When I was shown around this very nice guesthouse in Umhlanga outside Durban CBD, I was told to always make sure balcony door and window were shut, as there are vervet monkeys roaming around, and they take any opportunity to get inside the room looking for food. My reaction: Oh, they are so cute! The one showing me the ropes: No, Bea, they are not cute!! Unfortunately, I never saw them 🙁 That however didn’t make my stay any less great. Tesorino Bed & Breakfast was a delight! Located in a peaceful residential neighbourhood, with lots of other guesthouses next door, it sits on a nice, well-maintained property, a good 10 min walk from the Umhlanga Rocks village centre – a bit further away than I imagined, but nothing to worry about. With it being a very quiet area, avoiding the sounds of the vuvuzela bird was not possible though. This is the time I realised what was making that somewhat worrying sound I had heard elsewhere in South Africa. Later I was told the World Cup visitors from 2010 had named it the vuvuzela bird, as it sounds like the vuvuzelas used at the soccer games. It sounds horrible! But besides me and the bird the guesthouse was pretty quiet, so much that I got the whole unit I was staying in all to myself. Well, more or less. Meaning it was not a problem for me to use the kitchen, breakfast room and lounge downstairs throughout the day. Just perfect!
Website: tesorino.co.za
That looks absolutely delightful! Too bad you didn’t see any monkeys. Maybe it’s good though, if they’re pretty aggressive!
A great guesthouse! I would be on one side of the window, and they’d on the other side, hopefully 🙂
The guest house looks lovely. Those monkeys must be lying in wait until you leave the door or window open. Smart little guys.
It was really nice! Haha, I wish they had shown their face even just for a brief second 🙂
Eek monkeys freak me out ever since I went to the Monkey Forest in Bali. It’s probably a good thing you didn’t see any!
What happened in the Monkey Forest?? I am so sad I didn’t see any 🙂
Looks like a relaxing place to stay — with our without monkeys. One time I stayed at Lake Tahoe and bears had been spotted every day till we got there and I didn’t see any. Still fun times, though!
It was. Very nice and quiet. Wow, bears!! How I would like to see that! Typical 🙂
Aww shame you didn’t get to see them! I come across this a lot when I travel in Asia, I never leave food for them etc but always get excited when I see them! One hotel in Sri Lanka sold itself on the troupe of monkeys that it had on the grounds!
Yes, I would have loved to! Lucky you! I would have fallen for that sales pitch 😀
That is an interesting place! I know how “mean” monkeys can be. I know they can look adorable but I have seen them in action (hurting people). I once bumped into a girl crying in a National Park in Costa Rica. She saw some monkeys and started to call them. One jumped over her and scratched her entire arms with it nails. Since that, I have learn to keep my distance from wild animals. #WanderfulWednesday
That doesn’t sound good at all! I do my best to stay away from baboons. They are quite big. Smaller monkeys I have been close to in Amazonia/Peru, and that went fine. But it is a good precaution to stay away, they are as you say wild.
Oh how fun is that! I’d love to stay where monkeys are just chillin’! Too bad you didn’t see any! #WanderfulWednesday
I was so bummed I didn’t get to see any 🙁 I was starting to think they weren’t real. Had a hard time understanding that they would run around a residential neighborhood.
Too bad you didn’t get to see the monkeys. Still looks like a really nice hotel though 🙂 #WanderfulWednesday
Yes, I was so sad. I almost wanted to put some food out 😉 Great place!