an odd echo.  

The enclosure for Brandy is coming along very nicely. Sue hopes to eventually be able to integrate her with Anushka and Jethro, perhaps later adding Chino and Willow to the capuchin mix. For now, though, she’ll have her own space next to them.

Meanwhile, with Oma now removed to the other end of the sanctuary, efforts are being made to reunite Sussie and Spartacus. Therefore, my duties today (other than the early morning feed) consisted of keeping an eye on them as they explored each other’s shared space, while still having the ability to retreat to their own enclosures. They remind me of a couple that have nothing left to say each other: they live together but both wander around the house without so much as an acknowledgement. An occasional glance in the other’s direction, if you’re lucky. 

One other highlight of today was getting to hold Melvyn, as we have christened the 2 week-old bushbaby. He is so tiny, I was almost afraid of crushing him in one hand. I’ll ask Emily if I can hold him again tomorrow and see if I can get a photo.

Melvyn the Bushbaby

February 13, 2013

Another 5 a.m. feed today.

A quiet day at IPR since a lot of folks have gone off to a Lion Sanctuary and to the Cradle of Humankind. Luckily, this meant I could have some quality time with Oma this afternoon. We groomed each other and life is good.

Tonight a bunch of us are heading out for dinner. Two of the short termers are leaving on Friday, plus another three next Tuesday and me the following Saturday so there are a lot of farewells coming up.

February 15, 2013

Roxy, our Fennec Fox, was finally able to move into her new enclosure yesterday, making way for a new monkey arrival. If you ever needed any explanation as to why monkeys should not be kept as pets, Brandy is the perfect example. A capuchin, Brandy was bought by her owners from a pet store and treated as an infant child. She was given her own room, fed sweets, and generally denied a monkey way of life. This is all very well (or not) and everyone thinks they have an adorable monkey-child.

Then the monkey reaches sexual maturity, and you no longer have a cute little child on your hands but an angry teenager. In the case of Brandy, who started attacking her female owner, their answer was to put her on a shorter and shorter leash in her room. Not surprisingly, she became all the more vicious. Finally, not knowing what else to do, the owners called IPR and gave an ultimatum: if you can’t take her, she’ll be euthanized.

Brandy arrived a few days ago. Neither monkey nor human, she is pissed, and who can blame her. I have to say, I take a much harsher view of her owners than most of the others here. The owners were crying when they dropped her off and have been back each day to visit. They were crying when they dropped her off and so the other volunteers and staff were talking about how much they obviously loved her.

Brandy

My take is much less sympathetic toward them: they have engaged in an ongoing act of cruelty, caused by their own vanity and stupidity. I would not buy a dog without doing some research into how best to raise one: diet, behavior, etc. The most basic research into monkeys would tell you that they should not be kept as pets. The owners didn’t buy her to be a monkey; they bought her to be a child, and sadly Brandy will probably never fully recover.

The Primate Rescue in Nicholasville, Kentucky, has many residents who were originally pets but confiscated by state officials. Some have had teeth and claws removed in an attempt to “calm” them; others are diabetic thanks to a lifelong diet of sweets. It is incredibly sad for the monkeys, and cruel on the part of humans.

Here’s hoping that the next stage of Brandy’s life is much happier than it has been so far.

February 16, 2013

Today, before it got too hot to enjoy my day off, I went on a very pleasant five mile walk, doing the loop around Hammanskraal. I had been hoping to see some springbok; Ethan saw them the other evening on his run. No springbok for me but plenty of ostrich (or should that be ostriches?) It was actually an interesting walk. A very long straight dirt road the entire way, but it gave me a chance to see some of the properties. One thing that struck me is the wariness about security. Every property is surrounded by locked gates, bars, electric fences, dogs, security signs, or some combination thereof. When Jo was away for a few nights last week, she asked Stevie and Josie over to stay to keep an eye on the place. We’ve also been warned against wandering out alone at night, having heard stories of machete-wielding men who roam the veld after dark, just looking for properties or people to rob, hence the seemingly extreme security measures around many properties.

These landowners seem to be primarily Afrikaans, the white South Africans of Dutch or British origin. Race is incredibly complicated here, with Afrikaaners, Afros (black), and coloreds (mixed race). Even twenty years of so after the end of apartheid, there is still a marked separation between the groups. Sadly, I’ve had little opportunity to really mix with any locals, other than Astrid and Manie at the bar, and the occasional hello with Gracie, Solomon, and Sydney, who work on site at IPR. It’s a shame as I would love the opportunity to sit down with some South Africans and have an open conversation about race relations here, but it seems an impolite or sensitive subject to raise with anyone.

February 18, 2013

The start of my last week at IPR and it kicked off with a bushfire and a new emergency arrival. Word of the bushfire came during lunchtime while I was doing obs on Brandy. Her new enclosure is under construction (I spent this afternoon painting the roof), but she and some of the others are quite disturbed by the noise. Suddenly Sue appeared, calling for Solomon and Sydney, the two men who work here full time. Just at the same time, Tom, Bren, and Toby all came back from the pool to let us know. Although not a large bushfire, it was rather close to the mona monkeys’ enclosure. Fortunately, eight people with beaters were able to put it out. Nevertheless, it does show how dry the ground and grass is; even with the heavy storms we’ve had on occasion, the ground is too hard and dry to absorb the moisture so it simply evaporates with the heat. Another interesting point was the lack of concern among the neighbors who just see the fires as “one of those things”. When you have a large number of vulnerable monkeys, the fire risk takes on a much more serious tone as even the smoke could do serious damage and evacuation would be a nightmare. Volunteers will probably be digging fire-breaks within the next few weeks as the season gets drier and the risk higher.

Chopping down the tree

We also had an emergency arrival this afternoon: a two-week-old bushbaby that is apparently quite ill. Some people brought her in after finding her and not knowing what to do. Our volunteer vet nurse, Emily, is keeping a close eye on her. If the bushbaby makes a full recovery, it will then go up to Polokwane where a friend of Sue’s has another young one (they do better in pairs).

Construction, fire, emergency patients – a busy day in all and more to come. I think a storm is blowing in and it’s been a few days since we last had a big one. This may put a dampener on the pool party currently taking place for those leaving tomorrow. On the other hand, they may just move the festivities into the bar….

P.S. One more event today that I almost forgot to mention was being able to observe Chino and Willow go rockstar in their sleeping quarters. Jax had cleaned out their room and thought we might like to see how crazy they go when they head back inside. Crazy doesn’t even begin to describe it; these two could put The Who to shame for smashing up a room. They leapt around, chasing each other, wrestling, pulling things over, smashing anything they could get their hands on. Capuchins are very cute and they thrive on destruction so this was a wonder to watch, not to mention another reminder as to why they should not be kept as pets.