Researching Chacma Baboons in S. Africa

In June of this year, Robert Cerda CdeP ’03 and I had the wonderful opportunity to work in S. Africa as field biologists.  We applied to work for a PhD student from the Netherlands, and she accepted us as two of her five field biologists to conduct research on Chacma baboons (Papio Ursinus).  Upon arriving in Johannesburg we took an 8-hour bus ride to Louis Trichardt in the most northeastern province-Limpopo. Our host picked us up at the bus stop and transported us to the Lajuma Environmental Research Center in the Soutpansberg Mountains about an hour north of Louis Trichardt. The Soutpansberg Mountains are nothing like the mountains in the States, they are more accurately described as cliffs with shelf plateaus. Only rising around 5000 ft from sea level, they are quite extraordinary. Upon arriving at the research site, we first acclimatized ourselves to hiking the cliffs, which essentially consisted of hiking straight up, taking a breather on the plateau, and then hiking straight up again.

Once acclimatized we began to conduct research with the habituated baboon troop. In the first few weeks our immediate task was to acquaint ourselves with the baboon troop, and within a couple of weeks Robert and I were able to recognize by sight most of the adult baboons. Each of the baboons has unique characteristics like humans, and all of the adults had names, which we identified them by during our research. Once we could identify the individuals of the 50-60 member troop we started to conduct focals or in other words we would follow an individual around with a PDA for fifteen minutes at a time and whenever that individual made a vocalization we would take note of this, record which other individuals were around our focal, and keep track of any other behavior associated with the vocalizations in the hope of determining whether vocalizations play a part in group decision-making. Our days consisted of waking before dawn, finding the baboons at one of their sleeping sites in the cliffs, and then waiting for them to get out of bed. Depending on their mood the baboons would either move up or down the cliffs and it was our job to follow them wherever they went.  We would follow them all day, performing focals, until the baboons returned to their sleeping site around sunset, and then we would hike our way back to the base camp in the dark. The days were utterly exhausting but extremely worth it.

We performed this work for about two months, when I was informed that I was accepted into law school. Upon receiving this information we decided to take a quick tour around S. Africa and then leave for the States. During the “vacation” part of our trip we first went to Cape Town along the southern tip of Africa. While we were in Cape Town we saw beautiful ocean sights and some unique creatures such as the African Penguin. We also took the plunge and went cage diving with Great White Sharks, which was an absolutely breathtaking experience.  After Cape Town, we made our way to a private game reserve that had an open fence line with Kruger National Park, one of the biggest wild game parks on the continent.  We had four days in the reserve and we went on two, three-hour game drives each day. On these game drives we managed to see 4 of the Big 5 (excluding the leopard which did not make an appearance), among many other wonderful wildlife species such as Kudu, African eagles, hyenas, African wild dogs, and more.

Overall this was a once in a lifetime experience that we will definitely do again. This land of contrasts between wealth and poverty, polluted and virgin landscapes, vibrant people and expansive vistas will always remain in Robert and my heart. Please see the photo journal that follows for a better demonstration of our experience.