Goodbye Wildtracks and Belize - you'll be greatly missed!

I am writing this from a coffee house in Hampstead, London after flying back in from Belize. I can’t believe how fast the past month has gone – I’ve had such a wonderful experience!

I’m happy to report that, when I left, all of the babies were doing well. Sam has grown so much in the past couple of weeks that, whenever it’s milk time, he can stretch from any of the cages and get his head in the pot of milk wherever I am standing in the room. We usually both get very messy but he looks so cute that I can’t be angry at him for long! 

Polly has also had a growth spurt and her afro looked fluffier than ever! She has been very clingy in the past couple of weeks and grumbled a lot when I tried to put her back into the play sessions. But when she would look up at me from her clinging position on my tummy and reach up to grab my nose or lips she would melt my heart and I would want to cuddle her forever! She really has got a beautiful face and I will miss her terribly!

Peanut (AKA Mr. Peanut or ‘The Nut’) has also gained in confidence over the past couple of weeks. He still complains about almost everything (and is especially noisy at milk time!) but he has become very cheeky and has learned how to play bite really well. He is a particular fan of biting ankles, underarms and wrists – all of the painful bits of the body – and when he’s offered a finger to chew on he will reject it in favour of the wrist every time! He climbed up and gave me a cuddle on my last day which was lovely as he was never much of a cuddler. I think he could sense that I was leaving! Mr. Peanut, I shall miss your grumpy face even when you're happy. You made me very happy over the past month!

Pebbles doesn’t seem to have grown at all in the past month and is still the smallest of the group. She is still a huge fan of sitting on my shoulder but, as with Polly, she would rather be off playing if I am sitting down – I think they feel too vulnerable to attack from Elliot (as do I!) when I’m sitting down. Pebbles is the only one who purrs when it’s milk time and she’s become quite an expert at lulling me into a false sense of security and pouncing when I accidentally get the pot of milk too close to the shoulder that she’s sitting on when I’m trying to move it out of reach of the others! Needless to say, I get monkey hand prints of milk on my shoulder at pretty much every feed! Pebbles has got more confident in her jumping and spatting skills and, although she won’t play with Elliot yet, she will play in the room when he is out. 

Elliot still wins the award for giving me the most war wounds over the past month! The scar on my face should hopefully fade to nothing although if it doesn't it's a great story to tell down the pub! He seemed to be getting frustrated when he was kept in the cage and the others were out playing so, after lots of supervised sessions, we became confident enough to leave Elliot and the 4 other babies out to play unsupervised. It seemed to be going well when I left and Elliot was a little calmer, however, was still prone to little bursts of frustration at times which he liked to take out on the humans! 

Izzie was so happy when Molly came back to look after her - it was lovely to see the reunion. Molly was a volunteer who was at Wildtracks at the end of last year and who saw Izzie through all of the surgeries to remove the pellets from her shattered arm. I am proud to report that I became quite proficient at getting Izzie back into her cage at night (her least favourite time of the day). Where the Howler Monkeys are pretty easy to pick up and will rarely bite hard enough to break the skin, Izzie has two very sharp teeth at the front and can puncture the skin very easily, as I experienced during my first meeting with her. However, I have perfected 'the tail swing' quite nicely now which, so long as it's done properly, doesn't cause her harm and keeps her teeth well away from my hands! She is still suffering with anxiety when she's left alone but her hand is going from strength to strength and she's using it really well when swinging.

Leoma and I have left the babies in the capable hands of Molly and Jamie, both of whom will be amazing with them. I look forward to getting the updates!

Although I was not caring for Bean, the 2 week old monkey that came in at the same time as Sinbad, I saw her a lot as Emma fed her upstairs in the nursery. Emma and Paul worked shifts to get her through some really tough times and I'm really happy to write that she is doing wonderfully well. She had grown a little by the time I left and she was growing into her face a little (she was less wrinkly as Paul and Emma had managed to get her to a point of being less dehydrated). Hopefully she will be OK now and can join the other baby Howlers once she's done her month in quarantine and grown a little.

In other news, Twiggy was successfully released and seems to have found other manatees to hang out with. I know that Zoe and Paul were a little nervous when she finally left (after a couple of attempted releases) but she seems to be doing well.

Duke gained 9 lbs this week after losing weight last week. He was very playful when I was in the pool with him on my penultimate day and had great fun swimming with 'Uncle John' when we partially drained the pool to tube feed him. He was following him around the pool. Hopefully Duke will continue to put on weight and can be released in the same way as Twiggy in the future.

Aside from Wildtracks, Jamie and I took a day-trip to Lamanai to see some wonderful Mayan temples and Leoma and I did an adventure tour of a Mayan cave network. This was incredibly interesting as we saw lots of well preserved Mayan pots along with the skulls of some of the people who were sacrificed as offerings to the Gods. After we did the cave tour at San Ignacio we went to Caye Caulker and snorkeled with stingrays and sharks along with countless beautiful fish and some stunning coral off the barrier reef. What a phenomenal way to finish a wonderful month! 

Belize has certainly won my heart and I was really upset to leave. The people are so friendly, the pace is relaxed and easy and the food (beans, fry jacks, tacos etc) is delicious. If you've never been to Belize I would suggest you do it soon - you won't regret it!

A brief news update

Wildtracks news:

• Duke was weighed on Sunday and is now 190lbs - well done, Duke and the team!
• We have tried to release Twiggy 3 times now but each time she has returned back to Wildtracks. Guess the thought of the evening banana milkshake is just too strong!
• The 4 baby Howler Monkeys, Elliot and Izzie, the baby Spider Monkey, went on a little outing yesterday. We took them to one of the cages (near the very curious Coati named Snuffles) and let them run loose for half an hour. They had a great time sunbathing and it was a huge success. Hopefully we will have time to make this a regular occurrence.
• Yesterday Sinbad, a male Howler Monkey, arrived at Wildtracks. I'm sad to report that he's not in a good condition - his eye is severely damaged, he's seizing and foaming at the mouth and has pneumonia. Paul is looking after him so hopefully he will pull through. We are still waiting for the story to be confirmed as to how he came to be in this condition but it's probable that humans are to blame - shocking if it's true!
• In slightly better news, we also had another new arrival yesterday - a 2-4 week old baby Howler Monkey. She is very tiny but is well and it looks like she has fallen off her mother. She will be raised by Emma.
• Currently the majority of the baby monkeys live in Paul and Zoe's bedroom as there is no space for them anywhere else. Wildtracks has managed to secure a grant for £10,000 (just over half of the amount needed) to build a monkey nursery which is fantastic news! The plans sound amazing (double doors will be included which will mean Izzie will escape less often!) and it will allow Zoe and Paul to get their personal space back. I'm sure this is very important to them since the rest of their home is taken over by volunteers the whole year round!

I can't believe that I will be leaving on 17th. I'm having such a great time but I'm looking forward to exploring Belize before heading home for the wedding of the year!

The baby Howlers

I have now spent a week with the baby monkeys and it’s lovely to see the progress that they’ve made in such a short space of time. Elliot, the biggest baby, still has a tendency to be a little rough when he’s playing but Peanut and Sam seem to be handling it pretty well. Peanut is still almost constantly complaining, however, he doesn’t seem too upset as he keeps moving towards Elliot instead of away from him. Sam has been provoking Elliot the past couple of days which shows that he’s gaining confidence and can hold his own in a play wrestle as he’s a little bigger than the other three, although there’s still a gulf between him and Elliot. Polly seems to have lots of energy and confidence at the start of the play session, and is certainly the fastest climber out of the three small babies, but once she gets tired she clings to my hip and won’t let go until it’s dinner time. She is very good at shouting at Elliot and gave him a good telling off yesterday to the point that Zoe could hear her in the office next door! Pebbles is the smallest baby and she is very low on confidence when Elliot is out. She will happily play with the other three when Elliot is in his cage, however, she will either sit on my shoulder with her tail wrapped round my neck or play within jumping distance of me if she’s feeling brave. Yesterday she was curled up relaxing on my knee when Elliot stealthily approached her and started to groom her. She was enjoying it (she did have about half a papaya stuck in her fur!) until she realised that it was Elliot. She jumped up, let out a deafening scream and hopped up onto my shoulder with her tail wrapped so tight around my neck I feared that I might asphyxiate! Hopefully she is due a growth spurt soon which should give her some confidence as there is a huge difference in the size of her versus Eliiot.

Peanut was also tired yesterday and, as he’s starting to trust me a little more, he curled up for a nap on my knee too. At one point I had Polly, Pebbles and Peanut curled up on my knee and Sam had stopped by for a little rest before charging off again – I was a sitting duck and the chances of concussion from Elliot landing on my head were significantly increased for that short period of time! But I survived (just!)!

Elliot has lost two teeth over the past day – it would have been better if he’d done that before biting me the other day but at least it might go some way to explaining his erratic behaviour. And, as Si pointed out, my scar would have been wonky if some of the teeth marks weren't present so I guess Elliot was selflessly thinking about how aesthetically pleasing his bite would look on my skin - thanks Elliot!

If I am the only person in the room, Pebbles and Polly will happily sit on my shoulder and on my hip respectively. However, if a better human comes along (i.e. anyone!) then they will trade me in! There is certainly a hierarchy with Zoe, Paul, Leoma and John all above lowly little me! I try not to take it personally (when they don’t jump off immediately when John comes into the room it feels like a little win!) but I will probably need therapy when I’m back in UK!

Daily routine

My day usually consists of a similar routine, with extra jobs thrown in for good measure. At 6.30am I am up and chopping fruit for the monkeys. They will be given this fruit and browse (they love prickly bush and secropia covered in ants which is great fun to hang in their cages!) and they are cleaned out. I tend to work with the 6 Howler Monkeys who can be great fun as they cling to the sweeping brush and jump on my head/ back as I clean, particularly Paz, Sparticus and Kofi. Concussion is a major concern at each feed!

I will then go and help Simon with the Curassow, big birds that are endangered and have been brought to the centre to breed. They get fruit and some bird food. I tend to stand outside the cage as I haven’t plucked up the confidence to go in yet – their beaks are huge!

I get a little time for breakfast which today was leftover pizza from last night (I’ve regressed to being a student again!) but is usually toast, peanut butter and orange juice. The toast is cooked in a pan on top of the gas stove and the water is boiled in the same way – it’s very old school! I love it!

The past couple of days I have had Duke Duty (or as Jamie says, Dukety) in the morning too, just before or after the 10am monkey feed. We alternate whether we are in the pool with him or whether we are sitting outside observing. I love my 30 minutes in the pool with him as he is getting brave with me now and playing with my ankles and knees with his whiskers. Usually I’d expect at least dinner from a man before they get that honour but I have let him skip that stage as he’s so cute! He has an inflatable boat in his pool for company (he used to have a manatee friend but sadly she passed away just before I arrived). A couple of days ago he was floating on the top of the pool, drifting down to the far end of the pool in the breeze and then swimming back to the inflatable to touch base before starting the whole process again. It was very lovely to watch. I have just done an hour long shift with him and he has eaten a lot of seagrass – so much so that we’ve actually run out!

Today I tended the banana patch just before lunch. Si helped me as he had just sharpened his machete and didn’t trust me with it (which, to be fair, was smart!). Paul has asked me to chop off all of the dead leaves and remove the flowers once all of the bananas have started to grow. I will be excited to see all of the bananas once they come through – I’m sure the monkeys will enjoy them along with the rest of their fruit.

After lunch I do the 2pm monkey feed and then head upstairs to play with the baby monkeys for a couple of hours. It’s amazing to see how much confidence the monkeys are gaining when they’re around Elliot. During yesterday’s play session the boys (Peanut and Sam) were getting on relatively well with Elliot. At one point they were all sharing the same leaves which was a big step forward. Sam was complaining a bit (which is strange as it’s usually Peanut) but he was happy enough. Funny, a man who’s happy moaning – shocking! The girls (Polly and Pebbles) were a little more scared. Pebbles lasted about 3 minutes before she was on my shoulder with her tail wrapped around my neck. I tried to put her back a couple of times but she complained a lot. Elliot tried to get her to play when I was sitting down but, once again, there were a lot of unhappy noises. Polly played for a while but then got tired and clung to my hip for the remainder of the play session. As much as it was bad for their developing relationships with Elliot, I loved the cuddles!

There is another monkey feed at 4.30pm and then it’s free time for the evening before dinner sometime between 8pm and 9pm.

All in all I’m having a great time! Paul and Zoe have created a great sanctuary and selflessly take in all animals that are in need of shelter. I’m really pleased that Belize was suggested to me and I’m so happy with the decision to come to Wildtracks – it’s a brilliant place!