Welcome To The Family...

This week started with Rachel and I heading down to Bournemouth (my old university town) to celebrate my birthday.

Monday - my actual birthday - was spent at Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre, one of the most incredible places I have ever been.

I like to do what I can to help organisations around the globe preserve primates, and Monkey World (the subject of the television series Monkey Life and Monkey Business) is one of the foremost.

However, this was my first visit to their centre, a vast expanse of enclosures and buildings in the Dorset countryside.

We spent most of the day there and were surprised by how close (even if through a glass panel) we could get to the wonderful creatures. I found it very moving that these beautiful beasts were getting a second chance at life and our entrance fees were helping that, in some small way.

The day was rounded off magically by Rachel agreeing to finance my adoption of an orang-utan called Kai, pictured above, as one of my best birthday presents ever (Kai means "triumphant" or "victorious" in Chinese).

He was born at Monkey World on March 15, 2005 as part of the European Breeding Programme and is part of a small group led by a 12-year-old orang called Gordon.

His father, 25-year-old Tuan, leads another group and was rescued from wandering the streets of Taichung City, Taiwan, in 2002.