Category: Africa

How to keep monkeys from stealing your breakfast.

Every lodge we visited while in Africa warned us about “the monkeys”.  Apparently their sole intent is to roam around causing havoc wherever they go.  We were warned (repeatedly) to always lock our doors — not because of any threat from humans but because of baboons.  It seems they love mischief and are notorious for sneaking into the rooms, raiding the mini bars, rummaging through luggage and generally making a mess of things.

The smaller Vervet monkeys don’t cause as much destruction but do enjoy a free meal and aren’t shy about jumping right onto your table and snatching goodies off your plate.  By accident, the staff at Sweni discovered that if they placed a large picture of a leopard on the buffet table the monkeys wouldn’t sneak over and steal the food.  Sounds crazy, but apparently it works…  I’m sure the monkeys…