Beth, Annick and Isaac raced up to watch them with Quentin. Gerard and Xavier were still out on the water, but made it back in time to enjoy them too. There was a large dominant male, a smaller male, a female with a baby and a male teen. At times, they were only about six feet away from us. In fact, one of them climbed down a tree and crossed our steps before running up another tree to eat. We followed the howler monkeys around taking pictures and videos for about one hour. What an exciting and entertaining ending to a relaxing afternoon.
After another huge meal (the food is delicious here, but the portions are gargantuan), we set out on a spotlight safari. We spotted lots of cool critters, but the camera does not do well with low light, so we’ll have to share the video after we get home. We saw a number of crocodiles. One impressive male was about 8 feet long and we could clearly see his teeth. Unlike the crocs you see in zoos, these guys were energetic. It was surprising to see just how fast they can swim through the water. On our safari, we also saw a fishing bat, long nose bats, various nocturnal birds and a kinkajou high up in a tree.
We went to bed exhausted around 9:30. At 2:30 in the morning, we were awakened by a howler monkey that must have been sitting in a tree right near our bungalows. They make the creepiest howl. You would never expect that this very loud and fearsome noise came from an adorable 30 lb. monkey. It sounded like a tortured jaguar (or the sound track from the Blair Witch Project).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV22Ua3zwN4&feature=related
