On Friday a Belgian film crew arrived to make a documentary on Griet following the samango monkeys for a TV-show called ‘All about animals’ or, like it’s called in Dutch, ‘Dieren In Nesten’. Griet is one of our research assistants and is a behavioural biologist and has a passion for monkeys. The show is very popular in Belgium and is hosted by Chris Dusauchoit, the ‘Belgian David Attenborough’.
On Saturday Griet met up with the crew in Bush camp at 5 a.m. and took them out to the forest. The monkeys were sleeping close to the cliffs that day so that meant climbing. Not easy, carrying all that equipment! It got even worse when the monkeys decided to go into the acacia thicket. Despite the circumstances, John, Brian, Steven and Chris didn’t give up and continued their way through the vegetation following Griet and the monkeys. Meanwhile Chris interviewed Griet about the samangos’ behaviour and ecology. A bushbuck alarm call in the background helped to explain how animals sometimes work together in the forest to avoid predators.
In the afternoon the monkeys’ activity dropped to a low when they all started resting and grooming. An ideal moment for the crew to get some good shots and an opportunity for Chris to interview Griet some more about her passion for monkeys. When evening came and the monkeys were up in their sleeping trees, the last shots were made and the adventure came to an end.
This episode of the show should be on Belgian TV in 2014.
Primate and Predator Project 
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