MAR /APRIL 2025
THE GREYTON POST
19
It’s our slice of Heaven
Rangers has become increasingly difficult over the years as fences are raised, trees and hedges grow and scary dogs make their task more difficult. There is an
Andrew White
H ow many stories have you heard of people driving through the Overberg and ending up in this nook of the mountains, this incredibly beautiful and green paradise we call Greyton, and never left? The baboon troop loves it too! Many many years ago before Greyton was this oasis of orchards, veggie patches and fynbos gardens the flat lands with soft soils always provided more calories and plentiful water for the wildlife in the area and this goes for the baboons too. Over the Christmas holidays visitors flocked here for some down time and the troop came as well. The food in Greyton is by far the best for many miles around offering such a variety of fresh fruit and veg and eggs and bird feed. Greytonians didn’t grow the food for the baboons and were rather peeved to see their crop feasted on by beings with no sense of ownership or shame for the damage they were doing! On the local WhatsApp group they asked what can be done or do we as residents have to accept that we can’t grow veg or leave our doors and windows open? A response from the team on the ground: “The baboons have been busier this season. And they have learnt to split into smaller groups to evade the Rangers. Access and line of sight for
abundance of food on offer with a marked increase in veggie gardens and chicken coops over the years and lots of calories attracting baboons and a Ranger team that is understaffed and, at times, hamstrung in their tasks. The private, municipal funded monitoring program in Hermanus that ran for the past 5 years has just been stopped fallow fruit on trees, and on the ground. In short there are more due to budget constraints. It was costing nearly R1 mil/ month for a team of 27 people including managers supervisors and rangers. We really are operating on a shoestring by comparison. With our budget we can’t hope to guarantee the levels of success that we would like. That said it must be noted that in almost all the baboon areas in the City of Cape Town and Overstrand where there are big budgets and a big toolkit baboons still enter homes, raid rubbish bins and destroy veg gardens. People are encouraged to fit burglar
“habituation” and it is up to us to move the dial towards an ideal where baboons spend less time in urban areas, residents do their bit to support the rangers and guard their crops, and we safeguard our natural heritage. To this end we appeal to all residents who have not joined the program to do so by contributing monthly or annually to the community Monthly repeat payments: R280 per month, easiest to set this up with your bank. Greyton Conservation Society (this account is dedicated to the Baboon Programme) Your name as reference. FNB Acc: 6270 813 7486 Branch: 250 655 Please contact Andrew on 082 835 2668 with any queries. Ranger program. BANK DETAILS:
bars with gaps no larger than 80mm, secure their waste in baboon proof bins and do everything they can to reduce the attraction for baboons. The Overstrand Municipality have a bylaw in place making it mandatory to have baboon proof bins. Greyton was proactive in starting a community based baboon program with the support of the Municipality more than 7 years ago, but we have fallen short in limiting the attractions for baboons. We need to make a concerted effort here before we increase our expectations of the rangers or direct our anger at the troop who will return time and again to a successful food source!” Our best chance to keep the troop out of the village is to ensure a well-resourced ranger team, and for residents to be responsible for the role they play in attracting baboons to the village. We’re on a continuum of baboon
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