Off to a strange start: Schnitzel and a striptease

My South African bush adventure has begun..well, sort of. It begins with a tall cappuccino, extra froth, and a cinnamon roll at a Starbucks in downtown Frankfurt, Germany. No monkeys here (I presume). No "big-5" lurking in the brush or along the savannah. Just a fluffy, nicely coiffed poodle prancing by with his city mom.

I had never planned to be a tourist in the city of Frankfurt, however, now I will have to make the most of it for these 24 hours. What does this city have to offer? I have no idea to be honest, but a jolt of caffeine should motivate me.

The one thing you don't want to hear at a foreign airport on route to a far away land is "you cannot travel on this flight today." Apparently my passport had no free visa pages (a requirement for South Africa), therefore I was denied boarding in Frankfurt- not Amsterdam where I live and departed from. Not from Amsterdam where my comfy bed and lovely shower await. Lufthansa allowed me to board there with my passport not up to snuff. Well, I cannot lay all the blame on the agent who checked me in- I should have been aware of this requirement. As my mom pointed out, how does the "world traveller" not know she has no empty pages left in her passport?? Point taken, mom!

Well, I still felt entitled to at least a toiletry/overnight kit as my luggage would not be released to me overnight. Lufthansa afforded me the toiletry kit but would not pay for the hotel.

The American consulate was to open at 8am and I surely would be there when the doors opened. The fear that things could go wrong was lingering. What if they couldn't take me today or were unable to make the adjustment to my passport? What if I was stuck another night or worse, the weekend?? Although the consulate is normally closed on the last Thursday of the month (who knew??), they made an exception for my sorry stranded self. Luck was on my side, too, when the process took less than an hour! I was then off to discover Frankfurt.

So Frankfurt was not all that interesting...Went on a river cruise, drank German beer and ate weiner schnitzel and sauerkraut, and noticed a lot of street beggars. The city is clean, however, and had a nice old city center. On to Africa...

I arrived at the Vervet Monkey Foundation (VMF) just around dinner time (after a 6 hour bus excursion from Johannesburg). Getting my bags out upon arrival should have been uneventful, but a girl closed the back pull down door on my head- ouch! Was it bleeding- no, good (impressive lump though). Then it was announced that 5 of the male volunteers would be performing a striptease to raise cash for the sanctuary. My first activity at the VMF was watching 5 very young (18-23?) boys strip down to their silky colorful boxer shorts to the tune of "I believe in miracles...you sexy thing!" Girls streaming to cheer them on and an older lady squeezing baby oil on them and touching them inappropiate places! Strange start, eh? They raised 1,200.00 Rand (about 120 euros) which will be enough to build one enclosure- it was a success! If only I was 18 years old and straight... They were very cute.

Everyone here is really nice. Besides the one older woman, I am the oldest here. Everyone is of college age- and state of mind! After the strip show and dinner, it was off to the outdoor road side bar, the "Half Human." I went with the hopes that I would not get stuck there until late as the next day was my first working day. After a couple of drinks at the main house here (yes, they have a cash bar-self serve honor system), about 13 of us piled into a SUV and were off. This brought back memories of earlier days...Luckily I got to sit alone up front with the driver as the others sat crammed all over eachother in the back. Not too long after arriving at the bar, one girl was already vomiting from drinking a bottle of wine by herself. Drunk people were going a random game of limbo. Strange, I thought- am I IN Africa?! Tenting, communal living with college students- will I make it the whole 4 weeks??

The daily tasks include cleaning, fire watch and safety (looking for fires in the surrounding areas and making fire breaks), monkey patroling, sitting with, monitoring, and feeding the orphan babies, and other various tasks. There are well over 15 orphaned babies here. The most common reason their being here is their mother was killed by a human, maybe by being shot or run over by a car. Other monkeys may have been pets that were confiscated or turned in by the owner. Some monkeys were captured on someone's land who called to say they will shoot them if you don't come and take them off my property.

Baby bottles of formula are made up two times a day, as well as a meal of cornflakes with a little milk and fruit on top (pretty much the same as my daily breakfast!). Most of them are between the ages of 5-12 months and are already learning the social life of their species which includes where they individually fit in the hierarchy and how to play and groom one another. It is amazing that without their mother or family that they innately know how to groom, communicate warning calls,threats, and happy noises. They know when they hear a warning vocalization to become alert, look, and climb up high off the ground. When a "bandit" monkey (the ones that roam freely about the property) comes close to their enclosure and causes a problem, they all get together and threaten it and try to scare it off. It is great to see this as it is natural behavior necessary when they are in their future troop.

The babies are rambunctious and play constantly. Many liked to be groomed and will sit on you and "ask" to be groomed. Many also like to cuddle in your neck and "whisper" their happy noise in your ear. Some times they will give you a love bite, however, as I learned not all bites are love bites! They do sometimes bite the keepers if they get upset at you (directly or indirectly). Every volunteer is briefed on how to behave and communicate while in the enclosure with them, as to not upset, scare, or stress them. Monkeys, especially young ones, are hyper-sensitive and can easily misinterpret your body language, expressions, and intentions. Luckily they have only baby teeth and the damage is minimal (although unpleasant).

Some may wonder why it is necessary for humans to have this hands on approach. I am in the stages of determining my own answere to this. I think that the infants have to be handled to some degree. Many come in sick and others may need emotional reassurance. I think some may feel safer with human "guardians" around. Well, I will write more on this subject as I get more experience..

Well, I apologize for the long entry this time.. This computer is quite slow and there are many volunteers here using it. I had the morning off and thought I would catch up on the past week.. More soon. Hope all is well in your world.