Go Ape!

“You're going where?!” was most of the office's reaction when I told them I was going to Monkey World for the weekend. “No seriously, it's brilliant” was my reply. Well, I'd been assured it was brilliant by several friends who'd already visited, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Monkey World is an ape rescue centre in Wool, Dorset. Set up in 1987 it aims to rescue and rehabilitate apes and monkeys that have been abused or otherwise mistreated. You might have seen the centre featured on Monkey Life, a continuing documentary on Channel 5.

If you haven't been, you should, it's a great day out for the whole family. Whether it's seeing the golden cheeked lemurs and their new arrival (cutely hanging onto mum's belly like bug-eyed Christmas decoration) the boisterous baby chimps or the quietly intelligent Orang Utans, it's almost impossible not to find something to love at Monkey World.

Keeper talks are every half an hour from 12 and are highly recommended. Every keeper has an intimate knowledge of the animals, knowing each of them by name and their own individual personalities. In fact if you just stop to watch them for about five minutes, you can quickly pick up on their personalities; some are cheeky or mischievous, others more laid back and sedate.

Some of my favourite stories were about Amy, a female adult Orang Utan, who they suspect was once a fisherman's pet. This is because she knows how to tie a variety of knots and has taught all the other Orang Utans in the enclosure to do the same thing. So determined is Amy to get food, that the keepers have to take all towels out of the enclosure at the end of the day lest she make rope and pull the fence off. Orang Utan's being roughly eight times stronger than a human, this isn't that much of a challenge. It doesn't end there however; she's also learnt how to earth the electric fence, so that holds no fear for her and any bottles left there overnight will just give her an implement with which to dig for victory.