Baboon Stories

As an introduction to the Primate phase of our African adventures we thought a story would be appropriate. A true story about a baboon. Actually two stories about two baboons and one woman. The woman is me.

During our initial Tanzanian safari we saw our first huge troop of baboons and couldn’t get enough of them. The human-like features, the playful adolescents and the adorable babies. Oh the babies! We took way too many pictures of them. Every troop we’d come upon we’d have to stop and enjoy. Their playfulness, foraging and preening was so fascinating to watch. They are very photogenic and, as it turns out, so mischievous!

In our first tented accommodation we were warned to lock our zippers and a small padlock was provided to insure that no unwelcome beast steals our snacks. It was a perfectly simple solution to a problem that only comes from being located in the middle of the wilderness. In our next tented lodge accommodation, however, there wasn’t a lock provided. Our room was still a tent, with canvas walls, doors with zippers, and located in the place with wild animals all around. Lions, buffalos, elephants, etc. No locks. Just lots of warnings posted about not keeping food in your tent. We were given specific instructions on how to close the tent which included a gerry rigged solution of using an extra large cushion from the chaise lounge in between the inner and outer canvas enclosures.

Guards were on duty to protect the tents and guests throughout the night. We’d heard lions, smelled hyenas and knew Cape Buffalo ate near the camp in the middle of the night. So, we took all of this very seriously. We were warned that Baboons had an excellent sense of smell and could find a peanut in your tent even if hidden away. We didn‘t want to encourage an animal encounter, so all the instructions were followed and a small amount of nuts were triple bagged and buried deep in a backpack. We weren’t worried.

In the early morning dawn while still in bed, I was awake, sitting up and working on the computer. Steve was still beside me, asleep, of course, when all of a sudden the silence of the morning was broken. Rrrrriiiippppp! My adrenaline shot through the roof, my heart started pounding. All of a sudden, I knew something wasn’t right. What I’d just heard was not a strange bird song. Our tent zipper had just been unzipped! My head snapped up, my eyes adjusted to the dim morning light and my jaw dropped. A larger-then-you'd-imagine male olive baboon easily pushed the make shift cushion barrier down and immediately looked directly to the corner with the backpack. The backpack with the nuts. Luckily there were two screen doors. This big primate had opened one of them and wanted our nuts! I had no time to think and the only words that came out of my mouth were No! No! No! Our unwanted visitor looked at me, back at the backpack, back at me and begrudgingly took off. The whole scene only lasted a few seconds, but my heart was pumping a mile a minute to say the least. The baboon was huge and smelled liked in hadn’t showered in a lifetime! The zipper posed no impedance to his human-like fingers. Why this lodge couldn’t buy $4 padlocks for all of their 16 tents, we’ll never understand. Whew…..that was close!

This next baboon tale is from South Africa. Tsitsikamma National Park to be specific. It’s a beautiful park in between the Indian ocean coast line and an indigenous jungle. While the accommodations are fairly basic, the views are outstanding. And we had our own kitchen. At this point of the trip, having our own food is a must. Again, there were warnings everywhere about baboons. Don’t feed the baboons signs and notices were on the roadside and on every building. The receptionist checking us in warned us as well to keep our doors and windows closed while away from our cabin to prevent a visit from one of these unwanted guests. After our first experience with Mr. Baboon and hearing tales from others, we weren’t going to take any chances. We followed all of the instructions. Several baboons entertained us as we explored the park over our couple of days stay, but none caused us any problems. It was our last morning that there was some excitement. Steve was still in bed (there is a theme here) and I was sitting on the couch starting to get our stuff organized. My back was to the wide open sliding patio door. I was casually folding clothes while chatting with a sleepy husband, when out of my mouth came a reflexive, instinctive shriek. I shrieked like I’ve never shrieked before. A short, yet obviously strong baboon was walking right in front of me and heading toward the kitchen. He was so close to me that I could have patted him on head.  After several more school girl screams, as belligerently as possible, I yelled “Get out! Get out! Get out!” I remember thinking, do I really think he understands English?  Africaans maybe, but English?  Unfathomably, this huge baboon had dashed into our room, across the living area, into the kitchen and grabbed our breakfast - a bunch of bananas that were sitting on the far counter. The only reply to my yelling was a casual glance my way as he sauntered out the door. By this time Steve was wide awake and freaking out. In his half awake state, he couldn't process what was happening.  He did, however, have the presence of mind to know that a camera was in order.  Without stopping to put on a stitch of clothes, he captured a few pictures of our thief as he climbed onto the steep roof to enjoy OUR bananas. Now I had two things to watch - my naked photographer husband and the banana stealing baboon.  Steve and our baboon ’friend’ were both in their birthday suits. It was quite an entertaining site. What a morning!

We were amazed at what happened right before our very eyes. It was scary and funny at the same time. Now it is just sad. We’ve learned that once a baboon becomes bold enough to enter a room with humans present, they will more then likely be shot. The park's management will take their lives in order to preserve it’s reputation and revenue stream. Baboons are a misunderstood endangered animal and have protected status, but in South Africa, no one is monitoring or controlling the problem nor punishing those that kill the baboons. We think it's very sad that alternative methods aren't used instead.  Afterall, they were here first……we're just visiting their home.