After refusing to heed the warnings of locals, two ambitious sea kayakers set out to paddle to “Monkey Island” on Lake Catemaco in Veracruz, Mexico.
Despite the clue being in the name, the kayakers were taken by surprise when an aggressive monkey swung at them from a low-hanging set of trees skirting the shoreline.
The kayakers had edged a little too close for comfort when the monkey began to lash out. One of the paddlers, Daniel Mendoza, commented that they had been warned not to get too close to the animals. ”They are wild and curious animals,” he said.
Mendoza commented that one monkey even bit his PFD and his hair, though neither the monkey nor paddlers were harmed as a result of the incident. “I didn’t see it coming, but it was very funny,” he said.
“This is why the habitants recommend that we shouldn’t approach the monkeys,” he concluded in his video recap of events. A good reminder, we hope, that monkeys are unpredictable and wild animals and when wildlife watching, one should remain at a safe distance and paddle with extreme caution.
