A Georgia Girl in Germany

MacKenzie’s Brownie troop was looking forward to taking a field trip, so when another troop asked us to join them on a trip to the monkey farm in Affenberg (which means “ape mountain”), the girls jumped at the opportunity!

Affenberg Salem is near Lake Constance, and is home to about 190 endangered Barbary Macaques monkeys in a 20 hectare forest area. The monkeys are native to North Africa -- the mountains of Morocco and Algeria where they live at altitudes of more than 2,000 meters. Once we entered the fenced-in refuge, everyone got a handful of specially-prepared popcorn to feed the monkeys as we traveled along the pathway. Some of the girls were hesitant to get close to the monkeys, but by the end of our visit, most had warmed up to them.


MacKenzie and Emma didn’t take any time at all to warm up to the monkeys. I think the smart monkeys lined the pathway near the entrance, since that’s the only place popcorn is available for visitors to take...hence many of the girls made repeated trips for more popcorn while we were still in that area.

After a while, we came to an open area where the monkeys were fed something more substantial: avocados, bananas, carrots, pineapples, plums and cantaloupe. The guide talked about the monkeys, but it was all in German, so we just watched them devour the fruit and vegetables. The monkeys in this area must have known the better food was coming, because they didn’t seem that interested in the popcorn any more.


I like how this monkey seemed to pose with MacKenzie for the camera.


I had been wanting to take the kids here for a while, so since it was a Brownie field trip I drove separately with Zachary and Benjamin so we wouldn’t have to make a second trip. Zachary was very adept at finding popcorn lying around, so he’d pick it up and offer it to the monkeys. The tactic proved relatively fruitful since we were far enough away from the entrance that he couldn’t go back to get more fresh popcorn. Some of the monkeys were picky and wouldn’t take the dirty or stepped-on offerings...although he eventually gave away all of his popcorn.


Benjamin took a while to warm up to the monkeys. He enjoyed watching them, but wasn’t interested in holding his hand out to offer them popcorn. After a while, though, he warmed up to the idea. He initially offered them rocks, by setting them on the railings where they sat. The monkey below is looking at him like he’s crazy...monkeys don’t eat rocks. Benjamin couldn’t figure out why the monkey wasn’t as interested in the rock as he was.




Benjamin eventually replaced the rock with popcorn, but since it was some of Zachary’s popcorn that he’d found lying around, the monkeys would wait until all the fresh stuff was gone before considering Benjamin’s offerings. Just before we left the enclosed area, Benjamin was ready to share like everyone else...by holding out his hand. He was very proud of himself!


After visiting the monkeys, we continued around the farm and saw ducks, swans, carp and fallow deer.


As an added bonus, a free-living colony of white storks has settled near the entrance area. Every spring and summer, they breed and raise their young there, then in the fall they migrate to Africa for the winter season.

After the Brownies were done visiting the farm and eating lunch, they loaded back up in the bus for our next stop, with Zachary and I closely following in our van. Evan and his dad drove separately also, but ran into a significant stau on their way there so didn’t get there until just before the girls headed out. We didn’t figure Benjamin would enjoy the next stop as much as seeing the monkeys, so Bob offered to let him go through the farm again with him and Evan. He enjoyed seeing the monkeys a second time!

By the time we met back up, Benjamin was tired. So tired that he fell asleep in the van while trying to munch on Doritos. When Zachary or I tried to take his arm out of the bag, he’d jerk back awake and pull the bag back. We had to wait until he was good and asleep before we managed to get it away from him and wipe the Doritos crumbs off. But, considering that he didn’t have a nap all day, he was pretty well-behaved and quite the trooper.

Feel free to check out the Affenberg web site for more information and monkey photos (although most of it’s in German): http://www.affenberg-salem.de.

Labels: Benjamin, Germany, Girl Scouts, MacKenzie, Travel, Zachary