The Return of Soki Our Samango Monkey

“Soki is back! And we are absolutely delighted! He showed up fairly late in the evening about a week ago, and since then, he has been a regular visitor as if he never left.

But “who is Soki?” you might be asking. Well, Soki is our friendly neighborhood Samango monkey. He arrived at the lodge about 3 years ago and spends about a month or two hanging around the lodge when in the area. The rest of the year we do not really know where he goes, but we have our suspicions…

It is always nerve-wracking when he is gone; we have grown quite attached to him and always wonder if he will be back. After all, the bush can be a dangerous place for a Samango monkey. When he is around, he has a fairly regular routine that we love. He generally arrives at the lodge shortly before we start breakfast and begins calling in the large cabbage tree in the garden. As soon as we hear this, we rush outside to greet him with smiles and praise (“Soki, look how handsome you are today!” or “Soki, you are super! How good to see you!”). But it’s not just the praise that he comes for; it’s the delicious breakfast that he receives.

Now, before I carry on, let me just address the Elephant in the room; we are all very aware that you should never feed wild animals. We completely agree with this and are advocates for it, but… not when it comes to Soki. Soki almost feels like a member of the Sigurwana team, and he has certainly earned his breakfasts by entertaining many of our guests over the past 3 years.

Right, so back to the breakfast routine. As I said, he announces his arrival by calling loudly outside in the garden. His breakfast is not just a boring banana, oh no, not for our Soki! His breakfast is a 3-course meal. He starts with a bucket of peanuts. These are a favorite of his, and when he first arrived at the lodge, we caught him trying to steal them from behind the kitchen. But, as I mentioned, he quickly realized that he could just train the humans at the house to feed him the peanuts rather than steal them. When he is done with his nuts, he receives half an apple or orange, and finally, if he is still hungry, he gets his banana. As clichéd as it is, this is definitely his favorite course of the meal.

When he is done with his breakfast, he climbs up into the trees in the garden and has a little sleep before moving off into the vegetation surrounding the lodge. We are then left with the little vervet monkeys watching us, bewildered and wondering why they don’t get breakfast in the morning.

We are not really sure where he goes when he leaves the lodge. We suspect that he moves over to the Tolo side of the property. There are a number of Samango monkey troops on Tolo, and he is probably an older male from one of these troops who has been chased out by younger, stronger males.

Some information about Samango monkeys:

• Getting around: Samango monkeys primarily move, rest, and forage in forest canopies, but they can also be seen on the ground. Their tails aid in balance and leaping between trees.
• Communicating: Male samango monkeys use a distinctive ‘boom’ call to repel predators and intruders. They also emit two other calls, ‘pyow’ and ‘hacks’ or ‘ka-trains,’ associated with predator alarms. Females and young monkeys produce various vocalizations, indicating high arousal levels or affiliative contact solicitation.
• Distribution: Samango monkeys are found in South Africa’s indigenous, high canopy, evergreen forests, from northern Limpopo Province to KwaZulu Natal and down to the Eastern Cape.
• Habitat: They inhabit high-canopy, evergreen indigenous forests, but due to habitat fragmentation, they are restricted to isolated or semi-isolated forest fragments.
• Food: Samango monkeys are diurnal and primarily feed on a variety of forest plant species, including fruits, leaves, flowers, gums, fungi, seeds, and insects. Yes, yes and peanuts.
• Sex and Life Cycles: They live in multifemale groups led by a single adult male. Males are evicted from their maternal group before reaching sexual maturity. Group and home range sizes vary across locations, and the age of first conception is around 7 years.
• Predators: Main predators are African Crowned Eagles, Verreaux’s Eagles, and leopards. So Sigurwana and Tolo are definitely high risk areas for these hansom monkeys
• Conservation and the Future: Samango monkeys are threatened due to habitat loss, road collisions, electrocutions, snaring, and hunting for traditional medicine. Different subspecies have different conservation statuses, and measures, like protected area expansion, corridor creation, and strict forest management, are necessary for their conservation. Mitigation strategies like canopy bridges for road crossings are also essential.

Game viewing at the lodge:

Having Soki visit the lodge is always fantastic, but we are very fortunate to have many animals visiting the garden on a regular basis. Our garden herd of Impala is still very happy to sleep and spend the majority of the day in the garden, and of course, the little vervets are always hanging around. Some of the other animals that visit us regularly are giraffes, wildebeests, waterbucks, and many nocturnal animals. In fact, we have recently had a brown hyena who was visiting the garden every night, much to the dismay of Neil… But that’s a story for another Blog.”