attack of the baboons

Ah, just having a quiet weekend. Thanks Flora for your e-mail, good to know we are keeping bored receptionists entertained!

It sounds like it is rather steamy in England. Here I am wearing layers and a scarf as it is rather chilly. Nairobi is in the highlands and July is the coolest month. People here have been asking me if I am cold ever since I got here. I can now proudly reply that I now agree that it is cold. Before, the question was reaching ridiculous proportions-- people would ask me if I was not freezing to death when they had just seen me take off my sweater in a rather hot bar.

Tiff returns from Western Province tonight finally (I have missed having a friend around all the time)-- she promises to regale me with tales of bad roads, late buses, liars and late nights...intrigue!! I am as curious as you. We have only texted back and forth a few times and spoken for about 3 minutes as credit is fiendishly expensive here-- about 20 shillings a minute (which is about 15p probably or 27 cents). A lot of people don't have landlines either so phone conversations tend to consists of choppy sentences and no goodbyes.

On Friday I went to Nairobi National Park with Mikael, a Finnish guy I knew from Bamako and met again at the library conference. I was dubious about how much I would see having been told the previous day by my taxi driver Peter that the park was empty. Also, entry fees to national parks rose a week or so ago, meaning that entry for a non-resident is $40! A little steep...And that does not include renting you vehicle. Still, I thought well, you need to splash out once in a while and it would have been rather rude to abandon my friend at the park gate...

As it turns out I was rather impressed by the park. Once you drive in and reach the crest of the hill, you look out over a giant savannah dotted with acacia trees and herds of zebra, impala, and buffalo. We also saw various types of gazelle as well as rock hyraxes, an eland, two types of giraffe, and a cerval, which I was very excited about since cats are generally more shy and rare to show their faces on the side of the road. We were lucky too with the giraffe-- we turned the corner and there they were bang smack in the middle of the road! They gradually sauntered off with their strange gait as we slowly drove up.

And...there were also a few adrenaline-filled moments...at one spot Mikael and I got out of the car to look out over a valley-- a beautiful spot where a river was surrounded by acacias and trees of all the hues of green that can exist-- and to spy on some little rock hyraxes sunning themselves rather nervously. After a few minutes, I turned around only to spy a male baboon approaching. Now, I really don't like baboons. I remember once when I was young, I was in a vehicle with my mum and we saw a troupe of baboons out of the window. She pointed and proceeded to detail how dangerous these animals could be: "They are ferocious-- they can bite you like a dog-- look at their teeth."

Ever since then I have really been a little scared of them. My trip to Botswana had not helped matters-- there on safari I learnt that baboons can tell the difference between human males and females and are not scared of the latter. This thought had returned to me in Western, when Tiff and I visited Kakamega Forest Reserve. A troupe of baboons at one point blocked the path, just as we were returning from a lookout point on the other side of the forest from the rangers' camp. We have a video of our approach, with my voice rather nervously recounting the fact that these terrifying animals are sure to come and take a chunk out of your leg. Luckily our slow approach did not spook them and they slowly retreated into the leafy darkness with their babies.

However, back at the Nairobi Park, things felt different-- it did not help that we had just passed a sign warning us to 'beware of wild baboons.' Sure enough, this rather huge baboon jumped onto our car and stepped onto the roof. Mikael and I were at this point rather nervously staring at the car, wondering how to get back in-- the driver was not inside either, having gone to the toilet.

I have to admit that the bravery in this situation came from the Finn. We stalked up to the car, around to the side, and pondered what to do. After about a second of sizing us up, the baboon started to jump up and down, clearly telling us that we were not in charge. Mikael grabbed the door handle, "Get in, get in." I hesitated for a moment,wondering if the baboon would leap onto my back and rip out my spine before finally leaping into the vehicle, quickly followed by Mikael. We rolled up all the windows and proceeded to sit there as the entire band of baboons clambered onto the car, fought on our windscreen, biting and scratching at each other and sliding down the glass, and made sure they had us surrounded...

Luckily another van drove up at the same time as our driver returned and was able to chase some of the animals off so the driver could enter the car. We then drove off, leaving the baboons feeling triumphant but rather confused as to how their conquered territory could suddenly move away in a cloud of dust and gas...my heart was still beating a little fast.

I don't think I will ever really feel very fond of baboons.