The Lion of the Mangroves

The lion of the mangroves is actually a monkey. The White Faced Monkey is the most ruthless and feared by everything in the jungle and not just in trees. They will kill and eat anything - birds, snakes, fish, even other monkeys.

But there is one thing the White Faced Monkey is afraid of…. Crocodiles. They are very cautious when they are close to the water. Occassionally, they will drink with their mouths in the water, but more often, they will just dip their tails to get them wet and then scamper up a tree to suck the water off. We were about to witness something amazing, even our guides said they had never seen this before.

An adult monkey (likely a male) came out of the trees, and flopped down in the water, next to a log. Our guides wondered if they felt safe because the boat was so close.

This happened several times by several different monkeys.

These young monkeys caught a small fish, that slipped out their fingers back into the water. The fun was soon over and they scampered back to the safety of the trees.

They never stopped playing and I wondered if they ever got tired. The adults would sometimes lounge in the tree, or by the water and watch, but not the little ones. They played and played and played.

This little guy wanted a stick, not just any stick, he wanted this stick - so he chewed it off.

We even found a baby clinging to his mama’s back as they jumped through the trees. Picture courtesy of Katey Card.