A walk on the wild side….

With so much to see and do around Tsitsikamma, some measure of planning is needed. There are numerous wildlife attractions that could appear to be mini-zoos with all the negative connotations. However, the 3 that we visited could not have been further from the case, with considerable effort made to rehabilitate injured creatures, look after those incapable of re-introduction back into the wild, and most importantly, to educate the public and farmers. Some of the statistics are alarming.

Being in need of an early morning walk, we headed for the local cattery,Tenikwa!

Coffee first, only to face a bunch of birds that looked like ancient university professors.

Then off in a small group with our walk leaders. Both of them were pretty laid back, and prone to just laying down when the mood took them. They were so impressive!

After the cheetahs brought us back, we were taken round some of the other wild cats, including a leopard, african wild cats, servals, caracals and even merecats. The real challenge is that these guys are not naturally too considerate of humans’ habit of fencing off the countryside, and put ugly large grazing animals in to trash the natural cover. The only upside is that they also put tasty snacks in woolly clothes in the same areas!

Humans also do some strange things with their closest relatives. Not far away, there is a section of forest dedicated to monkeys that have been discarded by humans, either from zoos or private houses. Quite how one could stay sane with even a couple of these guys around beats us! The notice on the entrance door just sets the tone.

Within minutes of going onto the decking, a woman had lost a flip-flop (what a barking idea to turn up to a forest walk in these?) to a super-fast velvet monkey. Chaos all round…..

Talking of the intellectually challenged, apart from flip-flop woman, there were the lemurs. Not the brightest of the near-primates, even the monkeys take the mickey out of them 🙂