By Kate Heins of the University of Vermont
Note. *For full experience, listen to “The Boxer” by Simon & Garfunkel while reading*
Well, after 2 full weeks of being in Botswana, it has finally hit me that I’m here! After waiting several years since being accepted into the program (thanks COVID), not even the hundreds of elephants we’ve encountered could make me believe this was real. Nope, I needed something a little more extreme, and that something was none other than a morning spent defending our camp from an entire band of baboons. We started the day as usual with people heading out at 6 AM for their research transects, but things took a turn before we’d even had a chance to finish the dishes. The resident baboons must have appointed a baboon-on-watch, because by 7 o’clock sharp the whole extended family was circling our campsite. Plan A was to bust out some loud music to scare them off, but after Spotify deleted everyone’s downloaded songs, our only option was “The Boxer” on repeat – not quite the deterrent I was hoping for. The baboons must have been fans of Simon & Garfunkel as well, because 10 minutes later the ringleader made a break for the trash bin. With barely a moment of hesitation, Leah (Photo 1) and I took off after him banging our trusty pots and hand brooms, and he quickly decided the empty peanut butter jars weren’t worth the risk. After a good 30 minutes of similarly attempted (and failed) raids, they finally decided to move on to an easier target – perhaps a camp with fewer 5-foot, screaming, pot-banging women warriors on duty. I know most people probably wouldn’t choose to start their day with a baboon face-off, but I promise that smile in the photo is 100% genuine. When you’re in the middle of the African bush covered in a solid layer of dirt successfully chasing full-grown baboons away from camp at 7 in the morning, that’s when you realize you can truly take on anything.
