Awesome

Awesome

Orion and I were just settling into our routine together, and I was just getting back to a normal schedule around here when two days ago I was monitoring my troops, and Leigh-Anne walks up to me with a goofy grin on her face. “What?” “You have to leave right now” “Really?? Haha How old is it??” Is how our conversation went. So for my second week here I have a second baby! Nature Conservation had confiscated a baby baboon in Louis Trichard, a town about 4 hours north of Phalaborwa. Withink the hour Adam, a guy here who I’ve been friends with for over a year, Orion, and I piled into the car and I was once again on my way to pick up a baboon. 5 long drives in 2 weeks. We had an easy, pleasant drive, with only one car breakdown. We met this guy in the parking lot of what is kind of like a strip mall. Unfortunately, he wasn’t great to the baby. He picked him up from his head and just handed him to Adam out of his car window. He didn’t even park or turn off his car. I, with Orion at my side, ran over to the car and grabbed the little baby who almost immediately stopped screaming. The whole exchange took about 15 minutes and the now four of us were on our way right back to CARE. On the drive home Adam and I were playing around with some names for this little boy, and we came up with Awesome. No, I’m not joking. His name is actually Awesome. It’s one of my favorite words and it seems to suit him, or will suit him. And the prospect of naming the new baby troop Awesome Troop in Awesome Hok seemed to great to pass up. The other people here were a little apprehensive about his name, and most thought I was just kidding, but everyone actually likes it now that they've gotten used to it.

Awesome came from a farm where they shot his mother, maybe even his whole troop. The guy from Nature Con said they were watching the baby for a couple of days and then took him in and called Nature Con. Awesome is kind of a sad baboon, understandably. He’s about the same age as Orion, about 4-5 weeks old, but he looks much older. His face is darker, a little speckled, and his brow is bright yellow, both signs of aging babies. But he’s about the same size as Orion, about 2 pounds, and both have only 6 teeth. They are still warming up to each other, sometimes playing, sometimes fighting, sometimes completely ignoring each other. Everyone here says raising two babies is easier because they always have someone to play with and later on they will always have someone to back them up in the troop. But so far, it seems just like twice the work. Twice the bottles to make and feed, twice the diapers to change. It’s a bit of a handful, but I’m learning. Awesome really likes to hang on to my left arm, randomly, while Orion prefers to sit on my head (a practice we try to discourage as it gets much more uncomfortable as they get older and bigger). They both sleep well through the night, thank goodness. They don’t quite cuddle with each other yet, but they sleep right next to me or sometimes on top of me. It’s pretty adorable. Although they’re like little ovens of heat, and it gets warm here at night already.

I’ve been using the slings that Rhonda from Active Spirit Baby Slings donated to me, one for each baby. They seem to like them well enough and they’re convenient for carrying them around as I continue to do bottle shifts and monitor the larger troops. I’m getting used to doing my work while minding these two youngsters, as well as doing many tasks with only one hand, as usually I have to old one in the pouch or hold on to a tail or hold a bottle.

Unfortunately Orion had a rough day today. I found out this morning that he has Thrush, an uncomfortable disease in the mouth that is very contagious amongst the baboons, which a couple of other babies have here. This means that I have to be very careful which bottles he drinks out of, which is a huge hassle. He also will get some oral medicine 4 times a day. This also means that more likely than not, Awesome will contract it soon as well. Today Orion also got pulled through the fence by a big wild male. I was washing some bottles at our outside sink and Orion was playing on the ground behind me. A mean wild male came running up from around the corner and tried to yank him through the fence. I managed to grab Orion away and scream and kick at the big male. It was actually terrifying. Orion is just fine though, absolutely no physical harm done, which is fantastic. Tonight he was playing around the house with the other babies just like normal.

Awesome is still very apprehensive about other baboons. He plays only a little with the other babies in the house, but plays a bit more when in a larger hok with a few of the other kids. He also screams and twitches whenever he sees a wild baboon, which is every 10 steps here. So he clings to me with his sharp nails pretty much all the time. He’s very cute but also a little funny looking; he has no neck and a flat head. Haha. But cute nonetheless. I have high hopes for Awesome and Orion becoming best friends and brothers soon.

I can’t believe I’ve only been here only 2 weeks and already have 2 tiny baby boys to raise. Maybe I’ll get a new baby every week! We’re actually expecting a little baby girl tomorrow, but the vet nurse Mary will raise her.  These kids are definitely keeping me incredibly busy and raising the both of them will be even more of an adventure.