Apenheul, or fondly referred to as, "The Monkey Zoo"

Last Friday, May 2nd, we went out on what very well might have been our final family adventure while living in The Netherlands.  We traveled on 2 buses and 3 trains to get to our destination, which was Apenheul, a large primate park located in Apeldoorn.  This park began as a revolutionary zoo in the early 70's, and it is the only zoo in the world where monkeys live free in the forest, but can also walk around the visitors.  You read that correctly: "walk around the visitors."  My pictures will give you a better idea as to what I am talking about, and not all of the monkeys were freely roaming; I was anticipating a bigger percentage to be climbing all over us, but this was not the case at all.  Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised as to how well Maddie and Geoffrey took to this entire situation.  We had been talking to them about the concept of monkeys walking around and climbing freely among us for several days, but I was prepared for a few panics here and there.  Thankfully, none happened!

Tentatively peeking over the stroller as we approached the entrance to the park.

We visited Apenheul with some new friends, which made for a very enjoyable and fun day for all of us.  Maddie even went to bed that night saying, "Mama, I'm so glad I got to play with my four new best friends today!"  So sweet!  Our friends back in Pasadena have family who live in The Netherlands.  I have been in touch with them throughout our stay over here, and we finally found a good time to meet up and get our families together.

Geoffrey's head whipped around so fast when this little guy jumped onto our stroller.  Thank goodness Maddie had just made her way out of the back seat!

Our stroller was a big hit with the monkeys.  They can find bits of food in between crevices that I didn't know existed.  And they are fast little creatures! I'm pretty sure that Geoffrey had decided to get out of the stroller by this point. 

Our new friends are old pros with the monkeys, and were quick to show us what to do.

I was pretty surprised when Maddie did not hesitate to stick her arm out and offer it to a monkey.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?), no monkey took her up on her offer.

Someone else was the lucky winner.

He kept asking, "Are you getting this?  Did you get a video/picture of this?"  I think he was amused. :)

Apparently, I'm no good at getting the right angle of this picture, because Brant had 3 monkeys perched on his body at this point.  I had my arm out between pictures, but like Maddie, the monkeys wanted nothing to do with me.  Geoffrey did not even make an offer.

Pretty unique experience!

Kind of on the monkey's schedule; this little guy was hanging out with Brant for several minutes.

The park had dozens of things to climb and play on throughout the grounds, making monkeys out of everyone!

Not long before another monkey jumped back on Brant's arm.  He was quick to bring his arm down to Geoffrey's level in the stroller.

He was a little startled when this happened...

...but not as much as when this happened!

The monkey jumped right back onto Brant's arm.  I was beginning to wonder if he had extra bread crumbs tucked into his jacket.

Monkeys, I'm not sure what type, hanging out in their natural habitat - it was such a cool thing to see.

This monkey is looking in my direction, and tucked under its arm, you can see a black head of a baby.

My favorite type of monkey.

An excellent way to keep warm.

My favorite experience of the day, was watching the gorillas being fed their lunch.  There is a very large island in the middle of Apenheul, where the gorillas live.  Across the water, the audience sits in an amphitheater, where an employee chucks large fruits and vegetables over to the island to the gorillas.  It was great fun to watch these primates chase after the flying food, or leisurely reach their giant arms into the air and catch a carrot.

How sweet are they?

The big guy in front is Jambo, the silverback, or leader, of the troop.  

Maddie, with her new best friends. :)

This is my other favorite type of monkey.

Just monkeying around!  Haha. Oh, c'mon.  You knew I had to get that in there someplace! 

Cute baby chimp, eating lunch.  He carried his carrot up to this perch, and proceeded to tuck all of the hay neatly around him.

More monkeys.

There was no mistaking we were at a monkey zoo.

Two little monkeys, on monkey bars, while monkeys swing in the trees behind them.  Yup.  It was that perfect.

Monkeys, hanging out in the rafters above the pathway we were walking along.

So many different kinds of monkeys.

And the final capstone to a great day?  A ride on the free carousel at the end of the park.  Yes!

We had such a terrific time with the entire Teutsch family!

Chalk this day up to another successful European family adventure!  What fun memories we continue to make over here, even up to the very end.