Subscribe Sun Ad. The chorus of screams high overhead in the cypress trees was the first sign this central Florida canoe trip would be anything but ordinary. Shrieking like banshees, a dozen monkeys hurled themselves into the Silver River with great splashes and then galloped up trees on the opposite bank. Some of their more agile brothers leaped across the river, treetop to treetop. Even a mommy monkey with a baby on her back made it across the river.
Canoeists enjoy a silent glide down the Silver River.
Depending on the time of year, you can see river otters, alligators, snakes, gar, great blue herons, ibises, egrets, gallinules, wood ducks, and limpkins. Back in those days no one knew anything about exotic animals, and they thought monkeys were afraid of water. The monkeys, native to India, still live along the Silver River, delighting boaters. They yelled and chattered at us, and the group's he-man monkey reasserted his rank by beating up a potential rival who stood nearby. My canoeing partner, who grew up in Florida, tells stories of boaters who ignored the rule and tossed goodies to the little beggars.