Baboon Ruckus

Living with nature reserve around us means we have all sorts of critters coming to visit. Baboons being regulars. Especially on Mondays (as this is rubbish collection day). I am sure that they sit on the mountain behind the house and their lookout watches to see when the rubbish gets left at the bottom of the driveway for the lorry (truck) to collect. We cannot leave rubbish like this as the baboons will come down the mountain, and raid the bags, distributing all that is in the bag all over the road. It is very unpleasant having to pick up rotting and smelly things off the road. All Pringle Bay residents have baboon break-ins from time to time, and sometimes they can cause very costly damage. Tipping fridges, and breaking appliances. Not to mention messing all over the furniture and carpets, and tearing curtains etc. And the worst of it all is that these baboons know the difference between male and females. They are not scared of women. When a baboon breaks in, they always have to leave via the same opening, so it is no good to close up a window where they gained access, because this just traps them. And to top it all off, once they have been in your house, they know what easy pickings are there. They keep trying to get in all the time. We have had baboons go so far as to lift the sliding door off its runner in an attempt to break in. We are still waiting for the day when one of them actually breaks a window to get to the fridge and its tasty contents. Saturday. [March 9, 2002] Today Gavin will be going back to sea for three months, I am staying home. It is my first time not going with him since we have been married. We woke up early to a beautiful sunny and calm day and decided to go to the beach for a walk. We donned our bathing costumes, collected some towels and jumped in the jeep. As we were driving away from the house it occurred to me that I hadn't closed one of the bedroom windows. Oh well I was sure it would be fine (it is upstairs and a small window), we weren't going to be away for too long. We had a lovely swim and stroll on the beach, sunshine and no wind make Pringle Bay so very beautiful and it is days like this that make up for all the gales and the winter rain. Hungry and sandy we decided to head home for a shower and a full bacon and egg breakfast. While Gavin was putting the jeep away I leisurely strolled into the house, coming through the garage door and into the kitchen. Oh no! A huge male baboon is sitting on the floor in front of my now open fridge, amongst all the food that used to be in my fridge. I yelled and barked at him and he just ignored me and carried on sampling mangoes, eggs and whatever else he could find. So I shouted to Gavin that there was a baboon in the house. He gallantly came to the rescue with the first thing he could find in the garage (a plastic leaf rake) - now that was a good weapon against a 80 kg baboon. Gavin rushed in shouting his head off, enough to make Mr. Baboon take notice. Mr. Baboon got up and looped off down the passage with Gavin chasing him - plastic rake to the ready. The baboon hopped through the window and wandered off nonchalantly. I felt like crying at the mess in front of me. Broken eggs are not easy to clean off the floor. And of course everything had a bite in it, so mostly things would have to be tossed away, as they are not clean anymore with baboon teeth marks in them. I also discovered that the baboons had torn open the bin and kindly deposited the contents on the floor. WHAT A MESS. And to think we were lucky, there wasn't a whole troop in the house, defecating in the lounge and the babies swinging off everything. All Pringle Bay residents have baboon break-ins from time to time, and sometimes they can cause very costly damage. We were lucky it was just the contents of a bin and the fridge. Sometimes they can pull the whole fridge over and completely destroy everything they touch. So instead of spending a romantic morning with the hubby before he left to go to sea, I spent it up to my elbows in squished food and peels, and smelly rubbish. Lucky humour got the better of me, as I was on my hands and knees among broken eggs and split milk, all I could think of was Gavin charging after a baboon almost his weight, with a plastic garden rake.