The battle with the 'beest continues

After my last encounter with my evil nemesis, the snorting wildebeest, I asked the wildlife volunteer if wildebeest have been known to attack humans. She claimed this was ridiculous and even if their snorting sounded fierce, they would eventually run away.

Feeling fortified with a renewed confidence in my personal safety, I took my traditional walk along the river bed as the sun was setting. Parts of the track are sandy and don’t make the loud crunching sound that you hear when walking on the gravel trail. I was wandering along, listening to the birds, contemplating the meaning of life, when right behind me, at a range of less than 20 feet, I heard a loud snort. My heart leapt to my throat. My mind frantically searching for my “yo mamma is so ugly . . . “ wildebeest insult as I swung around to face the imminent peril . . . . . .

Running up behind me in her sneakers on the sand was the wildlife volunteer – snorting . . . . and laughing hysterically as I swung around in panic.

Okay, so maybe the wildebeest isn’t my greatest nemesis anymore. I was taking a hike through the mountains this morning and I heard a yell that sounded vaguely like “stop”. It was loud. It sounded human and it sure stopped me in my tracks as I looked around to find out who was out there. The yell came again, sounding very agitated. I scanned the hill opposite and a big, hairy baboon had climbed a tree and was staring me down.

There had been some talk the night before at dinner that they had found baboon in the enclosure of the three-

legged cheetah. The boss was extremely concerned. Baboons kill cheetah. Baboon would sure make easy pickings of a cheetah with only three legs and with nowhere to run because it can’t climb over the fence like the baboon can. There are a lot of baboons around since we saw the big mob of them cross the riverbed last week. There had also been a discussion about whether baboons were territorial. The general wisdom is that baboons are not territorial over their home range, but male baboons are territorial about their females. So I tried to explain to the yelling baboon that I wasn’t interested in his women. He kept yelling at me. Since I was all alone in the middle of the African bush and I know baboons are mean enough to kill cheetah, I thought I had better err on the side of caution. I backed off and retraced my steps back to the house.