This last couple of months, Mitch from Enkosini and his team completed 3 large introduction enclosures on the outside of Camelot enclosure with the help of his workers and volunteers. They are just perfect for the monkeys with branches, swings and with the help of Simon S they've even planted some indigenous trees in the cages. Enkosini kindly donated and built the cages to provide a better life for those monkeys that they feel really need them. There are another 6 to be built when Mitch comes back in January. We would like to say a big thank you to Mitch and Kelcey from Enkosini for all their support and all who helped construct the cages. There will be more updates on the lucky monkeys that go in these cages next month.

Enkosini website - click here

The bandits are all eating the new green grass shoots and seed pods from the trees. It always amazes me how different everything looks in summer - the whole place transforms into a green wilderness. Volunteers have been busy ensuring all the monkeys in side cages can also benefit from the season's fresh vegetation.

Lantana (an invader plant species) is also popping up everywhere so it’s time to get eradicating again!

The sprouted lentils, sunflower seeds and chickpeas (as mentioned in the last newsletter) are going down extremely well whilst providing optimum, live, nutrition.

Our VMF postcards have now arrived and are now on sale – thank you once again to Andy Tinker photography for donating them and all who took the photos. The mystery photo of Vibrance in the hammock was taken by Fionnuala Kerins.

Thank you to Hilde who has taken nearly all this month's newsletter photos!

Xmas will soon be here and another eventful year passed...so until then, we wish you all a very merry xmas and a productive New Year!

VMF team

Chris Russell, Joanna Armson, Eveline Vos, Kristina Tomcek, Hannah Belling, Steve & Annette Clark, Jennie Morant, Jose van der loos, Anita Keij, Kirsten Lamirand, Harry Kennard & Lys Stevens.

Welcome Back:
Jude Roycroft, Tricia Rose, Sue Jackson.

Things have been going great at sickbay the last couple of weeks.  Many monkeys have been reshuffled around and we found a lot of monkeys that could be placed in our new enclosures.  5 Monkeys in particular have found their way into their new so far small troops. 

Our resident Houdini - Meyou went walkabout for about 2 weeks until we got a phone call from someone in Nkowankowa reporting a monkey in his garden.  A rescue team lead by Arthur was greeted by a very happy Meyou who jumped straight into Arthur’s arms.  Since then Meyou has been quite content in her new enclosure – only escaping once so far and jumping straight back in after been chased by a bandit… Her new friends are a very chatty adult female called Pippa and a junior called Sammy who thinks she is the biggest princess!  Meyou obviously loves Sammy and is always following her…

Our 3 females in the sickbay enclosure (Chico, Emblem and Apie) are doing really well and were joined by 2 very different, beautiful and amazing adult males Henri and Legolas.  Henri tends to keep himself to himself but will often be seen foraging, sitting and being groomed by the 3 females.  The only time slight arguments happen is at food times when Chico, a high ranked female decides that he is not allowed to eat in her intro cage!!   This is followed by quick chasing and a bit of screaming before it is calm again. 
Legolas, our big gentle giant, with the oddest posture, was released only days ago and is already well settled in.  When the others are hiding from the rain in the intro cage Legolas is quite happy to take in the sights from his favourite tree seeming to not even care that it is raining. 

Both of our males are very chatty to each other and will often be seen eating side by side… Neither of them ever gets involved with the small and petty grumbles of the females.  But if a bandit ever causes trouble from the outside then the boys are there to back them all up.  All in all we think we can safely say that this little troop will get on very well.

GVI are looking for short stories and testimonials from previous GVI volunteers about their stay at the VMF. If you have a story and photos - please e-mail sam@gvi.co.uk to use for their website.

If any other volunteers have stories or would like to write a testimonial, please e-mail info@vervet.za.org

You know those Children In Need adverts where some celebrity goes to visit a school and all the kids run up to the car as it pulls up? I always used to think that was all very set up and faked. Apparently not. The sight of several dozen little people running at you with arms wide open is both terrifying and exciting, and the fact that they had no idea who we were or what we were doing there didn’t seem to phase them one bit.

I should probably backtrack here and explain why on earth we actually were at this school. Firstly, the school was called Holy Family and it was run by several nuns caring for Aids orphans. Secondly, they’re getting worried about a troop of Vervets living nearby and want to know how to deal with them. This is, obviously, where we come in. They call the Foundation for advice, we tell them we’ll send someone over to give them a talk and explain all about Vervets; before you know it Arthur, Deb, Steve, Dan and I are whisking our way there.

So, after our memorable arrival we eventually settled down in a small classroom with close to 40 kids keenly waiting for Arthur to begin. By this point of course each of us has somehow become attached to one or more children. I had been joined by a charming little 8-year old called Gift who immediately planted himself on my knee and insisted on pronouncing my name as ‘Semen’. Cute guy.

Slightly later than planned, Arthur begins his talk and for a whole five minutes holds the kids attention with a mix of awe and amazement. It’s only then that a brave soul stands up and explains that only a fraction of the children understand English, and that most of them are just spellbound by his hair. After a short moment of panic the talk restarts with an unfortunate schoolgirl translating for Arthur. Watching her struggle to communicate some of the noises made by monkeys is quite funny, although she handled herself magnificently and far better than I would have done I’m sure.

After Arthur has spent 20 minutes or so chatting away, a video of the Foundation is put on and a series of gasps and finger pointing occurs when the kids realize that the man who has just been talking to them is actually famous and has been on TV! Once the video finished, Arthur had a quick chat with the head sheds to ease any worries and give them some advice and Dan and I are left to play with the young ‘uns. We quickly gravitate outside and spend a lovely ten minutes being embarrassed at kick-ups by people half our age with no shoes and a flat football. After this it’s time to head off, we say our goodbyes, hugs all round, and clamber back into the Kombi and for the last time curse ourselves for not one of us having the intelligence to bring a camera with us.

All in all this was one of the most heartwarming things I’ve seen since I came out here, and I’m sure I’ll remember those children for a long time. As for the actual point of the visit, all follow up communication with the school says they’re having no problems with the monkeys, and both sides are keeping out of each others way.

PASA have kindly donated 6 boxes of colouring / story books that tell a story in both English and French translation of a chimpanzee who's mum was shot.

We will use these books for educational purposes at local schools.

Thanks to Ali & Steve for bringing a box with them from UK. If anyone is coming out from UK and can help bring a box - please contact info@vervet.za.org as we have 5 more boxes waiting. Each box weighs approx 10kgs.

For all those who missed part 1 of the JJ story - see our November 08 newsletter on our website news and events page.

One and a half months later …

Hey there, I’m back, JJ, now only a bit bigger and a bit more of a little bully.  Thought I might give you guys a little update on what happened with me and my so called brothers and sisters.  The time of being alone or with my brother Bundu who arrived about a week after myself is long gone … In the meantime I have to share the volunteer love and care with 6 other brothers and sisters.  Some crazy people in the sickbay area, (I think it was called) suddenly wanted to call the newcomers some Aristocats names (luckily there were only 3 kittens, can you imagine what it would have been if they had chosen the 101 Dalmatians?).  So I have 1 brother called Toulouse and another one called Berlioz.  As if “luck” was with them the next one to come in was a girl, my first sister – yes, yes, do I hear the right answer ?  Of course, Marie!!  Marie was a bit of a little one, but hey, she’s growing up very fast and tries to stand up against all the boys, so there is lots of rough and tumbling.

After her, it was like there were suddenly no boys left on this planet.  I suddenly had to deal with two more little sisters, two in two days… Oh my Gosh !!!  One got called after a little girl and her mum who brought her in – I think it sounds a bit Russian and if I remember well, she’s now called Rishka.  She’s very small but such a little darling.  The third sister who came in, Pria, stayed with humans for about 2 weeks after her mum got killed and she didn’t really want to know about us  – but hey we’ve all experienced about the same with the only difference that we were brought in a lot sooner.  Most of the time you could find her in front of the window screaming the whole foundation down but now she’s calmed down a lot and is one of us !!!  My last brother so far got picked up somewhere around Modjadji and got called some Irish name, even I have problems remembering it, but it sounds like Kormak.  He fitted in straight away, no hissy fits at all, just one strong boy from the very beginning. 

So now, we are one big happy baby monkey family. 
That’s all from me …see you guys next month…
Cheerio !!

• Ladies fitted t-shirts
• Men's v-neck t-shirts
• Natemba children's book
• VMF photobook
• VMF postcards
• Donate money to the VMF on behalf of a monkey loving friend click to donate

See our fundraising page click here if you would like to order any of the above or contact info@vervet.za.org for t-shirts and postcards.

• Fundraising and VMF merchandise
  

• Details & Links
  
  
• Volunteer vacancies
  
  Click on the above links to take you straight to the pages
  
  

• Michaela Roberts has raised £53 for foundation so far from sales of VMF photobook – if would like to buy one please click on this link. Thank you to all who have bought the book so far.
  
  VMF Photobook - click here to purchase online
  
  
• Simon Strickland - 60 small baby bottles and 20 extra teats, 20 soft fleece baby blankets, kindly paid for monkey to be taken to vet
• Lucy Radford – donated £20 towards a fridge for sickbay
• Chris Auty – baby bottles (thanks to Sue Jackson for bringing them out)
• Jude Roycroft – Blankets, bottles, bottle and teat brushes, latex gloves, bandages
• Thank you Jennie for bringing some VMF UK t-shirts to SA
• Chris Russell - bought various items for the volunteer cottage

Ian Sheridan, Simon Taylor, Laura Jones, Franziska Wechsler, Marsha Halfman, Daniel Grove, Simon Strickland.