We spend some time at Silver Springs Florida State Park this week camping and kayaking. Florida is starting its rainy season and this week has had periods of hard rain each day. Silver Springs in a magical place where over 50 million gallons of fresh clear water springs up from the ground each day forming a river. We made three trips down the river in our kayaks and each time we were soaked by the rain showers. The plus side of the wet week was that we had the area to ourselves and got to see plenty of animals along the stream. One encounter we had was with the wild Rhesus monkeys. Silver Springs was once the movie location for the early Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan. It is said that these monkeys that now populate the area are from the the early Tarzan movies that were made there. As we drifted along in our kayaks we could see a caravan of monkeys with dozens of babies moving along the shore. They would stop out of curiosity and look us over. I rested my kayak against a tree and photographed a few as they moved by. I noticed that two large males stood guard at the front of my kayak as the babies and their Mothers moved passed. This monkey sat a couple of feet from my boat and put on a display of showing his teeth and giving me a stare as to warn me not to come closer. I have never considered myself a wildlife photographer but I have to admit that there is an exciting aspect of coming in close contact with wild animals.
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