Ever so regularly we get a gentle reminder that at Limpopo-Lipadi we are really
out in the bush and possibly ‘trespassing’ in the territory of our wildlife. Or
sometimes just making it easy for them to find a meal on the premises. We have
all learned lessons the hard way… Yes, we now lock our (reinforced) kitchen
doors at night, to keep the residential porcupine out at night. And during the day
we have learned to close the door securely as well, as the vervet monkeys love
to create havoc in the kitchen too. That doesn’t stop them from leaving an
occasional dropping while visiting though…
One of the shareholders noticed to her surprise that one afternoon the hammocks
at the lodge had become the playground for some young vervet monkeys. They
all tried to climb up and to occupy one for themselves. The fact that there were
only two hammocks for the four monkeys unleashed some quarrelling and
fighting. If one was at last successful in lying down, it took the others only a few
seconds to throw him out and the play started all over again. As she said: “They
were so absorbed in their game that they seemed to have completely forgotten
that we were there too. Such a perfect opportunity to observe them up close
while enjoying our drinks, although they had ‘occupied’ our favourite spots on the
river front. But we were happy to share the view with these cute creatures.”
Photo credit: Martina Glatzl
