Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park

World of Birds, Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park

World of Birds is one of Cape Town's premier tourist attractions. A paradise for nature lovers and photographers, it occupies 3,5ha of tropically landscaped hillside in the beautiful Hout Bay valley, which is surrounded by mountains.

It is a quick 15 minute drive from Cape Town along one of two scenic drives - either along the coastal route via Camps Bay and Llandudno, or via Kirstenbosch and Constantia Nek.

Birds

Enjoy a fascinating glimpse into the private lives of birds. Get a close-up view of them as they feed, sing, display, socialize, build nests, incubate eggs and feed chicks right before your eyes - an unforgettable experience which changes with the seasons.

Monkeys

We have thirty-eight of these attractive, agile and highly inquisitive New World monkeys. They breed well in captivity, and the newborn babies are roughly 60% of the adult size. They are extremely mischievous and quick. Because they live in a large walk-through enclosure, which allows visitors to enjoy direct contact with them, they frequently steal visitors' earrings, pens, or anything else that they can reach.

Their natural habitat is thickets, mangrove swamps and the lower layers and edges of tall forests in South America, where they feed mostly on fruit and insects, relying on their inquisitiveness and speed to catch the insects that are their preferred food. Groups of 10 to 35 monkeys are common in the wild. Young infants ride on their mothers' backs for the first month of life, then begin venturing off to explore and play for increasing periods each day.

Meerkats

These engaging little creatures, which have been the subject of several books and wildlife documentaries, breed well in captivity. Our oldest female, Meesie, had been an abandoned pet and was caught on a busy highway. Since living at World of Birds she has had two litters of two babies each, to the delight of our staff and visitors. Their natural habitat is dry, open country with sparse growth, where they dig warrens in the compacted soil, close to water holes used by herds of herbivores. They spend every night in their warrens, and also stay underground when the weather is very cold. They eat small rodents and insects and ours are particularly fond of mealworms. They are sharing an enclosure with Banded Mongoose, Ground Squirrel and Bat-eared Fox.

Contact Details

Telephone: +27-(0)21 7902730
Facsimile: +27-(0)21 7904839

Email address:
worldofbirds@mweb.co.za