South Africa: Baboons attack climbers with stones

Three seriously injured

Seven climbers rappel down a cliff – then the baboons attack

Because a group of seven climbers tried to climb “their” rock face, wild baboons attacked the alpinists with stones. Three people from the group had their legs shattered.

updatedMarch 13, 2023 at 8:45 p.m

The group had taken a break on a rock plateau…

Wilderness Search And Rescue

• In the mountains not far from Cape Town, seven climbers got into a life-threatening situation.

• As they were about to abseil, stones rained down on them, seriously injuring three of them.

• The rockfall was triggered by a horde of baboons that may have been defending their territory.

A group of seven climbers from the region had bivouacked in the Banhoek Mountains near Stellenbosch near the South African metropolis of Cape Town. On the second day of their expedition, they had made a refreshment stop on a plateau on the way back over a steep rock face when they saw a group of baboons spotted watching them. The wild monkeys made a curious but also excited impression, as the climbers later told the South African mountain rescue service.

Baboons rain down stones

The alpinists paid no further attention to the monkeys and continued their descent. Two members of the group had already abseiled down 55 meters when a massive boulder weighing about 60 kilos landed on the ledge where the rest of the climbers were still preparing to descend. The stone splintered on impact into razor-sharp stones and splinters – with life-threatening consequences: Three people’s legs were broken by the flying stones, another climber suffered an open flesh wound on his leg. And the fifth of the group was thrown over the edge of the cliff, but got caught on the safety rope.

But that wasn’t the end of it: the monkeys let stone by stone rain down on the group. The climbers huddled close to the rock face to be safe from the deadly missiles and tended to the injured, warming them in their sleeping bags. Eventually one of the group managed to call 911 despite poor reception, prompting the Search & Rescue Western Cape team to send a helicopter to the scene.

“I’ve never seen baboons there”

Arriving at the rock face, the rescuers lowered themselves onto the platform and rescued the members of the group. The most seriously injured climber had to be transported on a stretcher, the other two were flown away secured in climbing harnesses. All three seriously injured were taken to the hospital.

“It was the third time we took this route, but I’ve never seen baboons there before,” says one of the group. He may not believe that the monkeys threw stones on purpose, but believes that the stones came loose when the monkeys tried to climb after the group. But it is possible that the pack saw the humans as intruders on “their” mountain and tried to drive them away. Baboons are known to be extremely aggressive towards predators and have long canines that can cause serious wounds.

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