I spent the weekend at a fancy, touristy resort located on the banks of the Zambezi river right at Victoria Falls. When I arrived back from my week in the small town of Sesheke, I took a walk to see the Falls. It is astounding - the water is at its peak since it is the end of rainy season, and the thunder of the water can be heard from the hotel rooms. Zebra, ostrich, impala and other animals roam the grounds of the hotel, and across the Zambezi river begins the Mosi-oi-Tunya National Park.
Upon arriving at the hotel, I was given three separate documents pleading for me not to feed the monkeys, baboons and other animals. This morning i was sitting at a table directly under the edge of the restaurant room, and thinking to myself how i hadn't really seen any monkeys yet and recalling some people saying the monkeys would steal food from people's tables. As i was sipping my cup of coffee, a monkey came out of nowhere and jumped on my table. I instinctively grabbed my camera as the monkey grabbed my mango, I hissed and yelled at the monkey, who jumped off the table, and came at me two more times trying to take more food, hissing at me as i made as if to hit it. it then ran away, begrudged to have made off with such little booty. I was left laughing, my coffee spilled all over. The next hour as I sat there I watched the various hotel staff chasing the monkeys trying to get them to leave, throwing small rocks at them. Nonetheless, I saw a number of them successfully make off with a good amount of breakfast items.
All I could think of is my Dad and how much he always hated on monkeys. He and my Mom spent a year back in 1979 traveling through Africa, and he would always say about monkeys: "They steal your wallet and your food, and then throw their scat at you!" he would say angrily. I wished he had been there with me then, just to see his reaction. It made me think of when he and I were staying in Thailand together and how cautious he was around the monkeys; meanwhile the other tourists were busy trying to feed them and the next thing they knew, the monkeys had taken their wallets and cameras...
On my last evening I decided to try and find the giraffes and zebras that wander the hotel grounds. I had spotted earlier a promising-looking trail, and as soon as I hit it- there they were! What I didn't know but makes sense is that the hotel employs someone at all times to stay close to the animals and ensure the hotel guests do not try and get to close to them or feed them. The young mad who was watching the animals was very nice, and I spent an hour with him and the animals, which included a young father giraffe and the herd of seven zebras, including a ten-day old foal (soo cute). The giraffe apparently follows the young man around because he likes to have his head scratched (just like horses) and I managed to be five feet away from him.
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