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These signs were fixed next to the entrance door of every chalet of a reserve we recently visited (some chalets have a front and back door so then there is one at each door). It was also posted on other place around camp even at the entrance to the public toilets. One toilet even had a poster of a dead monkey (sketch not a photo) stating that this is what happens to animals that become a nuisance or danger when they are fed by humans, it was in the format of a little cartoon with sketches that could even be understood without the writing at the bottom.

With all sorts of respect, in this matter, especially in Lower Sabie and Olifants camp, is KNP the first to make a move, and I don't mean shooting the animals.
We have spend a lot of time in the tented camp of Lower Sabie, where the problems are the worst.
First of all: people can't put their food anywhere safe for the monkeys, except in their car.
The cupboards are so easy to open, and you can't lock them at all.
We allways bring rope with us, and every time we leave the tent, we tie the whole thing up, but most visitors don't know this.
Than you have the fridge.
You can't turn it decently to the wall, because it is built in.
Putting your table and chairs in front of it, slow them down for just a few minutes.
Putting your stuff in the tent is the worst option of all.
Since the last year the tents have doors, and they are so easy to open.
And you don't want to know how your tent looks after the monkeys visit.
Dustbins are even more easy to open for the animals and in Olifants there are a lot of them who even don't have covers.
Solutions: put a good case with a lock on every deck of the tents, so people can safely keep their food (very nice because there is a lot of rats overthere as well),
make good locks on the freezers, we have seen them in other camps, give keys with the tents, just like when you are in a bungalow, and last but not least, put baboon proof dustbins out there.
If the animals don't find food, they will stay out, they are NOT stupid, losing their time in search of food in places where there is no food.
And most of all: give people who feed the animals a very high fine, because they are the ones who causes most the trouble anyway.
It might also be a good idea to keep the trees away from the fences of the camps.
Not just for the monkeys, but more specific for leopards.
In some camps you can see that the trees are kept away carefully from the fences, but in other camps we are amazed that little attention is given to it.
If these things are being done and the public is informed more strongly (somthing like: if you feed them, or not being attentive with keeping away your food, in fact you are killing baboons and vervets), and for a while energy is given by staff to chase out the animals constantly, the problem will be solved on a permanent base, I am sure about that.
Without any killing. Which would be something to be proud off.

The idea is to plant sterile fruit, such as satsumas, and to be honest, the natural ecosystem is hardly natural when we are shooting baboons that are pests! I don't think even using a kettie is "natural" at all.
The biggest problem to "unteach" baboons especially will require the complete removal of human contact, which is hardly likely. Obviously human education is first and foremost, but I do think some innovative thinking is required too

Even "sterile" fruit can cause problems!
Firstly it wil disturb the natural vegetation by displacing it, secondly it can attract other animals and change their habits.
I also do not know of any fruit tree that bears fruit throughout the year.

To keep monkeys/baboons away you will have to have a considerable orchard!
They are known to raid orchards and waste a lot of fruit!
The vast area of land that will be destroyd to keep a single troup of baboons (hopefully ????) out of a picnic site, is to high a price to pay!
How many indigenous plants and animals wil be destroyd or displaced?

The more we interfere in nature, the more problems we cause.
That is one thing we have(hopefully?) learnt the hard way many times over!

This is for those who don't get the WEG magazine. Gosh this is hilarious. Thanx to the lady from Patensie in the Eastern Cape for the story. Herewith a very rough translation:

The park has to take a tough line on this .

The animals will always find easier ways to get food , so they will have to take action against the offendors , namely to shoot these animals .

Then , the problem of people feeding the animals has , and I fear will always be an issue .
Simple solution - employ about 3 people for north/central/middle of the park to patrol picnic sites/camps , and hand out spot fines to people doing this , and at the sime time they get a black mark logged on there wildcard I.D.

The other way will be to fence picnic spots against the intruders , but this will take a lot of charm away from them .

Maybe there is truth to this old Afrikaans folk song...

As ek moeg word vir die lewe in die stad
Vat ek die hasepad
In die veld pluk ek 'n wilgerlat
En slaan die apie op sy gat
En sing my wandel lied
En sing my wandel lied!

Can someone go try it out?

Thanks for the encouragement, arks

I googled "bear-proof " to see if I can find any pictures of what I'm talking about. I found one site that has pictures of what I've seen: http://www.bearproofinc.com/index.php?p=3 (I'm not endorsing this particular company, just displaying an example--hope that's OK). Some of these containers are overkill for keeping smaller animals out, but you get the idea.

You're right about the unique designs with the huts and bungalows. That's what I really liked about Kruger--it was fun to just cook outside, sit in comfort, have a beer/Amarula/wine, and relax. But, it does make it interesting to keep the baboons out! That was a challenge I've never had to think of!

A question for the South Africans: are there "campground hosts" at the campsites? At many campgrounds in the U.S., there is one or more of these hosts. They are usually retired individuals who volunteer to stay at the same campground for most of a season and are basically the authority while there. They are essentially deputized by the rangers to enforce many of the rules of the campground, like noise violations, campfire issues, food storage, etc. I don't think they're paid to do this--they just get the camping spot for free. It was the campground hosts who were doing all of the food patrols and writing tickets for fines when I visited one of the parks in July.

Perhaps this might be a way to minimize the labor needs for the rest camp issues (if it isn't being done already). Just a thought.

Some parks do have dustbins with lids that cannot be completely removed. Also saw some of these bins at Mountain Zebra National Park. What amused me at that time was seeing the leader of the vervet monkey troop sitting on a dustbin, urine marking the handle and walking off. Not long afterwards people will come and lift the lid to deposit garbage looking at their hands thinking "Why is this thing wet"

Here is one of these dustbins, also standing in a metal ring (visible at the bottom of the picture) welded to a pole to prevent the monkeys from over turning the dustbin. Simple yet effective although it does not help with the monkeys raiding tents and even entering caravans if the doors are left open.

Dear Forum members

We sincerely appreciate all the inputs that came from all the forum members with regard to the problem animals.
We are also aware as Management of all the havoc that the baboons cause especially at Nkuhlu Picnic Spot and a lot has been done already to try and deal with this problem.
Unfortunately these baboons and monkeys tend to learn tricks very fast.
We have in the past destroyed some of the animals in order to scare them away and we also had put some rangers to try and drive these animals away every time they come to the picnic spot.
Believe it or not the moment they see the green uniform of the rangers they don't come any where near.

This problem will definitely not be solved by Management alone, it has to be an integrated approach.
Tourists much definitely stop feeding these animals and we will from our side put up signs which will sensitise tourists with regard to feeding of animals and the dangers thereof.
We will also try to get baboon-proof dustbins installed at the picnic spots.

The staff at the picnic spot are not trained rangers and would not know how to deal with animals and that is why at times they sit and wonder what to do when the baboons begin the raid and harass people.

May I also take this opportunity to thank all of you for highlighting this problem once more, and promise that we will try to put all efforts possible to try and deal with the problem.
However, we still have an obligation to continue to be seen to be conserving the biodiversity rather than being destructive.

Hi all of you.
It is with great pleasure that I would like to say its safe again to visit Nkuhlu again
I am trying my utmost best to chase the monkeys and baboons away, and allthough they tend to take chances now and then, they stay away for a couple of days in a row.... That is untill they get fed by people.
but overall it is pleasent again for all of us!!!

Frank at Pafuri has a similar trick



He only fires dirt but it is enough. In fact, as soon as they see him they leg it.

In the week 13 -17 October we had breakfast three times at Nkuhlu and we hardly saw any presence of monkeys. On one occasion when a large tourist group arrived there a couple tried their luck but the appearance of a worker with his pellet gun sent them running.
And I must compliment the "kitchen" at Nkuhlu - it is the only place in the southern park where you can get a fried egg with your bacon - all the others only serve scrambled eggs.

Hi Lobotes

During my visit to LS end April we too had problems with the baboon in camp - they'd had come in and trashed the kitchen areas of numerous safari tents... Even after chasing them off (they just jumped of the roof of tent no.16 over the fence) they sat in the nearset tree watching and waiting for an opportunity to come back in...

Next morning we saw them again just outside camp and they were hitching rides on cars.



DGK

Baboons and monkeys are extremely intelligent and opportunistic. They will take any and each opportunity, and create a few that weren't there. This is a constant problem for everyone in nature based tourism.

SANParks has gone to great lengths to manage this problem. Some examples would be the so called "monkey proof" dustbins, discouraging tourists to feed these animals, and the management of dump sites.

But frankly this problem will never disappear. It is simply impossible to make it go away, and often impractical in the everyday run of a camp, to exclude all possibilities.