The last week of Febuary proved very exciting for volunteers Annette, Steve, Anthony and Alisa all from the U.K. During the course of the week all residents located in Engeltjie main enclosure were profiled, trapped and relocated to pastures greener. Once moved, all monkeys spent time exploring trees and grass - many for the first time. Thanks to all volunteers during this very exciting phase of the continuing adventures at the V.M.F.

The month of March also saw the first of our cabins being added to Tent Village, so perhaps we will have to change the name now…  The Cabins arrived with a team to assemble them too, which meant our team could continue with the various other projects including making main feed area monkey free, but more about that next month. We still have to outfit the cabins so they are ready for use. They will sleep 2 people either as twins or doubles like the tents. For those that prefer to have their own cabin rather than share with another can still opt for our volunteer private cabin outside of tent village.

Last week, new automatic water feeder taps were installed in sickbay to ensure all the monkeys there have free access to plenty of water which is important especially in times of poor health. Branches were also given to the monkeys in sickbay as part of enrichment which has cheered them up no end.

A few monkeys have suffered some gastro-intestinal complaints recently so we have been working on more digestible diets for them with the help of Josie (our in-house nutritional advisor) who has been advising with the food side of things. We have also planted some fever trees (acacia) within the enclosures to allow for natural feeding once they get bigger. All in all, the monkeys are generally looking much healthier and happier.

Little Harry (approx 4 months old) was brought in this week from Tarantaal with a head injury, looking unconscious and worse for wear. But, remarkably, he made a full recovery against all odds and was released back in the wild with his troop on 14th March 09 after just a few days of full time care.

There are many more changes and improvements to come for the VMF and we will keep you updated...

Welcome:
Ashely Pelley, Melanie Mullen, Tom Richards, Heather Crombie, Fiona McKenna, Carla Hogg, Kristen Sullivan, Marion Lieberich, Katharina Gebhart.

Welcome back:
Chris Russell

Due to some unexpected circumstances and at very short notice, the VMF asked me to attend the PASA Education Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. I left Brussels to Amsterdam on the 28th of February, already with some excitement I must say because they couldn’t give me my boarding card for the flight Amsterdam-Nairobi, which was nice !!  They told me I was put on stand-by while the travel agency had told me they had reserved my seat – how could this be possible? (I already saw my suitcase arriving in Nairobi while I would still be in Amsterdam) but when I came running at the gate everything seemed to be ok.  I arrived in Nairobi early morning on Sunday.  Got myself a taxi and that in itself was again an experience – an old car where the boot didn’t close, windows didn’t work anymore, a car that wouldn’t for any money pass the standards in Belgium… streets in such a bad state that it was hard avoiding the big holes and bumps.  Seems repairing streets is not a topic in the city’s agenda anymore.  Then there's the crazy drivers!  Kenya doesn’t seem to have any traffic rules, everybody does their own thing.  Cars crash into each other as if it’s nothing!  Traffic on workdays is so bad, even worse than the traffic jams around Brussels!  Finally, after a couple of stops at the wrong hotels, the taxi driver dropped me off.  I got a room and went straight to bed.  A night flight if you can’t sleep is never really a plus! 

In the evening the first dinner together with the workshop members was planned.  I found my roommate (the Executive Director of the Jane Goodall Institute in Nelspruit) and immediately it was as if we had known each other for years…

Monday morning at 8 o’clock sharp the workshop started.  During the whole week we were given presentations on important tools to be used in primate education programs.  It was all so very professional!  All really interesting and I do hope I’ll be able to put everything I learned into practice soon!  Besides the educational presentations, every member was asked to give a presentation on its own sanctuary or organisation so I also presented one on the VMF. It was so nice to learn about what other places do to get a nice balance between wildlife and local communities.  Every day was very intense and most of the days we worked untill 6 PM – also evening lectures were part of the deal.  So yes, always very busy, busy but hopefully a more than a once in a lifetime experience!

Monday evening we were invited for dinner / reception at the Nairobi National Park.  We arrived at a very beautiful restaurant with a big outside terrace; the nice Kenyan weather inviting us all to sit outside… Good opportunity to start getting to know some people.

On Wednesday we had a kind of a break, more like a “holiday”, a day where we left incredibly early (for a 4½ hour drive), to get back to Nairobi very late – but so rewarding.  We drove all the way to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary which is part of the greater Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a national park at the foot of Mount Kenya.  The sanctuary takes care of 43 chimpanzees with the objective to provide a safe, secure and permanent refuge for orphaned and abused animals in an environment that’s as natural as possible.  The chimpanzees live in two large groups separated by the Ewaso Nyiro River.  Oh gosh, I didn’t know these guys were so good at throwing rocks! 
We were all so into our visit that no-one actually noticed that it was about 3 PM before we got to a nice buffet lunch.  After a lovely meal we were invited in the lobby for a presentation on the conservancy and two more of the sanctuary presentations.  Then, that was it, after a short toilet stop we all went to the old bus and got back to Nairobi.  We all arrived very tired but with big smiles on our faces.  Another lovely day had passed.

Friday was the last day of the workshop.  Another full but interesting day came to an end somewhere around 5PM where we were all invited to stand in a circle and to first tell our both right and left neighbours what we had admired about them.  Very reveiling and touching at the same time! We all got a PASA certificate and said goodbye.  It was indeed a wonderful week where people with the same interests and passion had been together to share ideas and knowledge.  Something I will not easily forget. 

Thanks to the VMF for sending me, thanks to PASA for having me!  I flew back home on Saturday the 7th of March and am now back at work, feeling jealous about all those people who could just go to their sanctuaries again.  How I still wish I could have flown back to Jo’burg to be back with the VMF and the monkeys again…

Thank you to Hilde for attending the workshop at short notice, we are looking forward to putting everything into practice for our education centre.

Thank you for all those who have donated Daniel for his 90 mile walk which takes place on 21st March 2009.

We're nearly half way there to getting our educaiton centre up and running! So far, we have raised R9000. If we can raise another R7000, it means we can order the education centre hut to arrive sometime in April which is very exciting and will also help bring in more funding once it's up and running.

Last chance to sponsor Daniel, please click the 'click to sponsor button' on our fundraising page on the green square on the left hand side.

http://www.vervet.za.org/how_help/fundraising.asp

We are also looking for a projector and screen to use in the education centre to be able to give presentations. If you can help please e-mail info@vervet.za.org

George and Minkey moved up to Camelot at the beginning of February in preparation for the whole troops move up there in the near future. They have settled in very well, and are loving all the vegetation and extra space in the massive cages Mitch’s team built from Enkosini. Bellyman moved up a week later and is now living with George, the two of them are getting to know each other again after being apart for a couple of years and are getting on very well.

The 3 Skunkey boys have a new neighbour, Monks from Disneyland, they are getting to know each other and having chats from their cages.

Since Monks moved over to Camelot, Disneyland was again free for this year’s babies to live in; Alisa did a great job scrubbing every inch of it to get it ready. They have been living up there for 2 weeks and are absolutely loving all the new space and getting used to all the bandits. They do need to learn some manners still though as they have a habit of poking them when they are sitting on top of the cage, which the bandits don’t really appreciate! Bundu got a small cut on his foot from being a bit too cheeky towards the bandits, although it is only tiny, he is feeling quite sorry for himself at the moment! Hopefully it will be a lesson for them all and they will start behaving themselves a bit better from now on.

So, Elfman went missing for a whole week sometime in mid-January, I was convinced he was gone forever, when he turned up outside B1 looking wretched in the rain, he was nothing but skin and bones, but he was alive!
I spent the whole day in the enclosure airlock lying with him under loads of blankets and feeding him to his hearts content. He slept in my tent that night… I did not sleep. He got to spent the next day in a Camelot intro cage so he could have some one-on-one time. He was in fact the first monkey to ever be in one of those cages. And once again, came back to my tent that night.

Once he looked like he might be improving, he went to spend some time in B2 with his old friend Pedro. But the pressure of the group was too much for him so he moved in with another little softie – Armstrong!

Now Elf & Armstrong are on a very special diet provided by Josie twice a day and are hopefully on the mend, early days yet but we will update next month.

He never did tell me where he was for that week…..

Over the past few months we have mainly been concentrating on getting all the monkeys out of small cages and into bigger and better environments. On the 8th of March this was achieved.

Four males - Bollie, Brian, Sangoma and Stumpy, which we were struggling to find places for are now in brand new cages, where they can jump around and interact with each other.

Meyou - our resident escape artist seems more than happy with the new additions to her enclosure, and no more trips to Nkowankowa have been taken! Trap (a stunning wild male who was found caught in a snare) is her high ranked male and they are often seen grooming each other. Quazi the little hunch back from the blind enclosure is very settled in with Meyou and even though she is a lot smaller than the rest of them is well respected and on rainy mornings is seen huddling with Trap.

Ceeay - many people will know this very affectionate and loving female from Skunkey but after only 3 days of been in an introduction cage with Meyou Ceeay finally after many years jumped into a tree. Ceeay is extremely happy and loves her new home even in the rain Ceeay is more than happy to sit in a tree eating leaves.

Bryanni - was originally a pet who was very traumatized when she first arrived but after 4 months she has found her way into a troop and is doing amazing well.

Leanie - an ex bandit took to Meyou’s enclosure after 2 days and generally keeps herself to herself enjoying the trees and bugs.

Last but not least is Litchie the resident beauty queen or queen of the world or .. actually I'll let Eveline tell you more about her. Eveline has been helping out a lot with integration in Meyou’s and is a huge help at sick bay...

Hi,
I am a little monkey called Litchie and I just wanted to say thank you to the VMF staff for letting me back in a troop.
My past is not that glorious, got dropped off here one day and still for a while I was hoping to be able to go back to a troop where I feel at home.
Well, that day happened beginning of this week. I really try to be a good monkey and I get compensated big time.
They let me with the troop for several hours and for feeding I go back to my intro cage. I am a bit scared of those bigger males, but the females groom me already and they make me feel at home. I can’t tell you how I love jumping in those trees and pulling at all these high grasses. My life makes sense again and I promise to be a better monkey and to those people who got a taste of my bites, sorry I was just a misunderstanding.
Love you all, life is great!
                                                -Litchie

Many of you will probably have fallen in love with a little monkey called Bobby aka 'Bobby Ticklebelly' so you will be pleased to hear that he has found a home in the blind enclosure and is doing brilliantly. Yes I know, the blind is for blind monkeys but it is just a step to get him used to bigger monkeys and older monkeys so eventually he can go into a proper troop. To tell you more about Bobby’s new home and adventures is Chris who has also been a huge help in sickbay along with Eveline since Hilde has been gone.

Bobby’s release into the blind enclosure has been cracking. He is getting the long-needed structure in his life associated with being in a troop, and the blind enclosure is a great place for somewhat mal-socialised juveniles. He does get told off when he steps out of line, but does not see injury because he can easily hide from the more senior monkeys in there. Bobby has also been reunited with his old friend, Divet, who was moved into the blind enclosure not long after. They go on adventures together every night in their quest for yum-yum sprinkles and giggledrops.

Of course with all good news there is always some bad - on the 4th of March SAAV enclosure lost their high ranked female Miss Tagita. She had a rough start into the world after being trapped for lab use when she was a baby. When she was 7 years old she was confiscated and brought to the VMF were she had her own enclosure to run around in and other monkeys to play with and groom. She will be missed by all here and especially by her friend Whitey.

Let me introduce myself to you all.  My name is Irene or at least that is what the humans at VMF called me when I arrived hurt and confused.  I was with my mother when I got hit by a car one morning.  I don’t know what happened to my mother but I was found by two people on the way to work early one morning.  They picked me up and when they got to work they called Arthur who arranged for Tricia to come and collect me from the Tzaneen mall.  Arthur checked me over and set my leg.  He decided it would be best for me to stay with Tricia in her tent whilst I settled in.  I am now living in baby care with the other babies, who also have lost there way.  I am very happy now and my leg is all fixed.  We are just moving from baby cottage to Disney Land and I love the open space and all the trees that I can now play on.   Well bye for now,  Irene 

Thank you to all those who donated money instead of flower for Arthur Hunt's memorial fund. The money has been used to make much needed improvements to our sickbay area where Arthur spent most of his time. Some of you sent in some lovely words of which can be found on the following link: In Memory of Arthur Hunt

Morgan Corn, Genevieve Read, Anne Crofts, Lesley Bates, Stacey Bedwell, Anna Cooper, Rekha Kuna, Katharine Hill, Korina Hunt, Doug French, Laura Neal, Alisa Cullen, Anthony Criddle, Claire Stephenson.