When Wildlife Attacks!

The Wild Baboon

    When I returned home from Africa, the question I was most asked was "are the animals dangerous?"  Well of  course they are.  When you visit a game reserve or stay at a lodge within these reserves, you will not find any fences or barricades to keep the animals out.  This means that you will have the opportunity to have a baboon attack you or get to watch a man fight off an elephant with a stick or simply to have some very hungry hungry hippos having a late night snack at your door step.  I know this may sound extremely crazy but, it was my experience in Africa.

     One might ask, how I could put myself into a situation where a baboon might attack me.  Well I was having a refreshing drink at The Hippo Bar at The Keekerok Lodge, a remarkable hotel in the middle of The Masai Mara.  As a side note, this incredible hotel actually has a bar overlooking a pond overflowing with hippos!  Anyway, once I finished off my Tusker beer, I decided that I would stroll down the board walk in search of monkeys.  The day before we had stumbled across a group of the most adorable vervet monkeys.  As we followed the walk way, we happen to see a troop of baboons on the other side of the creek that runs along the boardwalk.  So I anxiously started to photograph these much larger apes.  All was going well as thoughts of glory flooded my mind.  I keep telling myself how excited the people back home were going to be to see these spectacular photos!  Then it happened, I herd this extremely loud thump to my left.  As I slowly turned to see what had caused this tremendous commotion, my beloved wife cautiously called my name "Chris!"  To my surprise there stood a three foot tall baboon.  This monstrosity stood on top of a patio table and towered over me.  He was huge! I could not even give it a bear hug if I wanted to.  To make matters worst, this behemoth was close enough for me to pet, that is if I wanted to lose a finger or three.  As I quickly assessed the situation I was in, the alpha male slowly pulled back his gums, to showcase his massive teeth and he began to hiss at me!  So what do you do when a 150 pound baboon is standing at arms length, hissing at you?  Well you keep taking photos right?  If you run, it's going to chase you.  If you try to scare it, and fail, it's going to attack you.  So the best course of action is to stay still and keep taking photos.  So after 30 seconds or what felt like a life time for me, he jumped down from the table and slowly wiggled his behind as he confidently meandered down the board walk.  As he and my bewilderment quickly faded, I realize that he had defecated on the table next to me.  He was just showing me who's territory this was.

     As time has passed, I have to say that this was an incredible encounter, be it a tad nerve racking.  To be close enough to pet a wild baboon and not being shipped back to Denver in a box.  Wow!  So to all the detractors out there that feel that Africa has lost some of it's wildness, I would have to tell them that they are horribly mistaken, and that I have a very hairy friend with exceptionally long teeth for them to meet.