Finding Baboons Part II

Finding Baboons con't...
It's been a busy week and once I posted my last blog, I realized there were a few things I neglected to tell you. The following day I went to two other sleeping sites. Still no baboons. There's a waterfall they like to hang out near so I went to see if they had been around. What exactly does that mean. Well, I am the princess of poop (if there is such a thing). I'm always on the lookout for fresh poop. I can tell fresh poop, from day old poop to week old poop. It helps me know where the baboons have been. I also collect poop so I can monitor their parasite burden, but can only use fresh poop - so it's skill I've honed. I also watch for tracks or spoor as South Africans say. I'm no "tracker" but in the year that that I've been here, I know the tracks of many animals and can tell if baboons have been walking around that morning, the direction they went and how fast they were moving. I also look for feeding remains. Baboons are messy eaters and I can usually see signs that they've been around. Today nothing - I see poop, but it's petrified, no tracks and no half eaten pine cones, black wattle seed pods, or proteas. I head home, tired. Not long after I return, I hear a big male wahooing. I didn't need to find them, they've found me!