Thursday 12 May 2011

Between the Baboons and the Hippo


Baviaanskloof is commonly referred to as the Valley of the Baboons. It could just have been called KougaKloof – which I think has a better ring to it, being partial to alliteration. That would have made it Valley of the Hippos. After all, the kloof itself is nestled between the Baviaans (Baboon) mountains and the Kouga (Hippo) mountains. Fair enough, not many hippos around here these days, but you are guaranteed baboons. Baviaan is a corruption of the Afrikaans word Bobbejaan, while Kouga is a corruption of the Khoi-San word Ghou!ka. The ! is a click.

This is the only photo I could find in my archive of a hippo with a baboon. A female bushbuck can also be seen. Baboons are often seen with Bushbuck in the kloof. It is said the Bushbuck get a warning of danger from the many eyes of the troop.  


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...