We Took Our Monkeys To See Some Monkeys

Every time we head out on the N2 to escape the city, we pass Monkeyland.  Before kids I barely even noticed it as we whizzed on by, but as they kids got older I noticed it more and more.  Then I heard about their feature on Carte Blanche and figured that anything that made its way onto their show can’t be good and it clearly wasn’t worth the visit.  But then I heard that they had upgraded, made changes to how the monkeys are looked after and now it was actually worth a visit.

So on a blustery day on our way home from our last trip to Houw Hoek, we decided to pop in.

Obviously there is an admission fee that you have to pay to help them maintain the premises but it gives you access to that place for as long as you desire.  There is also a little tuck shop vibe in case you were not prepared for the visit (like us) and need to top up little tummies.

What I like about it was that WE were the ones in the cage and not the monkeys.  To walk around the park you actually walk in a caged off passage way while the monkeys chill out in the trees above you.  There are also sections where some of the monkeys have their own spacious cages, but for a large part the monkeys are free and able to do as they please.

Also, we found King Julian from Madagascar…

I’ve always wanted a monkey – despite the fact that my Mom had one when she was younger and because she didn’t share her cake with it, it decided to bite a hole in her face!  I know right.  Maybe I’ll stick with my kids for now.

Anyway, the most interesting thing for me was the chimp enclosure.  When we walked up to the fence one of the chimps came right up to us and stared at us through the fence.  It was kind of surreal.  Staring at something that had so many human mannerisms I see why some people could consider evolution as plausible.  When she went inside we followed her and she came and sat and stared at us, just as inquisitively as we stared at her.

It really was very fascinating.

They were busy with a bit of maintenance on the main “island” where they usually play, which I am a bit sad about as it would have been awesome to see them properly swinging about.

But as with anything that you think the kids are going to be so super excited about, they walked around once and then preferred to eat their chips and sit in the rides before demanding to go home.  I’m still glad that we have ticked that off the list as one of the places to go to in Cape Town at least once.