The Harvester

As the old battered car carried me up the hill to register at the resort, I noticed some action going on, over to the right. There were lots of coconuts lying around on the grass, and some guys looking up into the tops of the coconut trees, one holding a rope leading upwards and disappearing into the fronds. Over to one side, a guy was picking up the coconuts and tossing them into the bin of a cart.

I knew just what was happening; it was the coconut harvest! I've described this many times to children in my classrooms, but haven't had a picture of the guy who shinnies up the tree with his machete to harvest the coconuts. So, as soon as I had my bags unpacked in my "sweet"--more to come on that--I donned my flip-flops and walked up the hill with my camera to record just what this process looks like.

Looking up into the tree where the action was happening, I was puzzled when I didn't spot a man up there. There was noise. There was action. But where was the tree-climber? And what good, I wondered, did a skinny little rope do for a full-grown man up in the top of a coconut tree?

The guy on the ground shouted encouragement, and PLOP!!! Down fell a coconut. My camera caught it mid-fall. Hurray!

Looking more closely, I noticed that there was no man up in that tree at all. Look closely. Click on the photo if that will help. It was a monkey! I'd forgotten that Thai people train monkeys to go up and harvest coconuts. That would explain the skinny little string trailing down out of the tree. It was the harvester's leash.

I watched as the man hollered encouragement to the monkey again, and the monkey twisted away at another  coconut, separating it from the tree and dropping it. Thud!

Come to think of it, it's no mean feat to twist a green coconut, or any coconut for that matter, off the tough stem that holds it to the tree. This little guy is strong! I hope his owner gave him some special treats--bananas or whatever he likes best--to reward him for his afternoon's work.  Me? Well, today I had some coconut ice cream.  

Sweet!