Witness the incredible story of how we built a forever home for four amazing monkeys: JayJay, Momo, Aisha, and Lupita! These wedge-capped capuchins came to us as babies, far from their rainforest home.
Now, see how we created a 3,000 square meter sanctuary just for them in South Africa, complete with trees, grass, and a climate-controlled overnight quarter to keep them cozy through cold winters.
Building the Monkey Dome was our biggest challenge yet, filled with setbacks and scams. But with the support of our incredible community, we created a safe, living jungle. Watch the full journey, from the first brick to the monkeys stepping into their new paradise!
#MonkeySanctuary #CapuchinMonkeys #AnimalRescue #SouthAfrica
Now, see how we created a 3,000 square meter sanctuary just for them in South Africa, complete with trees, grass, and a climate-controlled overnight quarter to keep them cozy through cold winters.
Building the Monkey Dome was our biggest challenge yet, filled with setbacks and scams. But with the support of our incredible community, we created a safe, living jungle. Watch the full journey, from the first brick to the monkeys stepping into their new paradise!
#MonkeySanctuary #CapuchinMonkeys #AnimalRescue #SouthAfrica
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00What's up you beautiful people?
00:02We are right here sitting in a 3,000 square meter monkey dome.
00:11The monkeys freaked out.
00:14It was critical.
00:18He got scammed completely.
00:20He would fight for his life and bite the hell out of this person.
00:30We have built that monkey dome in order to give these monkeys, JJ, Momo, Lupita and Aisha, who are wedge-capped cappuccine monkeys that are not native to South Africa, a beautiful and lifelong home.
00:52They've come here as babies, so we had a baby set up for them, but it was pretty clear that down the line somewhere we will have to give them opportunity to climb, to spend time in nature, be under the sky and enjoy the African nature to a certain extent that is possible for them.
01:12So that's why we've built the monkey dome.
01:16Now I'm going to tell you guys how this whole project has started.
01:19First of all, I needed someone that can understand my vision and can make it become reality.
01:24Because building a monkey dome in the South African nature is not something very common.
01:29There is no book for how to build something like that.
01:32I started by writing down the whole vision, visualize it.
01:35You obviously have to make sure that they are protected from other predators or other monkeys.
01:40You have to make sure they have fresh air.
01:42You have to make sure they are exposed to the sun, but not too much.
01:45They need climbing possibilities.
01:47We wanted everything to be very natural.
01:50We wanted a lot of space.
01:51We wanted water and then get people in who can actually make it happen.
01:55Now that was actually the toughest part because all of a sudden everyone knows how to build a monkey dome.
02:01So I got a lot of offers of people and contractors and I got someone in who seemed to be very legit.
02:06That person needed upfront payment.
02:09We paid it.
02:10They built the foundation and then they left.
02:12So we were stuck here with a foundation which was built very weak and actually the wrong size.
02:18We got scammed completely.
02:20So then we got the right guy.
02:22But all of a sudden it turned out that the actual project cost ten times as much as we were quoted.
02:28And that was a pretty big issue.
02:33But I didn't want to make any compromises in the size and in the whole quality of this home.
02:37Because it's a lifelong home and these guys they live up to 35 or 40 years.
02:41So we said okay let's use social media for that and make a fundraiser and ask the community if they would be willing to support.
02:48Long story short we created a video explaining the whole situation to the audience.
02:53Two days later we got the full amount.
02:55I think it was like 50,000 US dollars.
02:57That was enough then to finalize the whole project.
03:00Obviously it ended up being a bit more expensive.
03:03We added up every month from our own pocket again.
03:07But I think the play speaks for itself if you look at the monkeys and the environment.
03:13Now a very important thing is in order for them to be healthy and strive.
03:17We have built inside of the monkey dome an overnight quarter.
03:20Now this overnight quarter is an enclosed area which thus simulates the temperatures and the climate of the Amazonian rainforest.
03:27Their natural habitat.
03:29There we have much more moist.
03:31We make sure that in the overnight quarter the temperatures never drop below 22 degrees.
03:35They never get more than 32 degrees.
03:38And as you guys can see whether if you look at their eyes, their fur, their physical abilities, they thrive and are super healthy.
03:46So the thing is the monkeys are so clever and destructive at the same time that we have to really make it monkey proof.
03:53All these things are not meant to be for monkeys.
03:56They are for dogs, for kids, for all kinds of things, but not for monkeys.
03:59But we're going to make them for monkeys.
04:01That means if I leave it like that they'll easily manage to open that thing up, take this out and tear it apart within no time.
04:11So what's the plan?
04:13We can actually hide it away in here, but I'm not sure if this is actually enough.
04:19And I wanted to put some super glue on it.
04:21This one is also slightly smaller.
04:28It was just a test.
04:29I wasn't anticipating that it actually works.
04:32How long will they do it?
04:33I'm going to do it.
04:35What a nice!
04:36So you can't sleep in there.
04:38It was so good.
04:40Huh?
04:41Wow!
04:42Win and off!
04:43Can I sit down here?
04:44I did it!
04:45I did it!
04:46I did it!
04:47I did it!
04:48I did it!
04:49I did it!
04:50Thank you!
04:51There you go!
04:54Oh sorry!
04:56Great reflexes!
04:58I'm full!
04:59Oh, no!
05:00I'm full!
05:05Yeah!
05:10Got it!
05:11Good stuff! Will they reach any window? No, they're not even so excited and pumped.
05:24So they can straight away and they'll have some food here and then they can jump onto
05:29this thing and then it's gonna be cool. So now it's getting interesting because we wanted
05:38to have high trees in here, we wanted to have a natural environment, a lot of grass, we wanted
05:43to have a fresh water source in here and a lot of more things. So how do we go about that?
05:48First of all, we had to build everything new from scratch. They had to dig out the entire
05:53fundament, they had to put the steel in, they had to fill it up, start to build the walls.
05:57We had to rebalance the budget a little bit, that's why one side is made out of brick walls
06:02three... oh sorry about that... three meters high. The other side is made out of big, big
06:07protection glass panels. Everything above is open. In the beginning we wanted to make
06:11it closed, but it's actually much much better because we have so many trees here. We imported
06:17about six, seven huge trees, eight, nine meter high trees.
06:22Alright guys, so now we're gonna take a drive on the actual Hakuna Mipaka property to find
06:27some more matching trees that can find a home in that monkey dome as well, so that the monkeys
06:33can basically live on the trees.
06:40That's farm lifestyle isn't it?
06:58Where do we find a good tree? We don't want any thorn trees because the thorn trees, they
07:05can hurt themselves. When I was in the Amazonian rainforest, I would walk around barefoot for
07:10hours in the actual forest, in nature. Nothing would sting me or stick into my feet and here
07:16in South Africa, you walk like five or ten meters and your feet are gonna be full of thorns and
07:22things which are just sticking into your shoes. But actually I'd love to bring out those ones.
07:28And you know why? Because if you look at those trees, they have so many thick branches which
07:33go into all directions. That allows the monkeys to really use it as a great playground to connect
07:40these two trees with that third one matching. So they can literally run around from canopy to canopy.
07:47Guys, today is the big day of the monkey movement. Today we're gonna move the Capuchin family into their new home, the Monkey Dome, which is finalized.
08:0299.9%. We're gonna do the rest now, hang the rest, make sure all the security measures are met, and then we're gonna take them over and see their first reaction in their new home. Come with me. That is sick. That's what we managed to do very nicely.
08:17What I want for them is also one spot in between two branches where they can chill up there in the canopy.
08:32What I want for them is also one spot in between two branches where they can chill up there
08:40in the canopy.
08:41But we need a bigger ladder.
08:43We need a big ladder.
08:45Yeah.
08:46We're placing this thing, which is supposed to be hanging up here between two branches
08:53so they can take a nap during lunchtime or so.
08:55This is a nice canopy, offers them a lot of shade.
08:58They love to sleep above the ground, not on the ground, so I want to create some sleeping
09:03spots for them.
09:22Alright guys, so this is literally the last rope we are going to hang and then we're basically
09:27done.
09:28Everything is perfectly set up and designed and ready for the monkeys to move in.
09:34So a very important thing that you might wouldn't notice or realize is there is two security
09:41aspects.
09:42One is to keep the monkeys inside, that they don't go out and get lost in African nature
09:48or end up in Chucky's camp and stuff like that.
09:51But the second thing is to keep the other animals away from this monkey dome.
09:55Because we've got like a lot of wild living baboons here and I don't know if you guys
09:59ever saw a baboon.
10:01These guys are literally, they are sitting, male baboons like that, they sometimes even
10:06chase and eat small impalas and stuff like that.
10:09So they would immediately kill those monkeys.
10:12So that's actually also quite important and crucial part that you have to think of or we
10:16had to think of before or when creating this place.
10:20Now the movement, the movement was absolutely insane.
10:24It was critical.
10:26And I'm going to tell you guys why.
10:27JJ and Momo are no issue at all.
10:30Like JJ and Momo are like kids to us, Lupita and Aisha as well, but JJ and Momo were here
10:37first.
10:38We spent day and night with them all the time.
10:41When Lupita and Aisha, the two females joined us, we did raise them as well, but very shortly
10:46they've spent more time with JJ and Momo than with us.
10:50So the connection from me to JJ and Momo is in a completely different level than the connection
10:56to Lupita and Aisha.
10:57It does not mean it's not good, but it's just different.
11:00For example, I can run towards JJ and grab him if he does something or if he bites someone
11:06or so and just hug him and he will exactly know Dean is not going to hurt me, harm me or
11:12kill me.
11:13Whereof when, for example, someone else like Ellie, my wife or a worker would do that, he would
11:18fight for his life and bite everything, bite the hell out of this person because he's not
11:23sure is that going to be a life threatening situation for him or not.
11:26With me, he knows I'm like his dad and that's not going to happen.
11:30So having that said now, listen carefully, when Aisha and that's now JJ's girlfriend, that's
11:37this little girl here, when Aisha wants to create trouble and monkeys are trouble, they always
11:44try to team up against someone between the one another, even with me or Noe and so on.
11:50And when she wants to create trouble, she starts to scream around.
11:54That activates JJ and he just goes nuts.
11:58He wants to bite me, he wants to bite Noe, he wants to bite any...
12:01Because he thinks, okay, someone is doing something bad towards Aisha.
12:06And that has happened already once in the past and the monkeys freaked out.
12:10So the biggest challenge was how do we get them from the main house to the monkey dome,
12:14which is not too far away, but still like 50 meters or something like that.
12:18And you have to grab them.
12:19They should not freak out.
12:20You cannot let them run out because how are you going to catch them again?
12:24So we sat down and made the plan.
12:26The biggest risk point is JJ, right?
12:28Definitely.
12:29So should we try to separate, basically get JJ and Momo already over to the overnight quarter
12:39and then try to bring the little ones over?
12:41I would try it like this and I would go in, take Momo and JJ on their shoulders and then just
12:48walk out.
12:49Exactly.
12:50Like we usually do it, like when we take them.
12:54And then they're gone.
12:55I'm just scared that the little ones, once the boys are gone, they don't trust us anymore.
13:00And then we have to forcefully grab them and bring them over.
13:04And that will be a little bit not ideal.
13:08So to just be safe, just let's bring JJ and Momo over.
13:12Because it could be, Ellie can handle the little ones very well.
13:17So when JJ and Momo is young, Ellie can at least bring the little ones over to the double gate.
13:23I could maybe be successful.
13:24Yeah, let's try it like this.
13:25What do you think?
13:26Well, I would first put the dogs into the house.
13:31Yeah, agreed.
13:32So we walk out here?
13:33Yeah.
13:34Okay.
13:35Come, dogs!
13:36Okay, having that said, JJ and Momo, we took them over.
13:43I wish I would like to take all of them, because they are so good at the top, but I think
13:48it would be a mistake.
13:53It was quite not problematic, they trusted us quite well.
14:13Well, once the monkeys were in there and we could settle with them and, you know, just
14:27explore the overnight quarter, I was so relieved.
14:30You know, that's how it is.
14:32All right.
14:33You are so relieved.
14:35Okay.
14:36Let's look at this.
14:37Hey.
14:38Hey.
14:38Hey.
14:39Hey.
14:40Hey.
14:41Hey.
14:42Hey.
14:43Hey.
14:44Hey.
14:45Hey.
14:46Hey.
14:47Hey.
14:48Hey.
14:49Hey.
14:50Hey.
14:51Hey.
14:52Hey.
14:53Hey.
14:54Hey.
14:55Hey.
14:56Hey.
14:57Hey.
14:58Hey.
14:59Hey.
15:00Did they even touch the peanut butter?
15:02They're not even interested in peanut butter.
15:05So interesting.
15:07I would have thought they're much more like, wow, crazy.
15:11But they're so unsure about the situation.
15:27What's up here?
15:29You my boy.
15:31You check it out.
15:33It's all yours.
15:41You can clearly see how they're unsure yet still.
15:44And keep in mind the door is open.
15:49Bro, just wait until you...
15:51I think we'll give them time to explore this first.
15:55I think they're super overwhelmed.
16:09And then, whilst I was here, I thought, okay, I'm not sure how it's going with Ellie.
16:25Because Noe went back to help Ellie to give her a helping hand with Lupita and Aisha.
16:29And I was anticipating that's going to go crazy.
16:37Lupita and Aisha are going to scream.
16:39JJ is going to freak out in here.
16:41I'll be able to calm them down.
16:42But hopefully, Lupita and Aisha are not going to just run away and end up somewhere on the roof or something like that.
16:47Because we've got a lot of danger around here.
16:51Before I even realized it, they were already walking up to the Monkey Dome, 10 meters away.
16:59Easy.
17:00No screaming.
17:01Nothing.
17:02Aisha was in the arms of Ellie, of my wife.
17:05She walked in.
17:06JJ and Momo looked at her.
17:08They were like, oh, okay, Ellie's coming with Aisha.
17:10Nice.
17:11Good to have you guys here as well.
17:12I was so relieved once we closed that door behind us.
17:16Because we knew, okay, the movement is done.
17:18They cannot escape.
17:19Nothing bad is going to happen.
17:21And we are their main point of trust right now.
17:24Because it's a new environment.
17:25It's something they've never been in so far.
17:28And we can help them explore.
17:30And that even strengthens the bonds to them.
17:33Which was the case.
17:34And that was absolutely phenomenal.
17:36He was 10 times more scared than Momo.
17:41Even though he's the badass of both of them.
17:44But he was so scared.
17:45He would not leave my shoulder like Aisha would do now.
17:48All right, guys.
17:49The first part of the monkey movement is done.
17:52It was a huge success.
17:53All the four monkeys are right now in the open eye quarter of the monkey dome.
17:57And the second part of it we're going to do tomorrow.
18:00It's getting dark right now.
18:01And out there they have a whole lot of space.
18:04A lot of trees.
18:05And a lot of opportunities to explore.
18:07And it's going to be super interesting.
18:09And also educational to observe them and their reaction in the monkey dome.
18:13So follow me tomorrow right into the dome.
18:18All right, guys.
18:19It's the next day.
18:20Today is actually even the bigger day.
18:22Because yesterday we did the movement from the main house into the new overnight quarter.
18:27But today they're going to be introduced into the actual monkey dome.
18:31What I'm doing right now is I'm preparing a whole food plattern with a lot of fruits and veggies.
18:36We're going to place it somewhere in the monkey dome.
18:39So they have a little bit of a motivation and energy to go.
18:43And then we're going to open up the doors and see what their first reaction is going to be in their new home.
18:48Okay, so I'm going to place food basically everywhere around in the monkey dome.
18:55To give them reason to walk and explore.
19:00Because otherwise I don't want them to get stuck on one tree alone and then that's it.
19:05So if they see food everywhere lying around, they will go and explore much, much more.
19:09Then we first time opened up the overnight quarter and let them out into that oasis we call the monkey dome.
19:18It was a pretty beautiful, relieving, honorable and unforgettable moment this day.
19:35To let them out here knowing that's going to be their future home.
19:53They're going to be able to run around, literally run.
19:56They have a lot of sun exposure.
19:58They've got the blue sky every day above them and they're enjoying it.
20:03Yeah, it was just really, really beautiful to see that.
20:06Because they're like our kids.
20:27So before this day comes to an end, I wanted to quickly say one more time thank you so much.
20:31In the name of the entire Hakunumi Park Oasis, the entire team and especially in the name of the monkey family.
20:37Thank you for the support, for the financial support.
20:39Thank you for all the love.
20:41And without you guys this would have never been possible.
20:44I'm here at the front with my team.
20:46We're building, we're doing our best to provide the best possible life for these monkeys.
20:50And I think they literally do have the best possible life according to our possibilities.
20:56But without you guys this would have never been possible.
20:58Thanks so much.
20:59I'll keep you guys in the loop and updated.
21:01And see you guys next time.
21:02I'm just trying to make a video for you guys and for our community.
21:09Well it might be entertaining for them anyways.
21:11So yeah.
21:12Stop it now.
21:13It's very scary.
21:14Yeah.
21:15Checking out, you know, different corners of the overnight quarter.
21:18And then the ladies from here.
21:19I'm just trying to make a video for you guys and for our community.
21:24Well it might be entertaining for them anyways.
21:28So yeah.
21:29Stop it now.
21:30It's very scary.
21:31Yeah.
21:32Checking out, you know, different corners of the overnight quarter.
21:44And then the ladies followed.
21:46What's the matter with my leg?
21:49What's wrong?
21:52That all happens in the overnight quarter.
21:56What's up?
21:57Stop fighting.
22:03Down to the river here on the Hakunami Park Oasis.
22:05Stop taking off the crust of my arm.
22:08I've got all those little crusts from bites and...
22:12Hey!
22:13Stop it!
22:14From bites and from scratches.
22:17And as soon as they see something like that they try to scratch it off.
22:21Okay.
22:22Anyway, back to the main topic.
22:24I hope you guys enjoyed this video.
22:27And if you want to see what's next, then make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel right
22:31now.
22:32And if you want to see more content, you're so welcome to follow my other socials as well.
22:37Thank you so much for watching and see you guys later.
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