The Barbary Macaques of Gibralter
The opportunities for blog titles here were endless, but the one above seemed to fit best.
The Barbary Macaques in Gibraltar are the only wild monkey population in the European continent. A fun fact is that monkeys usually have tails and apes have none, but these are tail-less monkeys. Gibralter may have a famous rock, duty-free shopping and a view of the African Continent, but for me, the monkeys were worth the trip. I understand that there are about 300 or so on the Island and they are found only here and Japan (because of a “gift” by the British.) We were told to leave behind all food, sunglasses and anything else we didn’t want to be stolen by the monkeys. If a monkey was to jump on our back, we were to remain still and a tour driver would try to entice him or her away. (The last thing I want is a monkey on my back.)
As you can see, shuttlebus meant meal time, so as soon as we arrived in monkey territory (About half-way up “The Rock”), we had monkeys dropping in from trees onto the bus roofs looking for a hand-out. The shuttle drivers were armed with peanuts.
