The Call of Baboons

Last night I was woken up by unusual sounds, which I was pretty sure were baboons. Not as if they were outside my window, but out in the distance. Normal sounds of my every day life in Maun typically consists of cows moo-ing, dogs barking, roosters calling (well before dawn), donkeys (hee-haw-ing quite often as if coughing up a hair ball) and sometimes a gobble from the turkey and quacks from the ducks next door. So the sound of baboons caught my attention.

My flat is across the river from the Maun Educational Park, home of lots of plant eating animals, no elephants of course. Occasionally, I'll take a walk around the block by the river and see a giraffe eating the acacia along the opposite bank. When the floods were high, the baboons would escape the park (though i'm surprised most animals stay within it and it's not so high fence), and run around by the road and bridge just outside of the park. I would never see them in the centre of town - I think they know it's not safe for them there.

But having been to the educational park, and seeing the dozens and dozens of baboons, it's a surprise that I didn't hear them calling earlier. Until, just last night, I heard a chorus of baboons calling to each other.