Southern Africa - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 160

rambling companions. Yet the team of guides
at the charity Baboon Matters propose exactly
this, and they're not mad; they believe that if
people develop a better understanding of the
much-maligned baboons that live in the hills
around Cape Town, then they will be less likely
to consider them as pests.
To further their aim of getting people to learn
to live alongside primates, Baboon Matters uses
tourist fees to fund educational visits to schools
and houses in the areas where the baboons are
common. They also employ community members
as monitors who work to keep the baboons out
of human settlements; so far this has proved an
effective strategy in keeping intrusion levels low.
Tourists are taken up into the hills and walk for
around two hours to the baboons' territory, where
they can observe around thirty individuals from
a distance of a few metres. Far from displaying
aggression, though, the baboons regard their
visitors with curiosity, or more often just carry on
as if you weren't there. One prods around under
some stones with a stick, hoping for something
to eat. A mother strides on all fours across the
ground, her baby riding on her back. Two young
males posture and mouth off in front of a bored-
looking female. As you spend time among these
fascinating creatures, apprehension is soon
replaced by hushed wonder as the complexity of
their relationships begins to unfold.

population of diminutive benguela dolphins.
Namyak Namibia, a tour operator based
in a community crafts shop in the centre of
Swakopmund, offers kayak trips in the bay.
Canoeing among the seals in the early morning
is a joyous experience: the seals surround the
canoes and leap across the bows, while the pups
look up at you like labradors waiting for a stick
to be thrown. The dolphins are a little more
circumspect, but will swim alongside, weaving this
way and that only so long as you paddle furiously
enough to keep up with them.
But all this activity serves a serious purpose.
Namibia's seal cull is the second largest in the
world after Canada's. Thanks in part to the
popularity of the Walvis Bay colony with tourists,
the seals here have so far escaped such a fate. The
more people who come to Swakopmund and show
interest in the seals, the better the chance that
they will remain safe from culling, and that the
tourism-minded Namibian government will rethink
its approach to seals elsewhere along the coast.

Need to know Swakopmund is about five hours'
drive by car or bus from Windhoek, or you can take
the Desert Express train ( W www.desertexpress.
com.na) between the two cities. No previous
kayaking experience required. For details of
excursions and rates see W www.nam-c-yak.com;
T [phone].

Kayaking among the hundreds
of seals in Walvis Bay

Need to know Information on tour booking, times
and costs are at W www.baboonmatters.org.za;
T + 27 (0) 217 822 015.

203 kAyAkING WITH SEALS AT
WALvIS bAy, NAmIbIA

Most people come to Swakopmund, a Bavarian-
style town surreally out of place on the edge of
the Namib Desert, to explore the vast dunes.
Few who visit know that the sandy Atlantic
shallows of nearby Walvis Bay are also home
to 2500 cape fur seals - one of the country's
last remaining colonies - as well as a resident