Brazen baboons gatecrashed the Kommetjie Eco Pre-Primary school for three days in a row last week, which saw one brave little girl standing up for herself after she refused to be robbed of her lunch.
Principal Stella New says she’s been at the school for 29 years and getting occasional visits from baboons is nothing new, however, the animals have been dropping by much more frequently lately.
She says they’ve been teaching the litte kids how to deal with the primates, which are known to break into and raid homes to get food.
The palie says: “The baboons were in the playground several times last week and walked right into the classroom where the little kids were having their lunch.”
“We have taught them to drop their food and get to the nearest adult.
“The baboon, a big male, came into the classroom and sat down, peeled and ate a naartjie and went into the kitchen where he stole a 2kg bag of sugar but they managed to chase him out.
“The children are only three years old and one girl was holding on to her lunch box and she was very upset but we managed to calm her down.
“I don’t think the baboons will injure us in any way unless they are cornered, but the children do get traumatised by it especially if they had traumatic experiences at home.
“The baboons are so quiet, the teachers look out one door for them and they sneak in by another door.
“We are teaching the children how to live with baboons, so when they are on the property we say ‘our friends are around’ but we want to teach them not to panic.”
Principal New says they’ve never had a serious incident and over the years there has never been more than one "friend“ visiting at a time.
The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) said that the NCC Environmental Services is contracted by the City of Cape Town to provide ranger services to keep baboons out of the urban areas, including Kommetjie, although they are not able to operate on private property.
In July, the CPBMJTT - consisting of representatives from SANParks, CapeNature, and the City - called on communities in the South Peninsula to nominate representatives to serve on the Cape Peninsula Baboon Advisory Group.
The CPBMJTT says they have received approximately 120 nomination forms and is currently busy with processing the applications.