Still perturbed by the monkeys

I can't believe that this many people are afraid of monkeys. We were in St. Kitts in November and we are going back there next week.

One of my wife's fondest memories is holding two small monkeys near the pier when we landed. No one forced us to handle the monkeys. We were approached by a man who showed them to us and then asked if we wanted to take pictures.

The monkeys were very tame and actually a bit shy. Their handler fed them pieces of cucumber and that made them even more docile. Things were a bit slow that day and we had a lot of time to hold them and after getting some pictures I tipped the handler for his time.

Seriously people, we did not see any mistreatment of the animals. They seemed to be in excellent health, and it is obviously not illegal for these people to have their "pets" on display.

I'm just saying, in my humble opinion.

-Jim

WE WERE IN ST KITTS IN FEB 2014 AND ALL I CAN SAY IS ST KITTS IS A GREAT ISLAND TO MONKEY AROUND ON:p

I'm so sad to hear you spent the day on the ship instead of experiencing such an amazing island!

 

My family of 7 were there in 2012 and my DH and I are returning in April 2014. We didn't have anyone "throw a monkey" on us and we had 3 kids in our party.

 

St. Kitts is one of the most breathtaking islands we've ever been too. We booked a private tour and our guide could not have been better. During one of the tour stops a lady came up to the van and asked very politely if anyone wanted to pet the monkey and get a picture so my DH and 2 DS's did. The monkey looked to be well taken care of and he wasn't in a diaper or clothes. He seemed to be a pet of hers and very well taken care.

 

If you ever get the chance to return to St. Kitts, I hope you'll get to experience the beauty of St. Kitts. Timothy Hill is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been! It's just breathtaking.

 

I would bet that a tour guide would take care of the "monkey" problem for you if you told them under no circumstances did you want that experience. Our guide took amazing care of us and we are using him again this April.

 

Happy Travels! The world is an amazing place to see and experience. :)

Who did you book your tour through? Anyone have recommendations for tours.

Who did you book your tour through? Anyone have recommendations for tours.

Hi,

We were lucky enough to go with Royston while on St. Kitts.

Just google his name and St Kitts and you'll find his contact info.

Enjoy your trip. We will be on St Kitts in April. Yeah!!

We held monkeys in St. Kitts last year and they were definitely not FORCED onto us. A local asked, politely I might add, if my wife and I wanted to hold and take a few pictures with them. We took about 7 or 8, handed him a 20, and off we went. Nothing inhumane was going on here. As one commenter ahead of me said, the 3 monkeys were well-behaved, appeared healthy, and caused no problems for us. Of course I dont know how the monkeys were captured, nor did I ask.

Thank for this info....I will be avoiding the monkeys for sure!!!!

We just returned from our cruise that stopped in St Kitts. There was a guy right at the end of the cruise ship terminal with 2 monkeys. We stopped to look at them and all of a sudden the guy put them on us. We figured we would tip the guy $5 and be on our way. Until he demanded $20 from us. For a couple of pictures, no way! He called a policewoman over. We told her our story and she told us it was ok and enjoy our day. Obviously it's a known problem and she has to do that all day long. The guy would've gotten some money from is but was so aggressive that he got nothing. It didn't stop me from enjoying the island, it just was a little aggravating they are trying to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. The monkeys were cute though!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Just back from our Caribbean cruise including a stop in St Kitts and we can honestly say we never saw a monkey and we were never approached by a handler. When we arrived at the meeting place at the port we had to wait for a few minutes for our driver to arrive. No approaches. We set off on our tour, before coming back to the ship at the end of the morning. We then walked to El Fredo's for lunch before having a good look round the shops and craft market. And we still saw no monkeys!

We love our visits to St Kitts and we think it's very sad that people may just stay on the ship because of (hopefully) a small number of people who had a hard time. It's certainly a very different from our experience on several visits to St Kitts. Actually we saw monkeys on Barbados.... but that's a different story!!!

WHEN I GO TO ST KITTS I LOVE TO PLAY ON THE MONKEY BARS!!!:p

The last few times in St. Kitts, I encountered the monkeys. I got suckered in the first time and the 2nd time it was caught up in the cuteness. The last time, I avoided the monkey handlers and said no thank you. I was not forced or bothered when saying NO. No Thank you works! I do agree that this should be illegal because it is taking advantage of these beautiful little creatures.

I'm so sad to hear you spent the day on the ship instead of experiencing such an amazing island!

 

My family of 7 were there in 2012 and my DH and I are returning in April 2014. We didn't have anyone "throw a monkey" on us and we had 3 kids in our party.

 

St. Kitts is one of the most breathtaking islands we've ever been too. We booked a private tour and our guide could not have been better. During one of the tour stops a lady came up to the van and asked very politely if anyone wanted to pet the monkey and get a picture so my DH and 2 DS's did. The monkey looked to be well taken care of and he wasn't in a diaper or clothes. He seemed to be a pet of hers and very well taken care.

 

If you ever get the chance to return to St. Kitts, I hope you'll get to experience the beauty of St. Kitts. Timothy Hill is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been! It's just breathtaking.

 

I would bet that a tour guide would take care of the "monkey" problem for you if you told them under no circumstances did you want that experience. Our guide took amazing care of us and we are using him again this April.

 

Happy Travels! The world is an amazing place to see and experience. :)

Can you share what tour operator you used. We will be in St. Kitts in January and would love a first hand recommendation....those are always the best!!! Thanks

I just came back from a cruise that included St. Kitts. I only saw one monkey handler, and that was away from the pier and terminal. So I guess everyone's mileage will vary.

Who did you book your tour through? Anyone have recommendations for tours.

We just returned from St Kitts, and had a wonderful, driver guide, very inexpensive ! He handled the monkey prob right away. He asked if we wanted to hold the monkees, and told us to ask the price first. But before we asked he negotiated a price, and when we asked it was 5 dollars to hold the monkee, and take pictures. We held him for a long time! :) Actually looking for the owner after a few minutes! Anyway, He took us wherever we wanted to go and actually took us to three beaches ( the one with the black sand most interesting to us) He was informative entertaining and for 40 dollars for our family of 3 drove us all over for approx. 4 1/2 hrs! Just a nice guy , very reasonable,and professional! you can reach him at austinedinborough@hotmail.com 1-869-667-7009

Why does it seem so difficult for we well-brought-up first world tourists to get angry at the moment they are being exploited? Those people with the monkeys and the taxi drivers understand enough psychology to capitalize on the fact that you would rather endure than seem impolite (by the 'civilized' standards of 'home'). Get angry, make a fuss, loudly; don't PAY people off to stop exploiting you. What lesson does that teach?

And then come here to moan about it under the guise of warning others.

(Note: I now live in a place where amateur guides and professional child beggars routinely harass (thought to be rich) foreign tourists, and have had time to become inured and develop a better No Tolerance strategy.

Monkeys where we live often sneak through the open but barred windows to steal fruit off the kitchen counter. Put the thing in the nearest tree or on the ground if the owner doesn't care enough about it to stay and see it's being treated well.)