Whilst on a walk in the montane forest of Mount Meru last week a group of guest heard an awful din from up ahead. There was clearly some drama going on! The guide and the ranger had a discussion with the group – the noise was from a number of baboons up ahead – and they were clearly very agitated!
….the question was WHY??? The two theories were either that two troops of baboons had clashed – they are quite territorial but also not against venturing into a neighbours territory if there is a particularly tasty tree there! And they may have been caught in the act! OR there was something out there that they were all very very worried about! …. And the only thing that really gets baboons worried is leopards!!! Its always interesting getting to know a troop of baboons – they are scary animals with their big teeth but also have really fascinating social structures and hierarchies – but the thing that worries them are leopards – particularly at night! So they identify a number of ‘safe’ spots to spend the night around their territory – we have one huge yellow bar acacia just across the river from the mess tent in our Serengeti Camp that is a ‘roost’ for baboons about 2 nights out of 10. In the Serengeti wilderness there is a fantastic egg shaped boulder about 40ft high that has a fig tree next to it … the baboons climb the fig tree and leap onto the boulder for the night.
The question in Arusha National Park was ….. is it a fight? Or is it a leopard? …. The group moved slowly forward and found a clue on the ground … a slightly smushed but still very clear track of a leopard! Elusive animals like the leopard are incredibly hard to see in the forest, we hear their ‘sawing’ sound regularly in camp so know they are around …. But spotting them is much much harder. In this case two of the group were lucky enough to spot the leopard leaping down from a tree and taking off into the undergrowth! …… a real ‘lifer’ moment for them! ……. Shortly after the baboons quietened down and peace returned to the forest …… and everyone’s heart beat gradually returned to normal.
Come and join us on a guides walk in the forest!
