Baboon shows that it's a thief with taste

[Amanzi]

The lone German in a group of 16 Bishops boys on a climbing trip was the obvious target for a male baboon with criminal tendencies and a practical taste in booty at the weekend.

Benedikt Sittler, 15, an exchange student at Bishops in Rondebosch, who comes from Stuttgart, had never even seen a baboon before.

And although the boys could see a troop of baboons hovering a small distance from them in the Kleinmond Crags park, they didn't think it a cause for alarm.
Then the criminal struck.

A bemused Sittler said: "The baboons all stayed quite far away. But there was this big, aggressive-looking male one that came a bit closer.

"I wanted to go back to get my bag. When I turned around, the baboon stood there with my bag in its hand."

One of his giggling classmates told how Benedikt "ran after the baboon, shouting at it in German".

From afar they watched the baboon unpack the backpack. Out came the cellphone, wallet, toothbrush and toothpaste, while the baboon kept the bag and its remaining contents: a change of underwear, a T-shirt and a bunch of carrots.