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Conservation
Join the Betty’s Bay Baboon Action Group on our Facebook page. Follow us for all kinds of baboon information.
Residents of Betty’s Bay who live in areas that are visited by the baboons can join the BBBAG WhatsApp group for notifications when the baboons are in the urban area. (This is not a chat group) Please contact Renee at 0606 567 341 to be added to the group.
Agulhas National Park eBulletins.
We have the occasional copy of this fine PDF available here.
Attributions
Many of the professional photographs you will see on this site are courtesy of www.peteoxford.com and www.peteoxfordexpeditions.com
- Details
- Written by Retha Visser
- Category: Conservation
- Hits: 6391
In view of the fact that we all at some time or another experience problems with our baboon troops, we thought this would be a very interesting and thought provoking article to publish.
Since troops of baboons have started to come down from their mountain habitat to raid town gardens and homes looking for an easy meal, many residents have been getting extremely upset with their visits. I thought it may be a good idea to get to know more about our inevitable neighbours, as they are here to stay.
The Chacma Baboon male has a body weight of between 21 to 45kg, and the female considerably smaller, weighs between 12 to 25kg. They are generally dark brown to grey in colour with a patch of rough hair on the nape of the neck, with a long downward sloping face. The canine teeth of the male grow to a length of ±3.86 – 4cm. Baboons are omnivorous with preference of fruit but will also eat insects, seeds, grass and smaller vertebrate animals. They are generally scavengers when it comes to meat, and will rarely engage in killing large animals. In the wild Chacma baboons will flee at the approach of humans, though this is changing due to the easily availability of food near human dwellings.
- Details
- Written by Colin Chaplin
- Category: Conservation
- Hits: 5450
Betty's Bay is a beautiful small holiday town situated on the Overberg coast of South Africa's Western Cape Province. Just an hour’s drive from Cape Town it sits beneath the rugged Kogelberg Mountains on the scenic R44 ocean drive between Pringle Bay and Kleinmond. Tourism plays a large role in the town's economy due to the its popularity with holiday makers from across the Western Cape and Cape Town in particular. This village is the longest in South Africa at over 13 km.
Betty's Bay is situated in an area known as the "Heart of the Cape Fynbos Floral Kingdom". The area is considered to be of such ecological importance that in November 1998 it became the first UNESCO-declared Biosphere Reserve in Southern Africa. It's historical background is rich with wild and romantic stories of shipwrecks, pirates, runaway slaves, cattle-thieves and Strandlopers.
- Details
- Written by Rob Martin & Jessie Walton
- Category: Conservation
- Hits: 8733
The Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve supports all seven bird species that are endemic to fynbos: Hottentot Buttonquail, Cape Rock-jumper, Victorin’s Warbler, Cape Sugarbird, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Cape Siskin and Protea Seedeater. Two of these, the Cape Sugarbird and the Protea Seedeater require mature fynbos for breeding, and have greatly declined in numbers in recent years possibly as a result of the veld being too frequently burnt.
Several species, while not exclusively confined to fynbos, are most often seen in mountainous parts of the reserve. These include Verreauxs’ Eagle, Grey-winged Francolin, Ground Woodpecker, Cape Grassbird, Cape Rock-Thrush, Sentinel Rock-Thrush, Neddicky and Cape Bunting.
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