[Grace] Traumatic African Animal Encounter (Spoiler: I Survive)

Like most other people I've met, I consider myself an animal lover. When I was four years old I had a goldfish named Bubbles (RIP Bubbles) and now I have my gorgeous labradoodle Rugby (who is back home in the United States). So when we got to Africa, one of the things I was most excited about was seeing all the African animals. On the plane from Dubai to Cape Town, I even watched an African Cats documentary (10/10 would recommend). I now want to adopt a little cheetah cub.

However...my first experience with an animal on this continent didn't quite go as planned.

Out first day in Cape Town we stayed around the city, and the next day we started a drive along the coast of South Africa. Even though it was a slight detour, our family went to the Cape of Good Hope. The drive there was very pretty, and along the way we saw signs warning us about various wild animals, mainly baboons (foreshadowing).

Once we make our way to the Cape, we park our car and start getting ready to walk up a nearby lighthouse on top of a hill. I stayed in the backseat and everyone else got out of the car (which turned out to be a great mistake on my part). I was changing out the camera battery on our Nikon and so I was alone in the car - for a while at least. 

A movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention and I looked up. The door across the backseat from me had been left ajar, and a baboon had opened the car door and proceeded to climb inside. 

In case you didn't know, baboons are not cute. I'm all for monkeys-and-the-like, but only if they're adorable and non-threatening. Baboons are neither adorable nor non-nonthreatening. And I was not pleased to come face-to-face with a baboon in the backseat of our rental car.

Picture of a baboon that was taken shortly after this incident.

My first thought was Should I kick it? Almost as if the baboon could read my mind, he bared his teeth at me. I nixed the kicking idea and moved onto Plan B: yell.

"Baboon! There's a baboon in the car!" As I yelled, the baboon made its way to the passenger seat where I could hear it tearing into our stash of roadtrip snacks. And while a Pringle-less car ride would be tragic, I was more concerned with being murdered and/or maimed by this baboon.  

Some other member of my family managed to open the passenger door, trying to get the baboon out. The rest of the family was at the back of the car, but they could see a little through the open trunk. Once the passenger door was the open, the baboon grabbed his prize -- aka all our road trip snacks -- and made a beeline for the open trunk of the car, making his escape. My siblings, standing at the back of the car, were not too excited to come face-to-face with the baboon, but they managed to escape unscathed.

At this point, the baboon thinks he is home free, and sits down a few feet away from the car, our bag of food with him. My mother was not going to stand for this behavior. If you know my mom, you'll know that she greatly values her food. Which is why my mom proceeded to approach the baboon . . . and then kick it, trying to get our food back.

Obviously, if there is ever a zombie apocalypse, Kara Beal is the person you want to be stuck with. In stark comparison, I was cowered in the backseat, still taking deep breaths from my short encounter with the wild animal. Only one of us thinks quickly in times of crisis, and you can use your personal judgement to figure out who that is.

My mom's animal abuse meant that we regained a few of our lost food items. Most important was a metal kitchen knife that had been in the bag with all our snacks. I already fear baboons when they aren't armed - if they had any form of weapons, I would be distinctly terrified. In addition to the knife, we recovered a can of Pringles, a peanut granola bar and a bag of Lays potato chips (we like potato chips). However, the bag of Lays had the corner torn open from the baboon. The hole was small, and it was clear the baboon hadn't actually eaten any of the potato chips. Or, at least, that's what we like to tell ourselves because we ate the bag of chips anyway.

The baboon himself, running away from us with OUR apple. RIP apple.

Afterwards, I had a hard time recovering. I had not eaten a lot of food for the past couple of days, due to food poisoning I picked up in Nepal, and I was, mentally and emotionally, quite weak. I spent the next half an hour taking steadying breaths and being uncomfortable every time I saw another baboon along the path we were walking.

In conclusion:



















Baboons are dangerous and attracted by food.