The sleepover

There are two baby baboons at the sanctuary - Rudi who is around 3 months old and Rafiki who is about 8 months old. In the wild, they would normally sleep cuddled up against their mother for warmth so all the volunteers were offered the opportunity to be a surrogate for a night.

My roommate and I were scheduled to take them on my third full day at the sanctuary and I was a little apprehensive as I hadn't had much time to bond with them. The night before, two other volunteers had their turn to take the baby baboons for the night and it descended into chaos because they'd had no briefing on how to handle them and no time for the baboons to get to know them beforehand. And a stressed baboon tends to scream the house down, and then piss and crap all over you. It's a special experience..

Like any baby, they need to be washed before they go to bed so we had to give them a bath. We filled up a large plastic container with warm water and then - just as you would for a human baby - tested the temperature by dipping an elbow in. We bathed Rafiki first, who is not terribly keen on the whole process and tends to express his discomfort by crapping in the water that you're trying to wash him with.

Rudi, on the other hand, appears to like the water and I was told that the easiest way to wash him is to take a shower with him. So a key milestone was passed in my life that day: taking my first shower with a baboon. I'm afraid I don't have any photos to mark the occasion as it was already tricky enough trying to take my clothes off and then shower with a baby baboon clinging on to me. Rudi seemed to be familiar with the whole procedure and once under the shower, looked like he was in seventh heaven with his little eyes closed - just like he was under hot rain. I'd forgotten to take the dog shampoo in with me, so we had to make do with Organics shampoo for normal hair. But it did at least promise extra shine.

Once we'd finished, I managed to wrap him in his towel and then dry and dress myself one-handedly while I held him against me. I have to say, it was quite a moving experience and I think we shared a moment.

Back in the room, it was then time for another first in my life: putting a nappy on. I like to think that I jumped straight in at the deep end on this task compared to how it would have been with a human baby. For starters, you have to cut a hole in the back of the nappy to thread the tail through. And with a baboon, you have the added challenge that it is capable of leaping all round the room as you attempt to get the nappy on - unlike a human baby who is at least constrained to just lying on its back and kicking its legs.

Nappy on, it was then time for a feed. After all the excitement, Rudi just about managed to stay awake until he'd finished the bottle and then we settled down to go to sleep. He led by my side throughout the night, suckling on the empty bottle from time to time. I didn't have the deepest sleep I've ever had, but I was relieved to wake up and find that I hadn't rolled over and squashed him in the middle of the night.

In the morning, it was a repeat of the process from the evening before. Rudi and I took another shower, but this time he insisted on sitting on my head. This actually proved to be quite efficient - particularly when I went to the toilet beforehand, as I could at least operate in hands-free mode.

I helped my roommate give Rafiki a bath and true to form, he crapped in the water again. I naively hoped that the mere act of dunking him in the water would be enough to clean his messy bottom, but no. My roommate confirmed my worst fear - that I would just have to "get in there". Cleaning a baboon's pooey bottom with my bare hands was not on the list of things I'd hoped to experience during this trip, but as the old saying goes in life - "shit happens".

Trying to hang on to Rudi!



Too cute!

Making some nappy adjustments!

Baboon Earth Mother

Wide awake again..

Then fast asleep

Well chilled