Monkeys in the mist

Plant team from University of Johannesburg and IBOL

Monkeys in the mist

One, two tree, and it's sampled

Watch out, there's a Russian defecting

This morning when I came out of my tent (of course I sleep in a tent, what kind of dog do you think I am?) I wanted to go straight back in again. I suspected to see Sigourney Weaver coming out of the forest any moment. However, neither did she nor any guerrillas appear. You see, we don’t have guerrillas in South Africa and Sigourney lives in America, but of course you knew that. On the other hand, we do have vervet monkeys in the Knysna forest, but I guess you also knew that. What you maybe don’t know is that vervet monkeys are a lot smarter than guerrillas. They don’t come out in this miserable mist.

Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina)

What you maybe also don’t know is that Arnold and Renier recorded their first red chested cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) of the season this morning. This cuckoo migrates to the tropics in our winter time and come back in spring. Looking at the kind of spring day we had this morning, I’m sure this cuckoo must have thought it was cuckoo to come back. Nevertheless it was sitting somewhere in the forest canopy telling the world it was here. In Afrikaans they call it the Piet-my-vrou. Now I don’t know about you, but there’s something wrong there. How can you call your wife Piet? Maybe Griet-my-vrou would have been better. Apart from Griet, they also spotted a few Knysna Loeries but apparently they are extremely camera shy. Renier however managed a great picture of a Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina).

One, two tree, and it's sampled

“Froggie went a’ courting and he did ride a-hum...” Frogman was singing as he walked into the misty forest. Who is Frogman? you might ask. The same as Snakeman with an identity crisis. He sampled a Southern ghost frog, Clicking stream frog and a Cape river frog. Froggin’ good, I’d say.

The tree hugger hugging

Most importantly, however was the effort by Il Doctoré Olive and his tree team. There are 75 different tree species in the Knysna forest he told us this morning. Tonight he and his team sampled 51 of those. Maybe they could have done the whole forest if he didn’t go and hug each one first. Just joking, Frenchy, C’estmagnifique…

So from monkeys in the mist to elephants in the myth. We didn’t see the famous, ever illusive or non-existing Knysna elephant. So we’re off to Addo tomorrow to see what we can find there. Sooper Cooper is getting ready to do a DNA sample on one...

This is Buddy bloggin’ off.