One Saturday afternoon, Dave arrived at my cottage with a tiny baby, four or five months old, extremely thin, completely dehydrated and consequently very weak. He was from a bandit troop, had become separated from his mother, and was found by a vol - Liz - trying to catch the drips from the spout of a watering can - and exhausted by his attempts to find his mother. Liz also gave him the name of Nigel, which is a name I associate with English sit-coms; the character of Nigel usually supplying the laughs, and not an obvious choice for a Vervet monkey in Africa. In the event, it proved to be an inspired choice; he became more of a Nigel with each passing day, one of the funniest monkeys (albeit unintentionally) that I have ever met. And if I say that his personal hygiene left a lot to be be desired, I'm sure no further explanation is required!

'I don't think he's going to make it', said Dave, 'give him fluids every fifteen minutes; it's literally a matter of life or death'. 'Right', I thought, 'no pressure there then...

I looked into the unprepossessing bundle he handed to me and into the eyes of a very frightened little baby; being from a bandit troop he had had no previous contact with humans, so being confronted with this alien species was the last in a series of hugely traumatic experiences for Nige, as I came to call him. Separated from his mother, his troop, and unable to fend for himself would be enough to tax the resources of a much older monkey, let alone a tiny baby, and now he has to cope with living in a cottage with a human being and three dogs. Quite a lot to get his head around if you think about it.

But Nige was a fighter, and after enough fluids to launch the 'Titanic' and a week of sleeping, he began to rally, a light came into his eyes, energy returned and he decided to forego his afternoon nap and explore his surroundings.... His favourite position proved to be on top of a large gilt framed mirror above my bed, down which he pee'd with great gusto and regularity. He also took most of his meals on the mirror, wiping sticky fingers on the gilt, and things unmentionable slid surreptitiously down its back, missing my bed - most of the time - and landed on the floor, the pile growing throughout the day, to be removed after Nige was tucked up for the night. He leapt around the cottage whenever he felt like stretching his legs, and deposited poo's wherever the fancy took him. By the end of my second week with Nige, the line between cottage and enclosure had definitely been crossed with Nige in the winning corner!

Now, before you ask why I didn't take him outside during this period, the answer is quite simple; the weather. For the first week of his stay, it rained - in June yet! - and when it wasn't raining, it was too cold. On the odd warm day, out he went into the garden but it wasn't until week three that he took up - to our mutual relief - daily residence in the garden.

During week one of his stay he needed lots of physical contact which resulted in quite a few nips from razor sharp tiny teeth. Nige proved himself to be a biter, and had several successes with my left arm and despite my shouts of 'not the face Nige, NOT THE FACE!' has left a permanent reminder of our relationship on my jaw line... He also gave 'eye brows' constantly, which he combined with a series of movements that were a very good imitation of T'ai Chi and hilarious to witness.

During the third week of his stay, Elsa arrived. She had been brought in from Tzaneen where she had fallen out of a tree? and had damaged her back in the process. The vet decided to give her a couple of days to see if there was any improvement in her condition, but two days later, with no improvement, it was decided that she had broken her back, had no movement from the waist down, so euthanising her was the only compassionate option. She and Nige had adjoining 'houses'; I loathe the word cage with all that it implies, so on day three I decided to put them together in Nige's house which was by far the larger of the two, and watched as they took to each other immediately and became firm friends. With a baby, it is essential to give them security which results in a return of confidence, but at the same time not to allow them to become too dependent on the human supplying it. With a monkey friend Nige was able to break his attachment to me, and allow his monkey instincts to return. He assumed the role of big brother to Elsa, was extremely protective of her, and as she was unable to sleep with him on his perch, he slept on the floor with her, his arm around her shoulder, her head on his. Both of them gained from the proximity of the other; Elsa became a gymnast swinging around the house, displaying amazing upper body strength and dexterity.

Now in an ideal world, Nige would be re-united with his mother, and Elsa would join that great big Vervet forest in the sky on the same day. Then the news arrived, Nige's mother had been caught and they would be re-united that afternoon. Yippee! More news; Nige's mother had escaped so the plan had to be delayed a while. Finally the day arrived when Mum was caught and awaited her off-spring in the newly named blind enclosure 'Neverland'. Josie, Dave and I arrived with our Nige, hearts in our mouths, and hoping for the happiest of endings. And guess what? We got it! Josie opened the door of Nige's trap cage, he shot out and up the branch of the tree Josie had thoughtfully provided. Then Mum was let out, ran straight to her boy who immediately put his arms around her, and they havn't been separated since. Josie and I watched them, tears running down our faces, thrilled to bits that we had indeed achieved our 'happy ending.

I went home to Elsa, and Becca, a visiting vet released her from this world with such sensitivity and compassion. She lay in my arms and I gave thanks for the remarkable experience I had had. To share so intimate a relationship with two wild creatures is so special and I am so grateful to have had that experience.

Elsa is buried in my garden, and Nige and his mum grow closer daily. It is so wonderful to see him leaping around, giving 'eyebrows' to all and sundry, and being the wild free creature Nature intended him to be. Yeah! Go Nige!!!