My pet monkey

I lived in Africa as a child and we had a pet monkey called Joey.

We lived in the middle of the Tsavo National Park and were the only Europeans in the area.
We found Joey whilst out for a stroll in the evening. We came across some local village people who had a monkey who was clearly in a lot of pain as he had a rope wrapped tightly around his waist, so tight that it had rubbed a big hole in his tummy. My parents traded some cigarettes for the monkey and so began our adventures with Joey.

Mum cared for him like a baby. Removed the rope and bathed his wound with disinfectant and nursed him back to health.

He was a fun companion, much needed as there were no other children around for me to play with. I dressed him in my dolly’s clothes, pushed him around in my pram, I adored him.
He loved eggs. We would give him a whole raw egg. He would break the shell and then play for ages with the contents, confused as to the stickiness and transferring it from hand to hand. Very amusing.

He wasn’t very keen on car journeys and was a big distraction to my poor dad who was having to drive with a very distracted Joey jumping all over the seats trying to get out. He was rarely invited on car journeys.

Unfortunately he got a bit aggressive as he got older and bit my mum quite badly on her thumb. He had to go. I don’t know what happened to him my father dealt with him, best not to ask. It was a great loss.

My next funny memory of monkeys was when we were in South Africa.
We were staying at a rather smart hotel and our bedroom had a balcony overlooking a golf course. Being golfers we were just admiring the beauty of the fairways when a troop of baboons appeared.

The hotel bar was their target. We realised they had gone in when lots of people came running out shouting they are in the bar! The staff was obviously used to this and dispatched them without much further ado. What does a baboon have to do to get a Banana Daquiri these days??? !!!

Actually the monkeys there were quite dangerous. Security for your room was essential, never leave a window open!

There was one family there with a baby. The mum went back to her room one day with her baby and there was a baboon in her suite quite happily tucking into the fruit and biscuits. She was of course scared and managed to summon the staff who shooed it away.
Don’t people have funny jobs! Monkey chaser!!!

Travelling around India monkeys are rife and again can be a bit scary as will snatch at what you are holding hoping for food. That’s another story.