The chacma baboon troop was relocated in the Deep South of Cape Town to Slangkop mountain above Kommetjie earlier this year. Since then, news headlines and social media feeds have been awash with increasingly polarising opinions for and against baboons living on the fringe of and within the urban space.
On top of this, SK11, otherwise known as Kataza, was removed and relocated to Tokai by the City of Cape Town, only to be returned to Kommetjie last week following court action. How has Kataza's return gone? What has he been up to? Is he mingling with the rest of the troop? How is he fitting back in the Deep South... Can we all get along?
The chacma troop hangs out on the Slangkop mountain above Kommetjie. A nursing mother chacma baboon forages through unsecured trash behind Kommetjie's central commercial area. With easy access to human waste, Kommetjie's Slangkop troop is increasingly sleeping and foraging above and among the businesses in the residential, seaside village. Members of Kommetjie's Slangkop baboon troop head into the central commercial and business area of the village to forage. A juvenile chacma baboon chews sleepily on a light outside...