Yesterday was my husband Dave’s birthday, so we decided to do some monkeying around! What better way to celebrate turning 38 (don’t tell him I told you how old he is!) than spending the day at Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary?

The centre rescues primates from all around the world, and has just been made the official UK base for The Great Ape Project, an international charity which aims to guarantee the basic rights to life, freedom and non-torture of the non-human great apes.

I first came across Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary when I was filming a series called Animal Sanctuary for the Made TV Network, and I was really impressed by the work the team does there. As you can tell from my photos, the lemurs were my favourite animals at the park but they have everything from gibbons and baboons to chimpanzees and vervet monkeys.

It’s a charity, so the staff and volunteers rely totally on donations, and one of their biggest earners is their Keeper Day experience, where members of the public get to clean out and feed the monkeys, apes and lemurs. Spending the day in the monkey enclosures certainly made it a birthday for Dave to remember!

 

To find out more about Wales Ape & Monkey sanctuary visit their website:

http://www.ape-monkey-rescue.org.uk

And take a look at this clip from Animal Sanctuary filmed at the Centre: