I wasn’t expecting much of Bijilo Monkey Park in the Gambia, but it turned out to be an incredibly fun afternoon. There were lots of babies this time of year and they were adorable – and curious. Make sure to buy peanuts and bananas so you get full interaction with the monkeys.
Unlike tales of monkeys in other places where they’ll steal anything and everything that isn’t attached to you, these monkeys only took food. They were surprisingly gentle about it, too. They may be the most polite monkeys on the planet.
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I mean, you still have a bag of food and it’s still a bunch of monkeys, but it was a good kind of chaos.
In some ways I might say this isn’t the most natural habitat for the monkeys, but Bijilo Nature Reserve, aka Monkey Forest, is a narrow strip of forest along the beach just south of Senegambia Beach and 20 minutes north of the Turntable. There is no major survival factor here. They’re protected and the money the park makes goes into taking care of them.
I’d say it’s a win-win for monkeys and visitors.
Oh, and their fur is super soft as are their little hands.
If you love animals and want to interact with monkeys, this is a great place to come. Don’t hesitate. Go before the afternoon gets too hot.
The Monkey Park in The Gambia has Green Vervet and Red Colobus monkeys. You can also continue your walk to see many bird species. Senegal and The Gambia are well-known as a brilliant habitat for hundreds of bird species. Even non-birders will enjoy birdwatching in this environment, especially if you have a guide to help you spot and identify them.
Video Transcript
This will be a short one.
Well, there’s monkeys everywhere,
but I’m almost out of peanuts,
so I don’t (indistinct) think
they’re going to stay with me.
I’ve got a ton of footage
from before this with bananas,
and I’ve got a monkey on my head
and I had three monkeys on me at one time.
They feed them here.
It’s the big attraction is
to come see the monkeys,
but this is my friend here
and he’s been with me the whole time.
He was on the other shoulder
and he just sat and stayed
and stayed and stayed.
I kept feeding him,
but he’s been hanging with me.
But now that I have no peanuts left,
I think he’s going to go.
Yep, he’s gone.
But let me show you the rest
of the monkeys around here.
I don’t know if there’s
anything there for them to eat.
I’m doing a quick live on YouTube.
There are three vervet monkeys,
which are the ones you just saw
and then over there.
- [Tour Guide] Red colobus.
- [Trina] And the western…
- [Tour Guide] Red colobus
- [Trina] Red colobus
So there’s one of each right there.
And when you come,
your guide will help keep you
from getting totally swarmed,
but they will swarm around you.
And if you given them bananas,
they will definitely
jump on your shoulders.
But I had them on my shoulders
with just peanuts, too.
And I was going to plug the mic in,
but I didn’t have time,
so hopefully it’s nice and quiet here.
But, see, look.
And I will say,
for as much as they will
swarm you for peanuts,
they are actually well behaved.
They don’t bite and scratch you
and they don’t grab things off of you
like so many monkeys do.
Monkeys are sort of
known for being criminals
in a lot of places.
Aw, here’s a baby.
Look at this little baby.
It’s okay.
And these guys are actually
pretty well behaved considering.
They’ll get into little
fights on their own, too.
Look at this.
Look at these little babies.
It’s breading season, so
there’s a lot of little babies.
Nope, that one doesn’t want to be filmed.
These two seem to be
happy with being filmed.
How about you?
Do you want to be filmed?
Yeah, you are just adorable.
Look at this.
And they’re just curious as all get out.
Oh, I moved my hand.
Okay.
I can only get so low here.
There we go.
Get right in with them.
I’ve got the camera on a tripod here.
Oh, I’ve got some coming over here.
(giggles)
The more mature ones.
I’ll bring you back over here.
It’s great because they’re curious
and you’re getting a
really good look at them.
Look at this.
Look at this.
Right up to the camera.
Look at that.
You guys are going to be YouTube stars.
You’re going to be YouTube stars.
And then we have some over here.
- [Tour Guide] Move closer.
- [Trina] I think we have some…
- [Tour Guide] They’re grooming.
- [Trina] Huh?
- [Tour Guide] They are grooming.
Grooming for ticks.
- [Trina] Grooming, okay.
- So they do grooming.
They’ll fight amongst themselves,
but they also get along
too as you can see this.
Oh, we have little scuffle like over here.
This is just kind of awesome.
So we’ve got grooming over here.
Do we still have babies?
We have babies over here.
Can I say hi to these babies?
- [Tour Guide] They’re
taking milk from the mom.
That one.
- [Trina] Oh.
We’ve got one drinking
from mama, getting milk.
Oh, we’ve got little monkey hands
grabbing at the camera, too.
That one over there is
getting milk from mama
- [Tour Guide] Get in closer.
Get in more.
- [Trina] See, like that.
And I have one trying to grab on to..
- [Tour Guide] It’s breast feeding.
- [Trina] Yeah.
Simple breast feeding.
And then these two little curious ones
who want to grab the camera.
Oh, and here is another.
Are you curious?
No, you’re not curious.
You’re curious.
You’re curious.
Look at you.
Look at you getting right in there.
(laughs)
Is this a family?
- [Tour Guide] Yeah, this family.
- [Trina] This is a family.
- [Tour Guide] Some of
them who they are fighting,
they are not in the same family.
They fight for territory
and they arrived from the jungle.
Survival of the fittest.
- [Trina] Right.
Yeah.
See they won’t hurt you.
They won’t hurt you.
(laughter)
- [Tour Guide] Now he’s going.
They are the best videos for.
- [Trina] Yes, we have
some fantastic video.
Let me do a quick turn around here.
We have some fantastic
video that my guide took
when I was feeding them more stuff.
So you’ve seen this video,
which is really awesome,
and I’m going to put
together a whole thing
on our visit here,
so thanks for joining us,
and I will catch you next time.
(beep)
(giggle)
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