This weekend I went to the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve and the Bush Babies Monkey Sanctuary. Unfortunately, both the names are misleading as there were no rhinos at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve and you can't see bush babies during the day at the Bush Babies Monkey Sanctuary. Despite this fact, I still had a great time at both places.
I started out early Saturday morning to the lion reserve since it opened earlier and was closer to my place. I wasn't clear on the whole set-up but I figured out pretty quickly once I got there that I was supposed to drive around the reserve on my own. It was fairly easy to navigate but increased signage wouldn't have hurt them, especially in the separate enclosures. The reserve was set-up so that there was a main section with all the herbivores wandering around (antelope, ostrich, warthogs, zebra, etc.) but the carnivores were separated. While driving in I saw quite a few antelope, ostriches, and even two warthogs! I hadn't seen any ostriches or warthogs yet so that was very exciting. Then I headed over to the carnivores. You start with the wild dogs, then the white lions, and finally the cheetah. Thankfully they were all easy to spot. The lions couldn't have been more than 10 feet from my car and I could have touched the cheetah if I opened my car door (probably not the best idea though). They were all quite lazy since it was still early morning and feeding wasn't until 1pm. I might try to go to another lion park some other time to check out the feeding and also to hold the cubs.
 |
| White Lions |
 |
| Warthogs |
 |
| Cheetah |
When I left the lion park, I realized that I wouldn't make the next tour in the monkey sanctuary so I decided to take another drive across the Hartbeespoort Dam. In case you don't remember I did this very early on in my stay in Joburg. It was still awesome. I just wish there was a way to get out of your car and take pictures!
I then headed to the monkey sanctuary. I was still a bit early for the noon tour so I wandered around their mango grove while I waited. Unfortunately the mangoes were only for the monkeys but it was still cool to see mangoes growing on trees (as opposed to the grocery store). Before the tour we were warned not to touch the monkeys, but that if a monkey jumps on you, just relax and keep your hands to yourself. I thought it was like a standard warning and wasn't likely to happen. Not true. As we entered the sanctuary, Api (monkey in Afrikaans... I think) greeted us as he finished his lunch (a peanut butter sandwich). He promptly jumped on one of the ladies' shoulders and continued to ride with someone for most of the tour. Unfortunately he didn't ride on my shoulders and only briefly jumped into my arms to avoid being sprayed with water. He was pestering one of the men on the tour for the juice in his pocket and the guard was about to spray him. (Api is going to be sprayed with water in 1 second --> Api jumps into Wendy's arms (and thus stops pestering the man for juice) --> Api is not going to be sprayed with water in 1 second). Anyway, there were lots of other monkeys, but none quite as people-friendly as Api. The goal of the sanctuary is to take monkeys who have been kept as pets and rehabilitate them for the wild. They currently have about 75 monkeys (and growing! there were lots of babies riding on mothers' backs yesterday). The tour took place on wooden walkways above the ground. We even had to cross two suspension bridges! It was a really great tour, awesome guide, and lots of monkey sightings!
 |
| Api finishing his lunch as he welcomes us to the sanctuary |
 |
| Walkway and suspension bridge in the sanctuary |
 |
| Monkey mama and baby |
