After leaving Ntchisi I am picked up by Amanda the wildlife vet, en route to Kasungu National Park. With her is Liz, an expert on orphan Elephants from Zambia. The Primate release program I am supposed to be taking part in is still delayed so I will be sort of extra luggage with them for a couple of days.  After an hour or so we reach the turnoff to Kasungu. At the foot of a large mountain is a fairy tale palace surrounded by woods. This extraordinary building, its seems, was constructed by Kamuzu Banda, Malawi’s first President-for-life, who came from here. He hardly ever used it and now it stands here, empty.

We enter the park and drive through miles and miles of silent woodland to a campsite with bungalows by a small lake.  There is something eerie about this park, I feel like I have entered an enchanted forest under some sort of spell; it takes some days before I get it: Narnia! The animals here are in hiding – I see a squirrel slip across the road one day, a couple of Kudus another – they are here, but not showing. People are here as well, there is a tourist lodge (empty, except for a handful of visitors on Sundays) and park staff and their families who have created a small village near the park headquarters.

Amanda and Liz go about their business and I tag along. I like being with them, but they are all business, moving at a pace that is about 100 times faster than what I like in the bush. Still I get to learn my way around and Amanda is happy to stop for me to check out the odd bird or Mongoose. I also meet some interesting people – it leads to another project which I will describe in the next post.

Liz at Kasungu gate

Western Banded Snake-Eagle

Finally, Mandy the Primatologist arrives, recovered from Malaria.  With her is Pili, her Malawian assistant who moves in with me in the little lake-shore bungalow I have been living in.  It’s time to meet the monkeys. These are a group of about 20 Vervets that were released in to the park about 3 months ago.  They are a mixed lot of orphans and rescues, graduates of Lilongwe Wildlife Center.

Next day we pick up an armed scout (there are buffalos, elephants and hippos around as well as poachers) and drive out to the release area. Some of the monkeys have radio collars, so we track their signals through thick grass and woodland until we locate the group, foraging in a grove of trees. The rest of the day we follow them,  recording details of their behaviour. That’s the basic routine – different times of day, lunch breaks etc.

At first the monkeys are a bit skittish and keep moving, making tracking difficult in the woods. But soon things settle down and I start to think they are oblivious to our presence. They look very healthy, fat and sleek; they know their way around and scamper along the ground, leaping up to grab spiders out of the huge spider-webs all over the place, running up and down the trees eating fruits, peeling away the bark in search of insects – looks to me they have a really good life here.

Spiders everywhere

The troop have settled in to af wild Plum tree, the higher ranking individuals gorging on the ripe fruits while others wait their turn; the fruits look very nice and I can’t resist plucking one and taking a bite. It is delicious but I hardly have time to swallow before two very indignant monkeys pop out of the foliage right in front of me and glare at me. “I would drop that if I were you”, Mandy murmurs. I don’t think twice,  one of the Monkeys grabs the dropped Plum and they disappear back in to the tree.  I am thrilled: I feel like a member of the group, they have communicated with me! (even if it was to say “you can’t have any fruit!”) . Over the next days Mandy, Pili and I move with the group and I get to know them, I start to recognise individuals and they move closer, often passing right next to me.

The way they move through the forest, the loose-knit group – I recognise something, it’s how I would like to live myself, it’s probably pretty similar to the way humans lived for ages and ages….

I take far too many photos and videos,  this liitle gang have stolen my heart. Here’s a little video (well, OK it’s almost 4 minutes long – but you can’t imagine how hard it was to edit):

Vervets – a morning with Pops’ troop in Kasungu from David Yekutiel on Vimeo.

When the time comes to leave them, there is a lump in my throat. Happy Monkeys in your beautiful woods.

Of course – such a life is not without risk. We find one transmitter + carcass (a high-ranking male named Jack). So? That’s life. What would you choose? A safe cage or a risky forest?

Jack – he died free!

Between my visits to the monkeys I am getting involved in something else (next post coming soon).  My relationship with Lilongwe Wildlife Trust suffers a bit – they are being a bit funny about this and other things I won’t go in to; I guess it’s just the way things are with big organisations, money etc. I am a bit pissed off for some days but we sort of patch things up and life goes on. There is plenty to enjoy besides the monkeys. Although wildlife is scarce here (Kasungu has suffered from a lot of poaching and the woodland makes it very difficult to see the shy remaining animals) the campsite is a good spot. A pair of Fish-Eagles have a nest just across the little lake; all sorts of other birds hang around here. There are about a dozen Hippos in residence, never far away. Their grunts keep me company at dawn when I set up my internet connection (only time it works).

African Fish-Eagle

Yellow-billed Ducks

Martial Eagle

Kasungu Internet Cafe

Hippos in the mist

I keep hearing about the Elephants but never see them; then one day, there they are: watching from the trees, then coming down to the water, drinking and taking off, disappearing again in to the woods.

One evening we drive up to Black Rock, a granite dome deep in the woods. A short climb and the whole park is spread at our feet: forest from horizon to horizon. In the distance more domes mark the Zambia border, where poachers  are reputed to come from. Rare birds perch on the trees around – a green Cuckoo, a White-breasted Cuckoo-shrike and best of all, Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters.

It is a wild and magic place –   and it is my birthday today.