An introduction to the babies....

One of the most rewarding and engaging elements of the wild life programme as a volunteer is to spend time with and be a sleep mom with the baby baboons. There are five in total, each with its own story of how it came to be in the sanctuary and all orphans. Sarafina is the oldest but also the smallest and most frail looking.  She had been badly abused by a human who amongst other things (how are humans capable of this?) burnt her body for fun. Kayla had been found still clinging to her mother’s back even though she'd been found drown in a reservoir. My favourite was Lala, the second largest and she seemed to like me too.  It's a funny thing how some of the babies take to you and some don't but you get used to being hugged by some and shunned by others after a few days when you realise that the same is happening for everyone else too. When you first meet the babies it’s difficult to distinguish them apart but gradually over the course of a few days and nights you get to know them and their different personalities and idiosyncracies. For example, Troy likes to pee in your ear if he thinks he can get away with it and Sarafina (small but fiesty) thinks nothing of throwing cold tea in your face if she wants you to wake up to play with her at 4.30 in the morning. The babies are caged in a small enclosure on a lawn near the admin block and that area of the farm is also shared with a colony of tortoises. Baby baboons are major and accomplished escape artists and many a time we can be at the Lappa having a break for a cup of tea and some cake and a call of “ the babies have escaped” wafts over to you on the breeze. Sometimes the first thing you know about it is that you have a hand in your food or up your t-shirt. They, especially Sarafina, like breasts and the larger the better. Needless to say, I’m not the one she heads for first though she has a particular soft spot for my roommate Lucy. Catching the babies is not easy. They are small and they are fast and they know all the tricks. They have a way of wriggling and twisting that means no matter how much you try and hold onto them you end up letting go of them. In your innocence you try bribing them with little pieces of apple, but they’ve whipped it out of your hand and are up and over the nearest fence before you’ve had a chance to say hold it. But they are, in the main, the most loveable and intriguing creatures and it is very easy to become attached to them.

Baby baboon walk was my first introduction to how not to get taken for a ride by something that is less intelligent that we are (alledgedly). The babies are taken out every day and you can see how much they love it. Open the door to their cage and they are out like furry exocet missiles. Squabbling, fighting, performing somersaults and climbing up and swinging from everything or anyone that happens to be in shot is just part of the fun. Sometimes they hitch a ride on your foot, wrapping themselves around your ankle and admiring the view while you do all the work. Usually 4 or 5 volunteers do the baby baboon walk together and lead them across the yard (or they lead us, I am not sure which), past the vehicle depot with its Fire and Rescue engine and out through the compound gate. The path we take leads up to the bushman village about ten minutes walk away and from time you time you will pass Bushman children on their way back from school or a Bushman man on his bike going along at a rate of knots. This last event is quite unusual because everything here seems to be done at a fairly stately place and a time given for anything means a time-ish.  The path we take is the characteristic red soil of Namibia and on each side grow various grasses, bushes and small trees. You have to keep you eyes peeled at the moment because this is the time of the year that Black Mambas are active and, I understand, getting a bite from one of these is a pretty unpleasant experience.  But even having to keep one eye on the babies and another on the path for unwelcome visitors doesn’t detract from how beautiful the weather is, the sense of peace and tranquillity and the slow pace of time. This sense of tranquillity is soon interrupted however when we stop at the half way point of the walk and sit down under the shady surround of one of the larger trees. To be used as a human springboard is an interesting experience and usually one you don't see coming.  One moment you're chatting with the group and the next you have a baboon or two on your head or several hanging off various parts of your body.  They don't mean to hurt you (though if they are very unhappy with you you'll get the occasional nip) but then they don't much care about your sentiments either so it best to just go with it, roll with the punches and let them enjoy themselves and to grow confident around you.  Volunteers change regularly and this early bonding session is important and especially helpful when you take part in your first baby sleep over.  Two of the babies especially are getting quite big for the space in which they live and the workers at the farm are mindful of this.  Major work is going on in a new compound for the adolescent baboons (think baboon-style equivalent of Alton Towers) and soon, in the next few months, there will be a bit switch around and the babies will suddenly find themselves with more space than they know what to do with. But for the moment, they'll  continue to live in the smaller cage and make like Houdini from time to time.   

Comments

[Simon]

Great writeup Elle. How about posting some pictures with the blog - it would be almost as good as being there then.

Simon