Achievements to date...

A huge part of the work of the Baboon Matters Trust is to create awareness about baboons and to educate as wide a variety of people as possible so that people learn sustainable management tools and ways of being around, and with, baboons.

Our educational programmes have focussed on the following areas:

• Educational Boards –our informative displays have been on permanent tour for the past two years and have been prominently displayed at libraries, civic halls, shopping malls and information centres.  The area encompassed includes the entire southern peninsula of Cape Town through to Pringle Bay, Rooi Els and Hermanus.
• Talks to schools.  In 2008 over 2500 school learners enjoyed talks given by Jenni Trethowan – educating them about baboons.  In 2009 almost 2000 school learners participated in the new talks.  The slight decrease in talks given was due to huge demands on Jenni’s time due to the elevated numbers of injured baboons in the first half of the year.
• Talks to Interest Groups:  On average Jenni gives at least one talk per month – to groups ranging from Rotary Clubs, ARP&P, church groups, and environmental groups and resident groups. Highlights were the talk given at the Jane Goodall visit – hosted by WESSA, as well as her recent talk at the Baxter Theatre.
• Groups to walk with the baboons: The most impactful way for learners to experience the baboons is through the walks, but due to the fact that we have to keep the group sizes very small, this has obviously limited the range of groups who can enjoy this unique learning experience.  In the past two years, we have, however, taken groups from Cape Nature, the City of Cape Town’s environmental sector, the Hoerikwaggo Trail (Table Mountain National Park), environmental clubs from SACs school, St. Francis teachers from Langa, Hoops for Hope from the USA, the Semester at Sea Project, Synergy School, the French School, the Technikon and, through the monitors, children from Masiphumelele.
• Residents; Baboon Matters provide on-going educational material and advice for residents affected by baboons. Numbers of calls to the office range hugely with seasonal fluctuations, but it is of note to realise that we are receiving calls from all over South Africa – from farmers, estate managers, residents of villages and the plantation owners of the massive pine plantations in the Sabie district.
• Newsletters; Two, very well received, newsletters were published and distributed to 5000 residents (per newsletter drop).   In addition, the newsletters were distributed through email and reached an extensive data base around the world. They have been extremely popular, but due to pressure of time we were unable to produce a newsletter in the second half of this year.
• Media; The Trust has tackled two controversial issues – being the use of inappropriate collars for baboons, and the protocol on dispersing males.  The media have taken up both issues and the trust was able to utilise the media well to present clear, well thought out alternates to the arguments promoting the methods suggested by authorities and scientists.

In addition, our work has been showcased on many international television and radio shows and magazine feature articles. (e.g. CNN, Planetopia, America Today, Voice of America, Conde Naste, Mare etc.)

• Books; the Baboon Matters Trust has produced two books.
• The first is aimed at children between the ages 6 – 10 years.  “Mikey Mohican’s Activity Book” is a light-hearted look at baboon behaviour as children learn their A B C.  It has been a popular book with visitors to the shop and there are plans to get Mikey’s book, plus a teachers guide to go with the activity book, into every primary school on the southern peninsula of Cape Town.
• The second book is the very beautiful “Beast or Blessing”.  A collection of stories and images gathered from around southern Africa, and aimed at getting an educational message through to a wide range of readers.

The past two years have produced abundant successes and we have had the pleasure of educating a wide range of groupings and helped to change the mindset of many people – giving them tools and ideas to manage their interactions with baboons better.  Education will continue to remain an important focus of work undertaken by the trust.

Newsletter No.1           Newsletter No.2