Why The Walks and What Happens to the Money Generated From the Walks?

The Walking with Baboons tours have been enormously controversial with many erroneous statements making their way into the media through vitriolic letters. Some of the accusations levelled at Baboon Matters have been:

1. That we are here to make money from the baboons
2. That we are habituating the baboons too much
3. That baboons raid more as a result of the walks
4. That baboons are more aggressive as a result of the walks
5. That Baboon Matters are responsible for the graduates currently undertaking a variety of research projects.
6. That we take walks to all baboon troops
7. That we keep the baboons in the villages to make the walks viable

Baboon Matters takes this opportunity to answer the
accusations as listed above:

1. Baboon Matters was formed with the best interests of the baboons at heart. It is our goal to create education and awareness for the plight of the baboons; this is done through the walks, our awareness campaigns and public speaking and through the daily support and advice we provide to residents. We are not here to make money from the baboons - see the board adjacent. It should be noted that the money generated by the walks is all ploughed straight back into the project and put to good use

2. Due to extensive urbanisation and the sportsmen and women, all of whom make extensive use of the mountain, it would be fair to say that that baboons have already been habituated to some degree. In addition to the above, it should be noted that by the very act of managing the baboons, i.e. the monitor project, this has also contributed to the overall habituation of baboons. Habituation of a species cannot be escaped if there is potential for contact with humans on a continuous basis. Without doubt, and not including the walks, baboons do come into regular contact with people.

3. Baboons raid to gain easy rewards; there are huge gaps between walks yet raids remain constant. It is, therefore, not logical to think that the walks would cause more raiding.

4. Whilst it may be true that baboons are not as shy of people as they once were, it would be wrong to attribute this to our walks. Baboons are adept at reading body language and gauging the "risk over reward", if they see that you are unsure and possibly nervous, they will certainly sit there and wait to see what happens. Many residents feel threatened by the fact that some baboons don't "run away" and mistake this as aggression. If one looks at statistics; it is immediately obvious that despite the enormous opportunity for conflict and given that baboons come into contact with people on multiple occasions on a daily basis; it is clear that if baboons wanted to "attack" people they would have ample opportunity to do so. The fact is - there have been fewer than 5 actual baboon bites over the past 5 years - this despite the thousands of opportunities to bite many aggressive humans.

5. Baboon Matters is appreciative of the research undertaken by the Baboon Research Unit (BRU) of the University of Cape Town, we are however, completely independent of BRU and in no way are we responsible
for their actions in the field or their interactions with residents. Research teams have often been mistaken for walks or camera crews - all erroneously attributed to Baboon Matters.

6. Baboon Matters takes walks to only two baboon troops
- being the Da Gama troop and the Kommetjie troop
- wherever they happen to be on the day of the walk.
It should be noted that we have never taken walks to the Scarborough and Tokai troops. Baboon Matters feels very strongly that we must not take walks to the less-habituated troops, and that these troops should be left alone as much as possible.

7. The accusation that we keep the baboons in the villages for the benefit of our tours is frankly ludicrous! Whilst resident may feel that their respective villages are attractive, wonderful places to live, it must be noted that the tourists and walkers come to see baboons on the mountains and "wilderness" areas - it is not at all conducive for our business to take visitors to walk through the villages!

In conclusion, I would like to state that because the participants of the walks do not carry food, or offer any rewards to the baboons, the baboons, in fact, tend to ignore the walkers and carry on about their business.

After three years of doing the walks, I would go so far as to assert that the walks have shown people to be of no value to baboons, the troops we walk with continue to find easily accessible food in dustbins and homes, but do not see people as that reward. In direct comparison, the baboons at Buffels Bay and Cape Point now associate people with a food source and the reports of people being raided for food at those points grows daily