South Africa: Face To Face With Chacma Baboon

Pilanesberg Game Reserve is the fourth largest game park in South Africa. Keep an eye out for wildlife by the roads.

THE stickers in all the other rooms at Sun City Hotel in South Africa warned guests not to leave open the sliding doors to their balconies because boisterous baboons and mischievous monkeys were about.

My first-floor room had no such sticker. And it was stuffy. Plus, the air conditioner seemed to be emitting an unusual pong. I was tired, packing my bags for the long haul home, so what harm could it do to open the door for a few lousy minutes, just to let in a bit of fresh air?

I loaded up with socks and T-shirts and then something flashed in the corner of my left eye. I swung around to find a chacma baboon on my balcony, perhaps 3m away. How big was this presumptuous primate? It gets larger each time I tell the story, but I'd put it at about 1m tall.The chacma baboon, also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys.

The gangly baboon, with its long, sloping face and loose limbs, had climbed up the side of the cement-rendered casino hotel and its cartoon feet were on top of the balcony wall - one hand pressed up against the sliding door. Its hairy, soccer ball-sized melon had crossed the threshold and was inside my room, if only by centimetres.

I froze. Food-wise, there was little at close reach to satisfy his requirements. There's was no way it was going to gorge on the minibar at my expense.

A brief staring competition ensued, during which I realised I had no idea what to do. OK, one option was to retreat slowly, head calmly but with purpose down a flight of stairs, past the rows of pokies, to the concierge; stand in the queue; explain my dilemma; wait for the baboon squad; and return to a mess of shredded linen shirts and jeans. Or...I could take hold of the situation and charge.

Having never seen a photo of a chacma baboon baring its formidable choppers, I figured that if I ran at it, swearing with arms flailing, it would retreat down the side of the casino. But I charged and it just stood there, balancing on the balcony wall and my sliding door, glaring at me.

We were now so close that retreat seemed implausible and I had no choice but to put my faith in the two layers of curtain, one heavy and the other sheer. Hopping in a panic from one foot to the other as if on a smoking grill, I lunged forward and pushed the curtains at the baboon. As they billowed, I locked my fingers on the door handles and slammed it shut.

What had happened? I couldn't see behind the curtains. I peeled the two layers back bit by bit, expecting it to lunge at any moment, but it had gone.

Thankfully, Sun City offers less intense ways to spot animals. The casino resort, home to hotels, entertainment complexes and two Gary Player-designed golf courses, is a few hundred kilometres from the Botswana border and at the southern end of Pilanesberg Game Reserve in the Bojanala Region of the North West Province.

Pilanesberg is the fourth largest game park in South Africa. We meet at 6.45am at a bus stop in Sun City and pay about $80 for a two hour ride through the park in an open-air bus. All 17 tourists are coated in as many pieces of clothing as we can muster, for the temperature is close to freezing. Guide and driver Werner, in his mid-50s, is a stern, leather-faced, dry-humoured type. He checks tickets, shepherds us on to the bus and hands around a sheet of paper to sign.

"We lost three Americans last week," he says dryly, "and their lawyers sued me, so I have no money."

There is ice on the windscreen. Werner doles out blankets and asks us to switch off mobile phones.

"We might find one or two animals stupid enough to be up at this hour," he announces.

Setting off past hotels and holiday villas, the bitter wind slices at our faces. Soon we are on the floor of this harsh volcanic land. It is not pretty, but magnificent - ancient red rock formations, rolling veld carpeted in long, straw-coloured grasses, wide stretches of brown dirt and clumps of twisted green and black scrub trees and thorns.

Werner pulls over to show us a congress of baboons on a dam wall. Steam drifts off the water. The baboons are positioned in a formation so as to keep a 360-degree view on their hunter, the leopard.

"These guys are clever," Werner says forcefully.

We spy elephants in the distance. "This is special," Werner says. "Do the maths: 140 elephants in 60,000ha. I can go a week without seeing an elephant."

The elephants are more than 100 frustrating metres away. I squint and note a big one and a little one. Mother and child. A herd of ugly wildebeest (gnu) come into view. Werner says wildebeest are dumb and are hunted by lions. I ask if there is any reason that the wildebeest are spread so neatly in a straight line, equally spaced, but Werner deems my question "stupid" and declines to answer.

A white rhino and her baby are seen a way off. I curse my small digital camera and look enviously at the only one on the bus prescient enough to bring binoculars. Nearly 60 years after Operation Rhino was launched in South Africa to save the last few remaining white rhinos, there are about 300 of them in Pilanesberg, of an estimated worldwide population of 1500-2000. There are also about 50 black rhinos in the reserve of a worldwide population of 5500-6000.

Onwards, where we see five of the eight hippos who live around this part of the park dozing by the fringe of a lake. These hefty, bulbous units eat at night, walking 5-6km as they graze. Crocodiles sunbake on a little island on the other side of the lake. They appear to have an arrangement with the hippos: we'll stay on our side if you stay on yours.

On the return trip out of the reserve, a kudu (striped antelope) appears by the side of the road. It stares at us for a few moments before wandering out of sight behind a tree. A bit further along, four elephants lumber through the bush no more than 20m away from our bus and, soon after, six zebras.

Despite being castigated by Werner, it has been a terrific introduction to the wilds of Africa. As we exit, the baboons are still by the dam, on patrol. The cheeky little beggars.