Monkeys – from the sublime to the ridiculous

My first thought was “flying skunks!” 

We had only caught a glimpse of black and white, leaping in the branches of the tree above the road as we entered Arusha National Park in Tanzania. But when we stopped the jeep the entire group crossed the road around us, and we got a good look at these Colobus monkeys. Shy and quite beautiful, these monkeys with their black and white faces and flowing white tails were like nothing I’d expected, including their somewhat disturbing growling calls. (Knowing the sound was coming from such a pretty creature made it much less scary when we heard the sounds that night in our campground!)

And now for the ridiculous: No, this image has not been photoshopped.

Vervet monkeys’ colourful display

I looked twice, too, when I saw these Vervet monkeys hopping around in the road in front of our jeep in the Ngorongoro Crater, but seeing is believing, and I guess if you want to stand out in a crowd of other males, this might just do the trick. It certainly caught our attention! If this isn’t living proof that Mother Nature has a sense of humour, I don’t know what is.

Jane Canapini

Jane is an award-winning travel writer and photographer and an accredited member of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC). In their annual awards competition, TMAC named GrownupTravels.com as the Best Self-Published Travel Blog in 2025 .
She is also a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, and a freelance travel writer contributing to both print and online publications.