Baboons

   I must confess I’m not all that keen on baboons. Back in the days when I worked as a guide I was sometimes grateful to a troupe of baboons for providing a bit of entertainment on a slow day but usually they are just a little too human for comfort. It probably didn’t help give me a favourable view of the species that, back in 2008, Sue and I spent three months camped by the Zambezi with a well-used baboon roost not much more than a hundred meters away. The early morning noise of their constant fighting was annoying enough but the smell when the wind was in the wrong direction definitely ruined any chance of my becoming a baboon fan.

   Here in Hwange we don’t see all that many baboons. There is often a group to be seen somewhere near Mandavu and also at Masuma but at Sinamatella itself they were too afraid of people to be seen often. Until recently that is…..

    I think the problem is the enormous invasion of stink bugs we suffered back in March. There are still hundreds, if not thousands of them hiding in cracks and crevices and the baboons seem to like eating them.

   They search under the potted-plants on the veranda but sadly they are none too careful about the plants themselves and most of them have been broken…..

If we are careless enough to leave anything else on the veranda they are sure to tip it over…..

    

They break open our aloes to find bugs hibernating between the leaves….

They’ve even started lifting the table cloth and tearing up the table itself to find bugs hiding in the joints…

But worst, they are dismantling the various walls that edge the ‘garden’ and peeling the plaster off the house itself ….

 

   Even when we are at home the baboons are not as afraid as we would hope. Sue was busy working at the computer a few days ago when she heard a noise behind her, turned and found a baboon trying to open a window to steal some oranges. If we go out and shout, they run……

   But if they don’t see us they stroll nonchalantly past……

Or, more often, help themselves to a drink from the bird bath, all the while keeping a careful eye out for danger….

   Now I have to admit that one is quite cute, and so are this mother and baby…

   And of course they are simply behaving naturally, exploiting a good food source in a harsh environment but it’s hard to remember that when another potted plant is broken, the contents of the dustbin are blowing all over the garden, another piece of wall has gone and the spare engine oil has been tipped over. One good thing though, they don’t roost near here so we don’t have to put up with the smell.

Robins Camp

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As part of our efforts to get Parks rangers involved in bird atlassing, we were at Robins Camp a few weeks ago. Robins is about 75km from Sinamatella but sadly we hardly ever go there.

The camp is named after H.G.Robins who farmed in the area and then developed it as a game reserve in the early part of last century. A tower was built at the homestead in 1934 and it now houses a small museum in memory of Robins. While I was busy talking to rangers about the bird atlas project, Sue visited the museum and photographed a few of the exhibits.

    

   Robins is buried close by…

    And the sense of history is maintained by various items scattered around the camp.

 

Remains of an old cart                            Inscription on one of the axles.

   The tower is not a particularly beautiful piece of architecture but it is kept neat and tidy

   From the top you can look down on the camp itself, which is also well kept

   Not everything is in complete working order of course

As a lover of Land Rovers I would have liked to have taken this one home but we already have several others in similar condition waiting for repairs and/or a miracle.

It is many years since we stayed at Robins as tourists and I remember very little about it apart from a hyena coming and stealing cutlery from next to our cooking fire one evening but this visit has whetted my appetite for a few days holiday in the area and I look forward to returning soon.