Goodbye Monkey Jungle, hello spring break
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We got a semi late start again. We still hadn’t quite adjusted to Eastern Time. We had discussed a couple of options for the day, like taking an air boat ride. But in the end we settled on Monkey Jungle. We had passed a sign on the way down and it just sounded kind of cool.
We headed back up through farm country, looking for an orchid place or a fruit place. We didn’t find an orchid place and the one fruit place we stopped at wasn’t too exciting. So we abandoned that plan and headed to Monkey Jungle.
We were worried it would be a tourist trap but it’s not (well, a little). The people are caged in and the monkeys (in general) run free. Monkeys at the front entrance were making a wild noise (which I recorded to make a ring tone). There are tubes you can put raisins down to feed them. The monkeys have learned to shake the tubes to get everything to come out. They’re very nasty to each other and the big ones punch and push the little ones to get to the food. They also had bowls hanging from chains on the screening that the monkeys could pull up and get to the food. We tried to distract the big ones so the little ones could get some with some success
There was a trainer talk at the Orangutan enclosure. When the Orang did her tricks, the trainer would throw food to her and she’d catch it. Sometimes right in her mouth. Then it was on to see the Gorilla. The Orangutan knew it was training/feeding time and was out and ready but the gorilla was sulking in the back. The trainer had to go back and convince him to come out. He came trudging up from behind some trees. It was kind of freaky to see him lumbering towards us.
It seemed like he knew he was on a show and didn’t like it much. She threw him some iced tea in a bottle and he dumped it out. Not enough sugar. He wouldn’t catch anything she threw. Just watch it fly. But then he’d go get it. Ultimately he just turned his back on us. I can relate. I’d feel the same way.
There were monkeys in the trees behind us. Also some other smaller ones in cages. Especially tamarins. Very cute. There were spider monkeys who were putting on quite a show of running, jumping, playing and generally whomping on each other. And right at the end some monkeys came down and were playing around the pool. All in all a nice experience. We decided our money was well spent.
We started back towards Naples. Our first stop was Shark Valley. The parking lot was full, so we waited in line to get in. Every time a car left another could go in. When the ranger let us in he said, “there’s a space in there somewhere but you’ll have to find it”. Someone pulled out just as we came in though, so no problem. Our trip karma continues.
We walked the small Bobcat trail. But it was not too interesting. Not much to see. There’s a 15 mile bike/tram loop along a canal/ditch. We didn’t really have time (or the inclination frankly) to do the whole thing so we walked down it a bit and back. Lots of gators, turtles, a few birds. (And some interesting people.)
We’re getting really good at spotting wildlife. But we still get surprised by gators. We’d see one across the ditch and as we were looking at it, hey there’s one right by our feet! But they just don’t seem overly interested in eating us tourists. They’re like big cats. Mostly just lie around, but you don’t want to be there if they decide to go hunting. There’s nothing to stop the gators from just walking up onto the path and having a go at your leg. But they don’t. But it’s still a little hard to believe they let you just go out and wander around out there.
Next stop was the Oasis visitor’s center. Weren’t going to stop there but it turned out to be pretty good. Both for critters and people watching. We saw a women in short shorts and a huge mane of hair in the parking lot. We thought she looked like one of the Trailblazer dancers.
It was an uneventful drive back to Naples. We drove through Naples to Ft Meyers Beach rather than going on the freeway. Or tried to. At Lover’s Key the traffic stopped and we CRAWLED the last 10 miles. Mostly stopped. Then a few feet. Then stopped. Just a huge amount of traffic going into town. It took us almost 2 hrs. People walking got there faster than us. It’s spring break and the kids are in town. We’re a bit worried it might be a bit too loud and boisterous for us but it turned out ok.
Marion took a nap. I went down to the beach for a walk around. It reminded me of Manly Beach in Australia. Very crowded. I saw perhaps the brownest white woman I’ve ever seen in my life. Just dark brown shoe leather. Ugh. We went to Pete’s Timeout for dinner (Their motto: Brew. Chew. View). Unfortunately, the redneck special (boiled shrimp, smoked sausage, corn on the cob, and corn bread) wasn’t available and we had to have burgers.
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